Template revised April 12, 2018.

COMMISSION

AGENDA MEMORANDUM

Item No. 11c

BRIEFING ITEM Date of Meeting May 13, 2025

DATE: May 6, 2025

TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director

FROM: Bookda Gheisar, Senior Director, Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Tania Park, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion System Change Program Manager

Jay Doran, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy & Communications Manager

SUBJECT: 2024 Annual Report for the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With the creation of the organizationally cross-cutting Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

(OEDI) in 2019, the Port of Seattle has transformed policies, practices, and processes to deliver

more equitable outcomes for our workforce and communities. OEDI has led the Port in removing

barriers to ensure that the communities the Port serves have access to the resources needed to

thrive. This includes external programs that facilitate economic growth and internal programs

that foster an inclusive culture and build Port employees’ skills to advance equity, diversity, and

inclusion.

Since its establishment five years ago, OEDI has achieved many milestones and made notable

progress toward normalizing, organizing, and operationalizing equity both inside and outside the

organization. OEDI’s accomplishments range broadly, from advancing equity within the Port to

creating access to quality, family-wage careers in structurally excluded communities to

positioning the Port as a leader in advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion among port

authorities.

Shortly after OEDI was created, the Port updated our Century Agenda to “Become a Model for

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.” In 2020, OEDI launched the Port’s internal Change Team, a major

step towards transforming the Port into an anti-racist, equitable organization. During the Black

Lives Matter movement in 2020, OEDI supported employees and launched a New Task Force on

Policing and Civil Rights, which assessed and provided recommendations to the Port Police

Department. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic that same year, OEDI developed core

principles for the Port’s COVID-19 economic recovery framework.

In 2021, the Port continued advancing equity by including Anti-Racism and Equity in our

organizational values. OEDI conducted the Equity and Women of Color Assessments to identify

disparities and provide recommendations for improvement. The Change Team also created the

first Equity in Budgeting Playbook, an annual resource for Port staff to incorporate equity into

their annual business planning.

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OEDI continued producing equity tools in 2022, like the Values in Action equity handbook, which

helps Port employees apply equity in their day-to-day work, and new requirements were

developed with HR to create more fairness within the hiring process. The following year, the Port

passed the Equity Policy Directive, requiring, among other things, that all departments set annual

equity, diversity, and inclusion goals for the first time in Port history. Also in 2023, the Port passed

a Language Access Order, ensuring the inclusion of non-English or limited English speakers,

including those who are hard of hearing or deaf, in the use of Port services and facilities. In 2024,

the Port began designing and piloting an institutional framework (for both the seaport and

airport) to prioritize and invest in opportunities that have the greatest environmental justice

impact and deliver positive outcomes for near-port communities. This work included using the

Port’s Equity Index to make data-informed decisions in multiple capital projects, airport noise

programs, and other planning efforts. Lessons learned and best practices from these efforts will

inform the Environmental Justice Framework.

From 2020 to 2024, the OEDI team has grown from 1 to 13 employees. During that time, OEDI

offered nearly 300 EDI trainings, classes, and workshops and helped 8,500+ people secure jobs

in port-related industries through Workforce Development programs. OEDI has led the Port

toward the vision of an organization where race is no longer a predictor of outcomes, and

everyone feels they belong and have opportunities to thrive.

The briefing on May 13, 2025, will provide an overview of OEDI’s work during its first five years,

an update on the implementation of the recommendations from the EDI and WOC Assessment,

an update on the implementation of the Equity Policy Directive, and a snapshot of OEDI’s work

and goals for 2025.

BACKGROUND

Economic development and improved quality of life for all are central to the Port’s public service

mission. Yet, for too long, the government has played a central role in creating and perpetuating

racial inequities and disparities. As a special purpose government, the Port recognizes that

without explicitly addressing the root causes of inequities, our organization will always face an

uphill challenge to achieving our mission and creating a socially, economically, and

environmentally prosperous region.

In 2019, the Port of Seattle became the first port authority in the country to establish an office

of equity. In doing so, our organization committed time and resources to embed equity, diversity,

and inclusion into the fabric of the organization, recognizing that equity benefits everyone. By

investing in OEDI, the Port aspires to create a workplace and an organization where all people –

employees and community members – feel included, respected, and welcomed. The Port values

diversity as a source of strength and innovation that should be celebrated. A diverse workforce

drives economic development and improved quality of life.

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OEDI’s work, which enhances the Port’s ability to meet its public service mission, is informed by

the following strategies.

STRATEGY 1

Transform the Port of Seattle by infusing equity, diversity, and inclusion principles and

practices into all aspects of organizational structure, programs, policies, processes, and

culture.

STRATEGY 2

Support the Port of Seattle in creating meaningful engagement with near-Port communities

and providing equitable and tangible benefits to impacted communities of color, immigrant

and refugee communities, and low-income communities.

STRATEGY 3

Build OEDI’s capacity and expertise to lead, partner, and collaborate on systems change and

equity work with external peer agencies – locally and nationally.

The concepts of Normalize, Organize, and Operationalize undergird all our work. Normalizing

equity within an institution means just that – to normalize talking about equity so that over

time it becomes an organizational norm and leads to results, such as through modeling and

tone setting by leadership and employee engagement and culture. Organizing for equity

means building infrastructure and capacity to implement equity practices, such as policy

development; EDI goal setting and implementation plans; and creating or increasing staff

capacity to embed equity into their work. Operationalizing equity includes all the elements

that allow equity principles to be fully integrated into day-to-day operations, including

budgeting with an equity lens, creating accountability mechanisms, and fostering meaningful

engagement of Port staff and the public.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2024 Highlights

Key Accomplishments

Change Team

 Monitored and assisted with the implementation of 2024

department EDI goals.

 Led the development of annual department EDI goals for 2025

across 46 departments.

 Championed EDI within departments through initiatives such as

Equity Moments.

EDI Goals and

Assessment Actions

 At the department-level, the Change Team helped to develop,

implement, and track 2024 department EDI goals. Across all

departments, approximately 79% of EDI goals were completed in

2024.

 Continued progress to implement and track recommendations

from the 2021 Equity and Women of Color Assessments. Through

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2024, approximately 76% of those recommendations had been

implemented.

 The third annual Belonging & Inclusion Survey was conducted in

2024. We only heard from 35% of Port employees whose

responses showed a decrease in the level of inclusion and

belonging felt by the respondents. We will undergo a Port-wide

equity assessment in fall 2025 to better understand the gap in

perception and to get concrete actions for improvement.

Equity in Budgeting

 Members of the Port’s Change Team, in partnership with OEDI

and Finance and Budget, developed with 2025 Equity In

Budgeting Playbook – the fourth iteration of this tool.

 All departments and divisions applied this playbook to the

creation of their 2025 budgets.

 This was the second year that the Port has captured “equity

spending” to measure the organization’s investment in equity,

known as “equity spending.”

EDI Training and

Engagement

 OEDI offered a total of 69 trainings and workshops in 2024,

including workshops led by OEDI staff, Change Team members,

Employee Resource Groups, and external consultants.

 In 2024, Internal Audit and OEDI identified issues with tracking

and reporting on EDI training completions and began taking steps

to improve and address these issues. For 2024, 2,271 employees

(93% of the Port) completed at least 1 hour of EDI training, 1,395

employees (57%) completed at least 2 hours, and 1,105

employees (45%) completed at least 4 hours.

External Engagement

 In 2024, the South King County Community Impact Fund’s

Economic Recovery Program completed its fourth cycle, funding 6

organizations for a total of $1.48M. Additionally, the Commission

reauthorized SKCCIF for $14M over the next five years (2025-

2029); with community input, staff are implementing several

improvements to the program; and SKCCIF received the 2024

American Association of Port Authorities’ Lighthouse Award for

Excellence in Economic Recovery.

 In 2024, OEDI led the Language Access Cohort – a group of 18

departments identified as high-utilizers for language access

services – to create department-specific language access plans for

2025. These departments will implement and track their plans in

2025, creating a model for other departments to do the same in

2026.

 Northwest Seaport Alliance – In partnership with the Northwest

Seaport Alliance, our office has been supporting a collaborative

effort to decarbonize the Gateway. The multi-stakeholder Puget

Sound Zero-Emission Truck Collaborative formed in June 2023 to

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Meeting Date: May 13, 2025

Template revised September 22, 2016.

develop a roadmap for transitioning to zero-emission drayage

services across the Puget Sound region’s marine cargo terminals

no later than 2050. The Collaborative drafted a roadmap towards

transition, which included input from various impacted parties,

including independent owner/operators, and was published in

April 2025.

Environmental Justice

 In 2024, OEDI staff collaborated with staff from multiple

departments to use the Equity Index to ensure environmental

justice and equity were considered in Port projects and

operations, including:

o Capital Projects: To identify potential unintended impacts

on, mitigation strategies, and maximizing benefits for

near-port communities on several projects.

o SEA Airport Noise Programs: By leveraging the Equity

Index, the Noise Programs Office tailored outreach

materials, including a survey, to better engage residents in

assessment phase of the Sound Insulation Repair &

Replacement Pilot Program (SIRRPP). This included

offering translated materials and using inclusive language.

Additionally, the Equity Index supported the development

of eligibility and prioritization criteria for the SIRRPP

implementation in 2025.

 OEDI’s Environmental Justice PM collaborated with staff from

more than a dozen staff from Corporate, Maritime, and Aviation

divisions to co-create an institutional framework (for both the

seaport and airport) to prioritize and invest in opportunities that

have the greatest environmental justice impact and deliver

positive outcomes for near-port communities.

ATTACHMENTS TO THIS BRIEFING

(1) OEDI’s Five-Year Impact Report

(2) Presentation

PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS

October 22, 2024 – The Commission received a briefing on the first five years (2020-2024) of

the South King County Community Impact Fund on October 8, 2024, and then on October

22, 2024, the Commission voted to reauthorize the program for $14 million over the next

five years (2025-2029).

March 26, 2024 – The Commission was briefed on the 2023 OEDI Annual Report, including a

review of success from 2023 and an overview of goals and work for 2024.

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Meeting Date: May 13, 2025

Template revised September 22, 2016.

March 12, 2024 – The Commission was briefed on the findings and recommendations of the

Language Access Assessment per the Language Access Order passed in April 2023.

Commission was asked for a two-year extension to complete the remaining items of the

Language Access Order.

October 10, 2023 – The Commission was brief on the progress and evaluation of the South

King County Community Impact Fund.

April 11, 2023 – The Commission passed the Equity Policy Directive, guiding the integration

of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging into the Port’s practices and policies, and to

move the work beyond compliance and mandates towards long-term commitment and

sustainable system.

April 11, 2023 – The Commission authorized the Language Access Order (2023-05), directing

the Port to develop a language access policy and plan that ensures inclusion of non or

limited English speakers, including those who are hard of hearing or deaf, in the use of

Port services and facilities; and the port-wide implementation of a plan directing divisions

with publicly facing public services to offer language assistance services including

translation and/or interpretation.

February 14, 2023 – The Commission was briefed on the 2022 OEDI Annual Report, including

a review of success from 2022 and an overview of goals and work for 2023.

September 13, 2022 – The Commission was requested to authorize the Executive Director to

execute contracts for the 2022/2023 South King County Community Impact Fund (SKCCIF)

not to exceed $3.25M.

June 28, 2022 – The Commission was requested to (1) determine that a competitive process

was not appropriate or cost-effective and exempts the contract from a competitive

process consistent with RCW 53.19.020; and (2) the Executive Director executed a

contract amendment with Equity Matters to provide expert services for EDI training for

supervisors for an increase of $65,000 for a new contract total of $264,400; and (3) the

Commission authorized the Executive Director to execute a competitive indefinite

delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, not to exceed $750,000 during a five year

period, to implement a long-term training strategy.

January 4, 2022 – The Commission was briefed with a summary of key findings and

recommendations from the EDI assessment, an update on the work and progress of the

Change Team, and an update on the progress of the required racial equity trainings.

September 14, 2021 – The Commission was briefed on the Equity Index, which was created

with the initial intent to equitably guide funding decisions for the South King County Fund,

serving as a component of the criteria for applications.

September 14, 2021 – The Commission was briefed on the Port Policing Assessment Final

Report, with a summary of key findings and recommendations for potential Commission

or Executive action, as well as proposed plan for implementation over the coming year.

July 27, 2021 – The Commission was requested to authorize the Executive Director to execute

contract agreements and implement the 2021 South King County Fund program in an

amount not-to-exceed $2million.

May 11, 2021 – The Commission was briefed on the South King County Fund

Recommendations. The successful first cycle of South King County Fund (SKCF) was

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Meeting Date: May 13, 2025

Template revised September 22, 2016.

launched in the summer of 2020 with $250,000 in support for WMBE small business

development and $1million for Economic Recovery Grants and then followed shortly

hereafter with $250,000 for Environmental Grants.

April 27, 2021 – The Commission was briefed on the Port Policing Assessment Progress

Report. At the Commission’s November 17 public meeting, staff presented a progress

report of initial findings. The briefing on April 27 provided further status updates,

additional recommendations for potential Commission or Executive action, and an

updated timeline for completion of assessment.

December 9, 2020 – The Commission was requested to authorize the Executive Director to

execute up to ten (10) contracts through the South King County Economic Recovery Fund,

for a combined total not-to-exceed $981,881.

November 17, 2020 – The Commission was briefed on progress-to-date, initial findings, and

potential next steps from 21CP Solutions, the Port’s policing assessment consultant, as

well as key stakeholders.

October 13, 2020 – The Commission approved the Racial Bias and Equity Motion.

February 11, 2020 – The Commission was briefed on the 2020 OEDI Strategic Plan. As one of

the first activities of OEDI, in the summer and fall of 2019, OEDI leadership develop a

strategic plan to guide the office’s work on equity.

January 7, 2020 – The Commission was requested to (1) determine a competitive process is

not appropriate or cost-effective and exempt this contract from a competitive process

consistent with RCW 53.19.020; and (2) for the Executive Director to execute a contract

amendment with Tu Consulting for strategy development planning services for the Office

of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion extending the contract period through October 2020

and increase the amount by $75,000 for a new total of $98,625.