GBPI's Commitment to Equity and Inclusion

The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI) strives to be an anti-racist research and advocacy organization that advances lasting solutions to expand economic opportunity and well-being for all Georgians. To realize this mission, we must propose solutions that remove systemic barriers keeping many marginalized Georgians from thriving. Our solutions must consider the negative effects public policies have had on Black, Brown and other people of color; immigrants; women; LGBTQ Georgians; people with disabilities and other marginalized people. They must also address the intersections of these identities and the disparate outcomes these Georgians experience every day. Furthermore, the solutions we advance must be targeted to these communities to overcome systemic racism and the historic, intentional exclusion they have faced due to a web of public policies at the local, state and federal level.

GBPI provides budget and fiscal analysis to ensure our state’s policies are meeting the needs of our people. As the state has grown and become more racially and ethnically diverse, we have committed to disaggregating data and providing context as to why disparities along race, gender and other identities exist; seeking resources that advance organizational development and knowledge of equity in all its dimensions; recruiting and hiring from a diverse talent pool; developing relationships with diverse partner organizations and communities and better integrating racial and ethnic equity into the GBPI’s strategic plan, mission, vision and core values.

GBPI must continue improving and strengthening our knowledge and capacity around the work of anti-racism, equity and inclusion. Internally, we must embrace a more inclusive approach to doing work that results in sound, best practices in human resources, operations, partner engagement and advocacy. Additionally, we must ensure that our research and analysis, strategic communications, outreach and community engagement first do no harm, and then help build a fair and inclusive state where all people prosper. We must better integrate an intersectional approach. As a data-driven organization, we must also acknowledge the inadequacy of data at times in portraying the complete picture of peoples’ identities and of inequities in our state.

We are committed to doing the internal work to achieve these goals. We also have the resolve and courage to speak truth to power and be unrelenting in our efforts to call out inequity, identify the problems and barriers we face and, more importantly, propose the anti-racist solutions necessary to ensure all Georgians, all, can thrive—living free from oppression, systemic barriers and discrimination.