One of the lessons learned in Marin’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was the need to reach out and connect with minority populations across our county.

In many cases, a combination of fear, expense and communication hurdles made it a greater logistical and societal challenge for them to get vaccinations, treatment and, in some cases, better compliance with public health protocols.

Those lessons underscore the reason for the county Health and Human Services Department’s commitment to prioritize racial equity in delivering its varied public health, mental health and social services.

While President Donald Trump is busy unwinding federal commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, we are fortunate that it remains a priority for the delivery of county services.

The county’s three-year strategy is aimed at overcoming historical patterns that have led to patterns of exclusion, most often based on race.

Marin’s HHS equity initiative is also addressing issues such as gender, language proficiency, age and sexuality.

The lesson learned during the pandemic is a “one-size-fits-all” approach in outreach and delivering services leaves too many people marginalized, in many cases, because they are left out of the communication loop or because needed services are beyond their reach, geographically and financially.

The initiative will include, as a top priority, the five divisions in HHS identifying at least five race equity-focused priorities. Other goals include boosting data collection and analysis and promoting community partnerships with local service providers.

Part of those goals is making sure those priorities are part of the department’s hiring and training standards.

Fortunately, many of the goals are already in place and have been shaping HHS initiatives that have responded to changes in Marin’s demographics.

The coronavirus response revealed gaps and shortfalls that were addressed for responding to the public health crisis. The new plan renews that commitment and builds on lessons learned during the pandemic.

“We are still recovering from COVID. It was our opportunity to step up and we did that,” said Robyn Barron, the department’s equity manager. She stressed that having a “robust” workforce — retaining and growing diversity and inclusion among HHS’ ranks that number 800 budgeted positions.

Any plan or intentions are only as good as their real-life successes.

The county invested $250,000 in hiring two consulting firms to come up with this plan.

That is a costly investment. Translating general goals into specific real-time change and improvements is the hard work.

County supervisors need to make sure this plan is a living document and one that really delivers on that investment. They should ask for progress reports and examples of the plan guiding HHS services and contracts.

Most of the time, department programs and contracts are relegated to the supervisors’ “consent” items where they don’t get much public discussion or attention.

Its response to COVID-19 changed that, at least in the public health division.

This three-year initiative is a plan for taking lessons learned during the pandemic even further and making sure that vital county services are accessible and delivered to every person who needs them and that there are plans and an institutional commitment and expectation to address and meet the real-life challenges of race, geography, age and income that exist in our county.