RSJ ROUNDTABLE
The Race and Social Justice Community Roundtable is a partnership of twenty-five community organizations and public institutions working together to achieve racial equity in Seattle.
Roundtable members are committed to achieving racial equity throughout Seattle via coordinated actions. Members also are working to address institutional racism within their own organizations.
Member list: RSJ Community Roundtable
PDF of RSJ Community Roundtable - Summary
| Arab American Community Coalition | Damon Shadid |
| Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance | Tracy Lai |
| Casey Family Programs | Lyman Legters, Senior Director |
| Children’s Alliance | Paola Maranan, Director |
| Seattle City Council | Councilmember Bruce Harrell |
| City of Seattle | Julie Nelson, Seattle Office for Civil Rights Director |
| El Centro De La Raza | Estela Ortega, Director |
| King County | Sandy Ciske |
| Minority Executive Directors’ Coalition | Dorry Elias-Garcia, Director |
| Seattle King County NAACP | Gerald Hankerson |
| Nonprofit Assistance Center | Vicki Asakura, Director |
| People’s Institute NW | Sarah Freeman |
| Pride Foundation | Audrey Haberman, Director |
| Puget Sound Educational Service District | Monte Bridges, Director |
| Seattle Education Association | Olga Addae, President |
| Seattle Housing Authority | Tom Tierney, Director |
| Seattle Indian Health Board | Ralph Forquera, Director |
| Seattle Public Schools | Susan Enfield, Interim Superintendent |
| Senior Services | Denise Klein, Director |
| Solid Ground | Cheryl Cobb, Director |
| United Way of King County | David Okimoto, Community Services VP |
| YWCA | Patricia Hayden, Senior Program Director |
| Youth Undoing Institutional Racism | Baluga Tuitoelau |
Education is primary focus
The Roundtable has made education its primary focus as a step to achieve its overall goal. Graduation rates, rates of discipline, test scores and other measures illustrate a clear racial divide in education.
Typical explanations usually focus on the capacity of individual teachers, students, the curriculum, etc. Yet systemic race-based inequities sort and shape students in ways that are obvious to families of color, but often invisible to white families. Without referencing race, we can “explain” everything that happens in our schools. Yet those explanations fail to account for the undeniable racial fault line that runs through our education system. Unless we begin to address institutional racism, our educational outcomes will remain the same.
Besides focusing on education, the City and other Roundtable members are analyzing the connections between education and criminal justice, economics, environmental justice and health.
New RSJI docs in PDF
Join Us!
Video
RSJI: Working for Racial Equity
in City Government
A video highlighting the work of the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) featuring the voices of RSJ Community Roundtable members, Mayor Mike McGinn, City employees and RSJI staff on why the work to eliminate racial disparities is critical and how we are working together as government and community to achieve racial equity.
RSJI Information in Translation/English:
| Amharic | Cambodian |
| Chinese | Korean |
| Oromo | Somali |
| Spanish | Tagalog |
| Tigrigna | Vietnamese |
Other RSJI Documents
- Mayor's Executive Order 4/23/10: Outreach to Women and Minority Owned Businesses Mayor McGinn issued Executive Order 2010-5 on April 23, 2010 concerning outreach to women and minority businesses. The Order strengthens the City's commitment utilize women and minority owned businesses, and outlines steps for departments to ensure Citywide accountability.
- City Council Resolution Directing Race and Social Justice Work to Continue
- Full text of the Council's Resolution #31164
- Report 2008: Looking Back, Moving Forward [long report]
- 2008 RSJI Overview (executive summary)
In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. 