Of?ce of the Mayor

City of Seattle

Jenny A. Durkan, Mayor

Executive Order 2017-13: Race and Social Justice Initiative

An Executive Order affirming the City of Seattle's commitment to the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI).

WHEREAS, racial and social disparities persist across key indicators of success in Seattle, including educational attainment, life expectancy and access to healthcare, access to affordable housing, access to and training for family-wage jobs, engagement with the criminal justice system, access to a healthy environment and green spaces, access to government services, access to contracting opportunities for government projects; and

WHEREAS, in 2004 the City of Seattle launched the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), led by the Office for Civil Rights, with the vision of achieving racial equity in the community and the mission of ending institutional and structural racism in City government, promoting inclusion and full participation of all residents, and partnering with the community to achieve racial equity across Seattle; and

WHEREAS, Seattle was the first city in the United States to undertake an initiative that focuses explicitly on ending institutional racism and has become a national leader in efforts to achieve racial equity; and

WHEREAS, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed Resolution 31164 on December 1, 2009 affirming the City's Race and Social Justice Initiative and directing City departments to use available tools to end racial inequities across key indicators of success; and

WHEREAS, Executive Order 2014-02 expanded the Race and Social Justice Initiative to include measurable outcomes, greater accountability, and community-wide efforts to achieve racial equity; and

WHEREAS, equity and social justice is a cornerstone of a thriving democracy and the internal actions of local government that contribute to the health and well-being of everyone in our city; and

WHEREAS, local government leadership is necessary to achieve racial equity in the community, and it is also necessary for local government to work in collaboration with the local community and with regional and national partners;

WHEREAS, City employee RSJI Change Teams, Core Teams, affinity groups, and RSJI advocates champion racial equity within City departments, and are critical to the City's success to end institutional racism;

WHEREAS, Executive Order 2015-02 extended the Race and Social Justice Initiative by directing the Office for Civil Rights and the Seattle Department of Human Resources to develop policies and processes and practices to increase workforce equity for all City employees; and

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Jenny A. Durkan, Mayor of Seattle, hereby affirm the City's commitment to the Race and Social Justice Initiative and order the following actions to be taken regarding the City's commitment to achieve racial equity:

Section 1. The goals and principles of Resolution 31164 and Executive Order 2014-02 are hereby re-affirmed.

Section 2.

A. The City continues to hold racial equity as a value and shall apply a racial equity lens in its work, with a particular focus in 2018 on actions relating to: 1) affordability; 2) education; 3) criminal justice; 4) environmental justice; 5) transportation equity; 6) labor equity; 7) women and minority business contracting equity; 8) removing internal structural and institutional barriers for City employees; and 9) arts and culture equity.

B. Within the first 100 days of the administration by March 8, 2018 my office will oversee and coordinate a review of the City's current implementation of the Race and Social Justice Initiative. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and Seattle Department of Human Resources (SDHR) shall assist in developing and coordinating the work, along with resources from other City departments as needed. The review should include:

an overview of the City's current RSJI efforts, including areas of focus and recommendations for areas needing additional work;

a review of the 2015-2017 RSJI Strategic Plan, including accomplishments and lessons learned;

a review of the 2016 RSJI survey, and other related quantitative and qualitative data; and

a review and summary of how community stakeholders and City personnel are being engaged.

C. Department directors, personnel within the Office of the Mayor, and I will participate in implicit bias training as part of the 2018 training schedule. This training will assist with recognizing implicit biases that exist in the workplace and in the development of city policies, and will assist with learning how to overcome those biases and create outcomes to achieve racial equity.

Inquiries regarding this Executive Order should be directed to Andrs Mantilla of the Mayor's Office.

Dated this 28th day of November, 2017.

Jenny A. Durkan

Mayor, City of Seattle