Seattle's Race and Social Justice Initiative
In 2004, Seattle became the first city in the U.S. to establish a program to address racial inequities, explicitly working to eliminate institutional racism. Known as the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), by its twenty-year anniversary in 2024 its accomplishments included creation and implementation of a Racial Equity Toolkit to guide policy, program and budget decisions to support positive racial equity outcomes, and support for departmental "Change Teams" which champion RSJI activities. The Initiative builds on the work of the civil rights movement and the ongoing efforts of individuals and groups in Seattle to confront racism and other forms of oppression. RSJI is a division of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights.