Racial Equity Commitment and Vision adopted by City Council

City Council adopted a resolution establishing a Racial Equity Commitment and Vision for the City Tuesday night. In 2022, the City Council approved the creation of a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) program.  

Since 2022, staff formed a cross-departmental committee to develop a strategy–the committee ultimately recommended a focus on racial equity to comprehensively address various forms of marginalization. 

The City is leading with race, recognizing that the creation and perpetuation of racial inequities are a part of American culture and government. Sammamish also recognizes that other groups of people are still marginalized based on nationality, religion, economic status, gender, sexual orientation, age, and/or abilities.  

Focusing on racial equity provides the opportunity to introduce a framework, tools, and resources that can be applied to other areas of marginalization. This prioritization is not based on the intent to create a ranking of oppressions. A racial equity framework that is clear about the differences between individual, institutional and structural racism, as well as the history and current reality of inequities, has applications for other marginalized groups. 

The next step in this process is to adopt and implement a racial equity workplan. The City will also develop and strategically implement a Racial Equity Toolkit, which will lay out a process and a set of questions to guide the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies, initiatives, programs, and budget issues.