WashingtonSeattle

Seattle’s city departments are required to design programs using equity principles including: 1) directing funding to the groups most impacted by the pandemic; 2) identifying whether the programs will increase or decrease racial equity; and 3) carefully thinking through how to advance opportunities and minimize harms.

In 2004, Seattle launched the Race and Social Justice initiative (RSJI), which lays out the following goals and strategies: 1) to end racial and social disparities internal to the City by improving workforce equity; 2) increasing city employees’ RSJI knowledge and tools; 3) increasing contracting equity; 4) to strengthen the way Seattle engages the community and provides services by improving existing services using RSJI best practices; 5) enhancing immigrants’ and refugees’ access to city services; and 6) to eliminate race-based disparities in the community. Building on the commitment to the RSJI, ARPA programs are selected and designed with a race and social justice lens.

In 2021, Seattle developed an equity framework to select, design, and swiftly allocate ARPA funds to those most affected by the pandemic. Under this framework, city departments must design programs using equity principles, identify the pandemic-related harm addressed, the beneficiaries, and if recipients were disproportionately impacted. They must also assess the impact on racial equity, considering ways to enhance opportunities and reduce harms.

The Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) is implemented throughout city departments by the leadership of the RSJI Core Team. This team comprises staff from over 10 of Seattle’s departments.

Seattle used the geographic location of program activity to understand how well programs serve equity goals through the Race and Social Equity Composite Index map. The Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) developed the index to provide city departments with a common starting point to identify the areas of Seattle that experience higher levels of race-based disparity. The index combines data on race, ethnicity, English-learner status, immigrant status, socioeconomic disadvantages, health disadvantages, and disability.