Strengthening the foundation: County Council adopts Equity and Social Justice Work Plan that continues building on established principles

August 31, 2015

Summary

Adopted motions support biennial plan

Story

The guidelines to promote fairness and opportunity and eliminate inequities for all county residents have been developed, and the initiatives created from those guidelines are an integral part of the King County Strategic Plan. Today, the Metropolitan King County Council gave its unanimous support to the Council’s 2015-2016 Equity and Social Justice Work Plan.

“King County’s namesake and logo, honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, is not only a graphic reminder of how far we have come, but also that work done by Dr. King and so many heroes of the Civil Rights struggle is still not complete,” said Council Chair Larry Phillips. “Efforts such as King County’s Equity and Social Justice Initiative are a real step toward achieving Dr. King’s dream of the ‘Beloved Community.’”

“This Equity and Social Justice Work Plan is a sobering reminder of just how far we have to go. While Martin Luther King, Jr. County has more millionaires and billionaires than almost any other county in our nation, health disparities, income inequities, and disproportionality in our homeless and incarcerated populations worsen,” said Councilmember Larry Gossett, the prime sponsor of the motion. “We often talk about how far we’ve come, yet things have deteriorated in certain aspects. We need to redouble our efforts in creating a society where all of our youth, adults and communities feel a real sense of hope and opportunity, and that feeling is reflected by how all our institutions operate.”

“This work provides strategic direction for a new office focused on countywide equity and Social Justice efforts,” said Council Vice Chair, Jane Hague, the sponsor of the legislation adopting the County’s ESJ Work Plan. “This office will focus on internal efforts, such as supporting those with limited English proficiency, and also identifying regional opportunities to provide ‘hands up’ not ‘handouts.’”

Launched in 2008 as the Equity and Social Justice Initiative (ESJI), the idea behind ESJ is to eliminate long-standing and persistent inequities and social injustices within King County by applying principles of equity and social justice in the County’s actions, decisions, and policies. Since 2010, the principles behind ESJ have been part of the King County Strategic Plan (KCSP) with the inclusion of the “fair and just” principle in the strategic plan.

Over the last four years, the Council has worked to increase awareness of ESJ impacts of county actions internally and with the public, expanding access to county information to underserved populations, and increased opportunities to interact with the Council.

The initiatives have included:

• Considering equity impacts in decision-making by developing a structured process to review and evaluate equity impacts as part of the Council’s budget deliberations,

• Engaging all communities in a manner that fosters trust across race, gender, geographic and class lines,

• Promote fairness and opportunity in County government practices by raising awareness and visibility of ESJ in communications throughout the legislative branch,

• Conducting equity analysis of plans for transit service changes to ensure they are consistent with adopted Equity and Social Justice policies of the County and the Council. Those policies include providing travel opportunities and supporting amenities for historically disadvantaged populations, such as low-income people, students, youth, seniors, people of color, people with disabilities, and others with limited transportation options.

The Council will continue to monitor these initiatives as it transitions the annual ESJ Work Plan into a biennial plan.

The Council’s two-year Work Plan will put it in sync with the County’s two-year ESJ Work Plan, which was unanimously approved by the Council at today’s meeting. The County’s ESJ Work Plan focuses on the development of the ESJ Strategic Innovation Priority (SIP) Plan which is intended to:

• Prioritize ESJ goals and strategies,
• Establish systems for county employees to advance equity through their daily work,
• Identify standards, metrics, processes and systems of accountability to advance equity,
• Define King County’s role in regional and national equity efforts,
• Outline a timeline and resources needed to implement the plan.