Just Do It

 

Have you seen this post on social media lately?

"Howard County Office of Human Rights and Equity is conducting a Community Equity Audit in three key areas: racial & social equity, opportunity, and quality of life. The goal of the community equity audit is to identify institutional and structural practices that produce inequities in services, policies, and access.

The Equity Audit matters because every resident (child, youth, family, individual) in Howard County matters. We are doing this audit because we are on the path to building a more caring, compassionate, and inclusive county.

Please take the time to complete the survey and share the link with others: http://bit.ly/3hXIL1r

Survey closes: August 27, 2021. 

I am here to tell you that I took the survey and was pleasantly surprised. Most surveys are either too long or too boring for me. I am perpetually starting out with good intentions and then quitting in frustration after page seven when I realize I’m nowhere near the end. 

This survey asks about things I really care about: 

• racial & social equity
• opportunity
• quality of life

Best of all, it’s balanced between multiple choice and short answer questions where I could put things in my own words. And it was not too long! This is an anonymous survey and all answers are voluntary, so, if you really feel the need to skip something, you can. I didn’t find the need to skip over anything, for what that's worth.

The Equity Audit is an initiative of the Equity and Restorative Practices Unit of HoCoOHRE. I was interested to read about the seven core beliefs that guides their equity and restorative practices work. It gave me a clearer picture about the driving force behind the creation of the Equity Audit and their goals in reaching out to the community for their input.

You can check out Howard County Office of Human Rights and Equity on Facebook, Twitter: @HoCoOHRE, and Instagram: hocoohre. Truth in advertising: I have not checked to see if they are on TikTok.

The more people who complete the survey, the more informative and comprehensive the results will be. They don’t just want to hear from one segment of the County. They are hoping to get responses from many people and many different kinds of people. 

How can you help? Take the survey and share the link, not only with your immediate friends, but with local social media groups you belong to as well. If other folks are anything like me, you might want to reassure them that it’s easy to complete, not mind-numbingly tedious, and, most of all: it’s not too long!

Please note: today is August 17th. You have until the end of the month to get this done and share it around. I reached out to HoCoOHRE and they confirmed the survey will be open until then. Here’s a handy-dandy reminder:

When it comes to surveys, I am rather like Mikey in the old Life Cereal advert. If I liked it, it’s probably worth a try.