Seattle, Washington Seattle City Profile on Racial Equity

CITY PROFILE ON RACIAL EQUITY Seattle, Washington Seattle City Profile on Racial Equity

Developing the first Municipal Race & Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) Considered a pioneer among U.S. cities seeking to embed racial equity in their daily business, Seattle collaborates with its counterpart, King County government, to fundamentally change the role of local government. A relay race of efforts, beginning with the election of former Mayor Greg Nickels, helped move the city in this direction. When Mayor Nickels first ran for office in 2001, he seized the opportunity to address the growing disparities and segregation he had witnessed on the campaign trail. He responded to community mobilization by confronting institutional and structural racism. Nickels’ response bolstered racial equity-related work that started in Seattle residents engaging in the city’s Race and Social Justice Initiative the mid-90s, during which former Human Services Department head, Ven Knox, led an effort to have all Early RSJI work resulted in to report annually on their progress of the department’s 900 employees departments creating their own sustained the continued evolution trained by the People’s Institute for race and social justice plans. It of these efforts. By 2015, Mayor Ed Survival and Beyond. also prompted city government Murray required departments to use to address concerns across a toolkit to examine the racial equity By 2004, the city established a the municipality and develop impact of several department Race & Social Justice Initiative mandatory training for all city and program-level decisions and (RSJI), making Seattle the employees on addressing racism in first municipality in the U.S. projects per year. government. The RSJI also resulted to implement a racial equity in the development of a Racial Leadership by Staff and framework. With the initiative, Equity Toolkit (RET) launched in Elected Officials Unites the city committed to addressing 2008. This provided city staff and Efforts systemic and institutional department leaders with decision- racism. The city used community A citywide strategy team housed making processes for service organizing tools to shed light on within the Seattle Office for Civil delivery, policy development, and the local government’s history of Rights coordinates RSJI and resource related decisions and structural racism and to illustrate provides strategic direction and programs. how current government tools support. A city subcabinet for RSJI, could begin to unravel racist policies Support for this work continued comprised of department heads and systems from within. Seattle’s through several mayoral transitions. and equity leads, provides overall workforce and local government Community pressure and a 2008 leadership guidance. Within each served as models for the rest of the City Council ordinance codifying department, Change Teams, made city to address the impacts of race RSJI and requiring city departments up of staff from across lines of explicitly. business, champion the initiative

2 NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES SEATTLE CITY PROFILE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES SEATTLE CITY PROFILE within their departments. Every department submits an annual RSJI City: Seattle, Washington Work Plan, reporting to both the 2004 Mayor and City Council on their Year Starting Racial Equity Work: accomplishments. The Change Mayor: Jenny Durkan Teams support their departments’ Form of Municipal Government: Mayor-Council RSJI efforts by providing technical Population: 688,245 (2017, American Community Survey) assistance, training, and support to ensure the work plan results in Demographics: meaningful outcomes, including American Indian/ Alaska Native: .6% how departments use the RET. Multi-racial: 6.6% Asian/Pacific Islander: 14.9% Elected officials have continued to ensure that the Council views its work through a lens of racial equity, in support of the RSJI. Latino/Hispanic: All mayors since Nickels’ pivotal 6.5% administration have issued executive orders underscoring Black: 7.1% their continued commitment to the White: 68.6% RSJI. Several Council resolutions have complemented the executive orders, sustaining the initiative’s authority to continue to make change. Today, Mayor Jenny Durkan has reaffirmed the importance of the RSJI and supports racial justice it [structural racism]. But I would community concern about systemic efforts throughout the city. be so much better off in a world discrimination by employers Councilmember Mike O’Brien has without oppression weighing down and landlords against residents been a vocal advocate for RSJI’s on people,” said O’Brien. with criminal records in access work, noting that it has impacted to jobs and housing. These Changing Policy to Support how he view his own life. “It caused policies prevented employers me to examine the story I perceived Equitable Decision Making and landlords from using criminal for my path to success by beginning Several municipal policy changes history as criteria for making to understand that people of color in Seattle have resulted directly decisions about job candidates had very different experiences in from the city’s commitment to and rental applicants. The road to the same city,” said O’Brien. “Do examining how it performs when it passing these ordinances included my kids have access to the same comes to racial equity. One priority confronting internalized biases as others just because of the color has been aligning the city’s policy among city staff and leaders of their skin or other demographic work with community organizing towards people with criminal considerations? Should some that is led with a racial equity lens. records. Other challenges included people be predisposed to succeed This focus has led the city to revisit convincing business leaders to or fail? Imagine what it would its approach to issues like bail support the elimination of criminal be like if those disparities didn’t reform and youth detention. It has record review in employment exist.” O’Brien’s own path to also changed how RSJI and the decisions. One key step in understanding more about the way City Council approach their work overcoming these obstacles was systemic racism plays out in Seattle in areas like residential zoning for a meeting between a small group has included being intentional backyard cottages and the impact of impacted community members about hiring staff who he could of bias on residents’ access to jobs and the Mayor to counter concerns learn from, and recognizing that the and housing. from landlords opposed to the idea RSJI leadership had invested time that they wouldn’t be able to deny The Seattle City Council passed in his growth early in the initiative. tenancy because of an applicant’s Fair Chance ordinances in 2013 “On the one hand, I benefit from criminal history information. and 2018 to address longstanding

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES SEATTLE CITY PROFILE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES SEATTLE CITY PROFILE 3 Deepening the Culture Shift includes ten to twelve equity leads. These staff members are committed Summary: Seattle Policy change has been critical to to heading up equity work in their Seattle’s racial equity work helping the city meet its goals of respective departments, including: dates back to the 2002 anti-racism, but a deeper culture 1 term of Mayor Greg Nickels, who shift is needed to make these • Department of Transportation responded to community demands changes sustainable for city-wide • Office of Sustainability for the city to address racial implementation and day-to-day & Environment, through inequities in outcomes. practice. Over the last 12 years, the Environmental Justice Several ordinances support Seattle’s RSJI work has grown, Committee especially in terms of its training 2 city staff to use a racial equity offerings. After developing spaces • Seattle Public Utilities lens as a guide, to help navigate to meet staff where they were, • Workforce Equity through through the discomfort of making RSJI has delved deeper into more a Planning and Advisory changes that leadership may not complex concepts like internalized Committee have anticipated. racism, the nuances of perceptions, The city’s Race & Social and supporting the self-reflection • Office of Arts & Culture Justice Initiative, started required for meaningful personal 3 • Department of Planning and in 2004, constantly adapts its changes that serve as the building Development education offerings and develops blocks for change across the city. This progress has also yielded new opportunities to work with city This capacity building work now tangible results, including staff to shift to an inclusive culture includes a series of trainings every transformation of practices like: through training and community other month. These three- to four- engagement. • Reorganizing the city website hour courses include approximately to make frequently-searched 40 staff members who learn for information more accessible about a range of topics including to the public understanding power and a deeper dive into implicit bias. Courses also • Targeting support for offer spaces for staff to practice community building to using racial equity tools and include particular zip codes follow-up and processing after each • Prioritizing community input course. In 2018, two new training on topics like planning and offerings explored internalized development projects forms of racism in people of color and white people. In this way, the • Adopting specific workforce city hopes to continue building equity practices including education to alter patterns in its training for employers on topics institutions and practices, to root like biased hiring decisions, them in new norms based in anti- development of employment racist principles. This change is pathways, and accountability critical for Seattle to deliberately through performance and successfully shift culture management systems beyond the initial instinct to simply • Leveraging arts and culture- check a box. based practices to broaden the Another critical component is way government employees building the capacity to address the approach relationships with adaptive challenges to tackling the community members and each root causes of racial inequities in other Seattle. RSJI’s success has enabled it to expand. The program now

NLC’s Race, Equity and Leadership (REAL) initiative serves to strengthen local elected officials’ knowledge and capacity to eliminate racial disparities, heal racial divisions, and build more equitable communities. Learn more at www.nlc.org/REAL This City Profile is part of a larger series made possible through the generous contributions of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.