Growing Together as Allies Fall Speaker Series

Voices for Change: Voting, Advocacy, and Action

Supporting Systems and Communities in Achieving Racial Equity: A Groundwater Analysis

Presenter: Joyce James

December 2, 2021
6 – 8 p.m.

Joyce James has been President and CEO of Joyce James Consulting, since 2013. She has established an impressive 40-year history of working in, leading, and supporting systems that serve children, youth, and families. For the past 25 years she has led efforts for addressing institutional and structural racism in multiple systems in Texas and across the Country. She has a powerful story of her journey from CPS caseworker to Assistant Commissioner of Texas CPS, Deputy Commissioner of Department of Family Protective Services, and Associate Deputy Executive Commissioner of the Center for Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities (CEDD) and the Texas State Office of Minority Health, at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. It was her bold and courageous leadership and her willingness to speak out on issues of institutional and structural racism that served as a catalyst for Texas to pass three bold pieces of Legislation, directly related to examining and addressing racial inequities in Child Welfare, Health, Mental health, Education, and Juvenile Justice. Joyce developed the Texas Model for addressing Disproportionality and Disparities, It, along with the Groundwater Analysis for Addressing Racial Inequities©, serves as the foundation and framework for the technical assistance and support she provides to multiple systems and institutions across the Country. These models have been effective in creating cultural and philosophical shifts that holds systems accountable for” turning the mirror inward” and creating an anti-racist organizational culture for undoing institutional and structural racism that and improving outcomes for all populations.