Equitable Community Engagement Ethos

Vision and Values

What we believe in.

Seattle will become a more equitable, livable, and sustainable city by centering community and racial justice in our planning, community development, and design processes and decisions.
Our work will engage all residents of Seattle in shaping the city's future and will prioritize giving voice and power to communities, especially BIPOC, that have been historically marginalized.

How we strive to do the work.

Build and maintain respectful, meaningful relationships with community over time and across projects.
Center the work with an intersectional, race-conscious lens, informed by the City's history of racial discrimination and disinvestment.
Bring engagement to community, don't make community come to us.
Be responsive to the needs and goals identified by and within communities.
Value and elevate the assets and experience that exist within community.

Skills, approaches, and relationships we bring to the work.

Broad and deep relationships with communities and community-based organizations established through a long-term commitment to building mutual respect and trust.
Partnerships with community-based organizations, making the knowledge and resources at OPCD available to our partners.
Feedback from community members and key stakeholders that they feel they have had a meaningful role in creating and implementing City policies, programs, and other decisions.
More people in BIPOC communities are actively engaged in policy, design, and community development work, with increased representation of BIPOC stakeholders at decision-making tables.
All projects launched by OPCD have used a Racial Equity Toolkit or equivalent process, including identification and achievement of racially equitable outcomes.
OPCD will initiate projects that are proactively generated in response to community needs, particularly the needs of historically marginalized and underinvested communities.

How we know we have done the work faithful to our principles.

Feedback from community members and key stakeholders that they feel they have had a meaningful role in creating and implementing City policies, programs, and other decisions.
More people in BIPOC communities are actively engaged in policy, design, and community development work, with increased representation of BIPOC stakeholders at decision-making tables.
All projects launched by OPCD have used a Racial Equity Toolkit or equivalent process, including identification and achievement of racially equitable outcomes.
OPCD will initiate projects that are proactively generated in response to community needs, particularly the needs of historically marginalized and underinvested communities.