Mission, Guiding Principles, and Goals

The Bay Area Social Equity Caucus holds decision makers accountable to the region’s low-income communities and communities of color by uniting organizations across the nonprofit, public, and private sectors and building power around a shared regional agenda for environmental, economic, and social justice. Urban Habitat founded the Bay Area SEC in 1998 and continues to serve as the lead organization.

In 2007, the Bay Area SEC underwent an evaluation and strategic planning process to strengthen the Caucus’ internal capacity and to prioritize long-term regional program goals. This Platform Statement reflects the feedback members gave during this planning process and provides an overview of the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus’ programs and strategies, the guiding principles which shape our regional analysis and agenda, and the roles of members and allies.

Platform Statement

VALUES, AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The Bay Area SEC grounds its work in these shared values and guiding principles:

A clear vision that builds hope, inspiration, renewed energy, and lasting solutions is needed to guide our work.

Diversity is strength and power. A healthy society reflects diversity of all kinds—social, cultural, economic, environmental, and political.

All communities and residents have the right to thrive and flourish. A healthy community enables people to reach their full potential by respecting basic rights to a dignified wage, safe and affordable housing, clean air, land, and water, diverse cultural resources, quality public education, and accessible and affordable public transportation and healthcare. We must work together, leveraging our collective resources and power to identify and defeat the root causes of injustice. We cannot achieve economic, social, or environmental equity by transferring our local problems to other communities.

A successful movement must function across sectors, issues, and geographical areas to incorporate all stakeholders.

Low-income communities and communities of color must effectively participate in the decision-making processes that impact their lives. For all voices to be at the table, these processes must be clear, accessible, and engaging.

Public institutions and elected officials must be representative of and accountable to the region’s most impacted communities. Policies must address the needs of our communities’ most vulnerable members and result in tangible positive outcomes to redress historical inequities.

CORE STRATEGIES
The Bay Area SEC integrates four core strategies that support a comprehensive movement building approach in support of low-income people and people of color. These strategies span across our regional programs:

• Strengthen, build, and sustain multi-issue, multi-sector relationships throughout the region
• Build the capacity of local organizations by providing customized, consistent trainings and educational opportunities.  
• Support local member campaigns by sharing data, political analysis, member turnout, and proactive solutions.
• Advance regional initiatives that result in concrete, measurable improvements in low-income communities and communities of color and strengthen the regional movement for progressive social change by supporting and developing effective decision makers.

PROGRAMS
The SEC hosts regular events, shares resources and technical assistance among member organizations, facilitates linkages between local and regional struggles, and supports joint policy and advocacy agendas to promote regional equity by holding decision makers accountable to the region’s low-income communities and communities of color.

Participation in the Social Equity Caucus will provide your organization:

Quarterly meetings that explore local, regional, state and national issues impacting local communities and provide an opportunity to build relationships with progressive allies from throughout the region.

Eligibility to participate in  the Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute which recruits, trains and places  individuals from historically underrepresented groups on local and regional boards and commissions to create a network of progressive leaders and to hold decision-makers accountable to the region’s low-income communities and communities of color.

Member discounts for tickets to the annual State of the Region event which brings together SEC members, government, philanthropic, labor and business allies each year to assess the major political, economic, social, and environmental forces affecting the region’s low-income communities. This year’s event will be held on December 11th at the David Brower Center. For information about last year’s event visit www.stateoftheregion.org.

Access to the quarterly e-newsletter, monthly updates, Urban Habitat’s community event calendar and the “Bridging the Bay” listserv to promote your events, campaigns and job listings with organizations and individuals throughout the region.

Inclusion in and access to the Bay Area SEC’s online member directory and resource guide.

STRUCTURE AND MEMBERSHIP

Urban Habitat: Serves as the lead agency and provides overall management of the coalition, including Steering Committee oversight.  Responsible for program coordination, personnel management and staffing, fund development and financial management.
Regional Steering Committee: The Committee will provide strategic direction and oversight to help create and advance the Bay Area SEC’s platform, agenda, and programs. To ensure more balanced representation, it will be led by local hub chairs in the North Bay, South Bay, East Bay, and West Bay, the coalition staff and Urban Habitat’s Executive Director. The body will also have designated seats to ensure multi-sector, multi-issue representation.
Local Hubs: To guide effective regional programming, build local membership, and coordinate activities between Quarterly Meetings, Urban Habitat will team up with local hub organizations in the North, South, East, and West Bay. This new structure will advance the Bay Area SEC platform at the local level and act as a bridge to the larger regional coalition.
Member Organizations: Membership includes organizations and coalitions committed to the coalition’s platform who actively participate in local and regional events. Members share, build, and analyze information related to regional equity issues, and are encouraged to formally contribute their group’s name in support of the platform and positions adopted by the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus.
Member Organization Delegates: Member organizations will maintain a delegate who will be invited to complete the Regionalism 101 Institute, participate in at least two quarterly meetings a year, and represent the member organization at the annual State of the Region. The delegate will also serve as the main liaison to the local hub and Bay Area SEC staff on endorsement, outreach, and turnout opportunities.
Allies: To accommodate organizations or government agencies that may be unable to formally endorse the Bay Area SEC platform or take positions as part of a larger coalition, an ‘ally’ role has been designed.  Ally organizations may engage in Caucus events and trainings as resources permit, but do not formally endorse said activities and are ineligible to vote in Caucus matters.