What Drives Our Work

The Legislature established the Washington State Office of Equity in April 2020. At that time, the Legislature found that:

• The population of Washington has become increasingly diverse over the last several decades.
• As the demographics of our state change, historically and currently marginalized communities still do not have the same opportunities as their nonmarginalized counterparts across nearly every measure. This includes education, wealth, employment, and health.
• Inequities based on race, ethnicity, gender, and other characteristics continue to be deep, pervasive, and persistent, and they come at great economic and social cost.

Our Vision
Everyone in Washington has full access to the opportunities, power, and resources they need to flourish and achieve their full potential.

Our Mission
Promote equitable access to opportunities, power, and resources across government that reduce disparities and improve outcomes statewide.

Our Core Values

Access: Barrier-free environments so everyone can participate.

Belonging: The right to participate in all aspects of society with acceptance, attention, and support from members of the society, while providing the same to others.

Dignity: We honor the sacred nature of individual personhood.

Equity: Acknowledge systemic inequalities by developing, strengthening, and supporting policies and procedures that distribute and prioritize resources to people in social identity groups who have historically been and currently are marginalized. This ensures everyone has access to the same opportunities, power, resources, and outcomes to achieve equality.

Justice: Treating people fairly. To make right. What love looks like in public (Cornell West.)

Love: A selfless and giving act of will. We seek to out-give and out-serve the other.

Ubuntu: I am because we are. We are interconnected.

Our Unifying Goal: Embed the Office of Equity into Washington State Government so that we are here for generations to come until we are no longer needed because equity is just how our government works.

Embracing equity requires us to identify, name, and dismantle institutional racism, economic injustice, and oppression.  Racism, a construct of white supremacy, is used to marginalize and oppress people who are non-white/European as the ‘Other.’ The Washington State Office of Equity acknowledges that racism is ingrained in our history and deeply embedded in our institutions today, leading to the inequities we see across all sectors. We are committed to making anti-racism, anti-Blackness, and anti-poverty work primary focus areas as we also challenge and seek to undo discrimination against immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ community, people with disabilities, women, and veterans.