www.portseattle.org
THE PORT OF SEATTLE
OFFICE OF EQUITY, DIVERSITY,
AND INCLUSION 2023 REPORT
The Port of Seattle is committed to living our values and becoming a truly equitable, anti-racist organization. While
we are working toward this visionary goal, we cannot ignore the broader context. Our country and community are
frequently polarized on issues, making it challenging to nd solutions to problems. We are living in a time where
creating an inclusive and equitable organization is often met with a mixture of emotions and feelings. Change and
progress can be scary.
Our work is dicult, but it is not impossible. It takes patience, commitment, and strength. The pursuit of racial
equity requires that we take time to build trusting, transformational relationships, center the voices of people most
impacted by the inequities we seek to address, and creatively challenge a business-as-usual mindset.
Our work embodies love and hope — grounded in reality and paired with action. We know that a brighter future for
all is possible. As one of the largest economic drivers in our region, the Port is positioned to lead eorts that create
greater access, inclusion, and fairness for the communities we serve.
In this 2023 annual report, we share highlights of our eorts to partner with communities,
to build a culture of belonging and inclusion within the Port, and to transform policies
and practices that advance equity.
Bookda Gheisar (she/her/hers)
Senior Director,
Oce of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
I
tem No. 11b_attach_1
Meeting Date: March 26, 2024
A YEAR IN REVIEW:
OFFICE OF EQUITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION HIGHLIGHTS
FEATURED PROGRAMS
1
After nearly two years of work and partner engagement, the Port of
Seattle Commission passed the Equity Policy Directive (EPD). The EPD
is historic legislation that represents the next chapter of equity work
for the Port. It integrates equity, diversity, and inclusion into the Port’s
policies, practices, and programs for years to come, moving us beyond
basic compliance towards long-term commitment and sustainable
transformation. In short, the EPD creates policy and protocol changes to
turn our values of equity, inclusion, and belonging into concrete action
steps for all employees to advance our equity goals and vision, mandating
how work is performed both internally and externally.
6
In partnership with South Seattle College and Port Jobs, the Port launched
a new workforce development initiative — the Airport Ground Service
Equipment (GSE) Training Program. This is a college preparation program,
meaning that participants receive an overview of the GSE mechanic
profession, relevant math course work, and college-prep and study skills
training. Upon completion, participants are eligible to enroll in the two-
year GSE mechanic program at South Seattle College. In 2024, the program
will convene an employer advisory committee to facilitate pathways for
graduates to nd full-time employment as GSE mechanics.
2
The Port Commission passed the Language Access Order, making language
access a permanent, ongoing commitment in every department and every
division. This order set into motion an assessment of current practices
(including a review of publicly available documents, resources, signage,
websites, social media sites, and forms); the development of a guidance
manual for divisions to create language access plans; and a proposal for
budgeting resources necessary to implement this policy.
7
OEDI sta’s work is being recognized and our team is growing. Our work was
featured in the international Journal of Airport Management (Volume 17,
Number 4). The article entitled “Embedding Equity in Airport Operations and
Practices: A Case Study” featured lessons learned, strategies, and best practices
from OEDI’s rst four years of operation within the Port of Seattle. We also
welcomed to our team the Port’s rst Environmental Justice Program Manager
who will be working closely with sta and community partners.
3
In June 2023, the Port hosted the third Annual South King County
Symposium. More than 150 community members and partners
congregated to discuss, share, and strategize about creating pathways
to opportunities for environmental sustainability and careers in port-
related industries. The symposium featured speakers from many dierent
organizations including Tilth Alliance, King County, and the African Young
Dreamers Empowerment Program.
8
For the rst time in Port history, all departments are now required, to set
annual department-specic equity, diversity, and inclusion goals as part
of their annual business planning process. This is a signicant milestone
as it ensures the Port now has structural accountability for EDI across each
tier of the organization: Port-wide, division, department, and individual.
In 2023, each department’s Change Team members collaborated with their
department directors to receive input from department sta, craft goals
relevant to their operations, push their department to advance EDI, and
ensure equity goals were properly resourced in their 2024 budget.
4
To publicly share the progress of its work to advance equity across all
its work, the Port of Seattle released two interactive dashboards on its
website that track the implementation of equity, diversity, and inclusion
eorts and the metrics and goals associated with those eorts. The rst
dashboard, the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) Dashboard,
monitors the progress of and provides visibility into the steps being taken
to create a more equitable and inclusive Port. The second dashboard,
the Equity Spending and Accountability Project (ESAP) Dashboard, displays
the Port’s annual “equity spending” investments.
9
Building o the success of previous years, members of the Port’s Change
Team and the Finance and Budget department created the 2024 edition
of the Equity in Budgeting Playbook, which is a tool that all departments
are required to use to create their annual budgets. As departments submit
budgets for approval, they must demonstrate how they utilized the
playbook to guide equity considerations in their budget.
5
In 2023, the South King County Community Impact Fund added 12
new partners to the program, expanding the reach in promoting
environmental sustainability and economic recovery in South King
County communities. Included among the many highlights of the year
was the first all-women of color construction training cohort operated
by our partner Latino Civic Alliance. Our partner, Serve Ethiopians
Washington, had several participants pass the introduction of the
Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) class, making them eligible
for enrollment in the AMT program in 2024.
10
As part of the 2024 Equity in Budgeting Playbook, members of OEDI,
Finance and Budget, and Commission sta created a denition of “equity
spending,” calculated the Port’s equity spending over the last several
years and created a pilot project for tracking equity spending going
forward. “Equity spending” measures how the organization invests in sta,
communities, businesses, projects, and programs that advance equity,
diversity, and inclusion. By using this denition to evaluate our budget,
we gain a better understanding of how our investments are contributing
to our equity goals and can be transparent and accountable about how we
are using public resources to advance equity.
YOUTH MARITIME CAREER LAUNCH
Created in 2022 and approved for $4.1 million over a three-year period, the Youth
Maritime Career Launch (YMCL) is a pilot program that partners with community
organizations and maritime industry employees to create pathways for young people
between the ages of 16-24 to gain employment in the maritime industry. In 2023, the
inaugural cohort of the program graduated 37 participants — nearly three-quarters
identified as people of color. Ten maritime industry employers were a part of YMCL,
providing the participants with work experience in shipyards, recreational boating
facilities, and on ferries. The graduates earned credentials in Basic Safety Training,
Transportation Workers Identification Card, and Merchant Mariners Credential,
making them competitive and qualified to gain full-time employment in entry-level
maritime roles.
SOUTH KING COUNTY COMMUNITY IMPACT FUND
Established in 2019, SKCCIF partners with community-based organizations near
the airport to address economic recovery, job training in port-related industries,
environmental sustainability and restoration, and capacity-building support for minority-
owned business enterprises. Since the start of the program, the Port has invested $7
million into 65 partner organizations, including 12 community-based organizations that
were added to SKCCIF in 2023. In 2023, SKCCIF Economic Recovery partners placed 130
community members in apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship programs in port-related
industries and supported 528 community members in gaining employment in those
industries. Salaries for these positions ranged from $19.05 to $34 per hour.
THE PORT OF SEATTLE CHANGE TEAM
In September 2020, OEDI created the Port ’s Change Team to operationalize our values
of equity and anti-racism. The Change Team includes representatives from every Port
department who lead eorts to implement equity principles and practices within their
respective teams and departments. During 2023, the Change Team nalized Values in
Action: Advancing Equity in Our Work — a guide for employees to embed equity into their
work in several areas including budgeting, hiring, data, and community engagement.
The Change Team also created the 2024 Equity in Budgeting Playbook, which includes the
new Equity Spending tool. And for the rst time in the Port’s history, the Change Team led
eorts for all 42 departments to implement department-specic equity goals.
RACIAL EQUITY TRAINING
Following the Commission’s Equity Policy Directive passed in April 2023, all employees
are required to complete annual racial equity training. OEDI has two tracks for this
requirement. Supervisors must complete six hours of training annually, and frontline
individual contributors must complete ve hours of training annually. Included in that
hourly requirement are two foundational racial equity courses that employees must
complete once every three years. In 2023, OEDI oered a total of 51 trainings and
workshops, utilizing a combination of external and internal trainers and facilitators
focusing on a variety of topics, such as racial equity, intersectionality, transgender equity,
combating antisemitism, and addressing implicit bias.
STAY CONNECTED WITH YOUR PORT
02/2024
Subscribe to the Equity In Action newsletter and bookmark the
Oce of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion web page.
BY THE NUMBERS
$21M
(or 3.4%) of the Port’s 2024
operating budget is designated
for work, programs, and
investments that advance the
Port’s equity, diversity, and
inclusion goals.
100k
The Port was the initial investor
(and is an ongoing partner)
in the Coalition for Climate
Careers— a new public-private
collaborative dedicated creating
to an inclusive, prosperous
green workforce
37
Participants of the inaugural
cohort of the Youth Maritime
Career Launch
42
Port departments set annual
equity goals to advance and
embed EDI in their work in 2024
1,595
People hired into jobs through
the SEA Employment Center
51
EDI trainings and workshops
oered to Port employees
120+
Community members
enrolled in Port-funded
construction and aviation
training programs
538
Community members gained
employment in port-related
industries through the South
King County Community
Impact Fund
