Office of Equity Newsletter | September 14th, 2023

Office of the Governor / Office of Financial Management sent this bulletin at 09/14/2023 08:45 AM PDT

Message from the Office. A weave of blue, purple, yellow, and teal colors sits below the text.

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Thank you for spending time with us today in reading our September Issue of the Office of Equity Newsletter. We’re so excited to fill you in on the amazing work that’s been happening in the Office of Equity since our last newsletter. This issue has some powerful news - the launch of our Advisory Board and the launch of the Toolkit & 7 Pit Stops!

If you want more content from us, subscribe to our other newsletters such as the Daily Flow which sends out a themed quote every business day. Our social media is still in the early stages as our Comms teams establishes itself, but you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

If you want to join our amazing team in furthering groundbreaking work, look to this link to apply for any open roles. Thank you in advance for your interest!

Upcoming Events. A weave of orange, red, purple, and yellow colors sit below the text.

The Office of Equity is excited to invite you to save the date for our 2023 Washington State Equity Convening.

Registration coming soon, with opportunities for both in-person or virtual participation! Recordings will be available for viewing after the conference for those who are unable to attend.

October 24th & 25th, 2023 | Greater Tacoma Convention Center

1500 Commerce Street, Tacoma, WA

The Washington State Office of Equity's Annual Convening. Save the Date. October 24-25, 2023. More details coming soon.

“Office of Equity Advisory Board” sits on a banner in front of a diverse group of people on the roadside who are waving down a van. They are smiling.

A group of diverse people, both sitting and standing, are interacting and talking with each other at an event.

standing, from left - Alaura Miller speaking to Angela Vera Webster, and Betsey Wilkerson (of Spokane City Council) speaking to Sabrina Njoroge; seated in background - Honorable Jackie High-Edward (of Spokane Superior Court Dept. 7) & Phil High-Edward speaking to Yaslin Torres-Pena (standing)

Our Advisory Board team held their inaugural meeting and welcome reception in Spokane, on August 11^th-13^th. After all the work put in to reach throughout the state to find people willing to share their diverse lived experience with the Office of Equity and help guide our work, our Program Managers Angela Vera Webster and Omar Santana-Gomez deserve a huge round of applause! They explained that they “received over 100 AMAZING applications, which made selection incredibly difficult. We poured over the applications multiple times and gradually whittled our selections down,” ending up with 11 board members.

A group of diverse people stand against a beige wall smiling for the camera. They are standing next to an Office of Equity Banner.

behind, from left – Kamilah Keyes-Brown & Alaura Miller; in front, from left – Twa-le Abrahamson, Yaslin Torres-Pena, Latrice Williams, Guadalupe Huitron-Lilly, Victor Loo, Eva Ortiz, & Amerena Johnson

They were able to bring the board members together to build relationship and get introduced to office staff as they embark on the journey to bring equitable solutions to state government. "We are absolutely thrilled to announce that our office's inaugural advisory board has been seated. Please join us in welcoming:

Amerena Johnson, Island County
Drayton Jackson, Kitsap County (not pictured)
Kamilah Keyes-Brown, Thurston County
Victor Loo, King County
Guadalupe Huitron-Lilly, Yakima County
Tychelle Graham-Moskowitz, Benton County (not pictured)
Eva Ortiz, Benton County
Yaslin Torres-Pena, Franklin County
Twa-le Abrahamson, Spokane County
Alaura Miller, Spokane County
Latrice Williams, Spokane County

A large group of diverse individuals are seated around tables listening to a presentation. The room is decorated and there are flowers on the tables.

A group of diverse people stand in front of a seated group. Behind them is a breakdown of Washington State's counties.

Our managers shared that the “scope of the boards work will include identifying policy and system barriers in state government and providing priorities and recommendations to the Office of Equity.” Additionally, they will be partnering with the Program Managers to co-create structure and the function of the board overall. Our entire office is ecstatic to welcome these 11 board members with a host of lived experience from Western, Central and Eastern Washington!

Two people stand in front of a room of seated folks presenting.

from left - Omar Santana-Gomez & Angela Vera Webster present to the attendees of the Advisory Board Launch.

“pro-equity team.” Sitting to the right of the text are two clasped hands in a firm handshake, surrounded by an orange ribbon.

Pro-Equity Team. A weave of orange, red, purple, and teal colors sit below the text.

Our Pro-Equity team has hired some new roles recently. They’re gearing up to connect within the enterprise to provide consultation that is rooted in PEAR. We’re excited as they build over the next few weeks! Stay tuned for more updates and information from our Pro-Equity Consultants.

A purple highway snakes through a yellow field where a bunch of various people are gathering around a sign that says "Shared Power."

"Toolkit & 7 Pitstops Launch." A weave of orange, red, purple, and yellow colors sit below the text.

Our Shared Power Team is creating resources to help serve the community and build relational partnerships. They have been working on the Relational Partnership Toolkit and are excited to reveal it at our We The People annual convening in October. They are “thrilled to co-create resources for the enterprise and the community. Our hope is to continue to develop tools and resources to achieve belonging.”

The Shared Power Consultants will conduct a Toolkit Demo workshop at the convening so interested parties can see the work they’ve been doing and learn more about the tools they are creating to aid agencies in their relationship building work. This is the first volume of resources that the Shared Power team will co-create. Additionally, they are excited to launch the 7 Pit Stop video this month! Connect with us to be sure you see it when it is revealed.

“Innovation & Performance.” In front of the “&” sits a person working on their laptop. Lightbulbs and computers surround the text.

Innovation & Performance Team. A weave of blue, teal, green, & purple colors sit below the text.

Equity work is inherently disruptive, and change is hard... but it doesn't have to be.

Equipping our team of consultants with change management strategies is an innovative way to approach implementing the PEAR ecosystem. Bringing some calm to the chaos, several staff members across all teams are getting Prosci Certified. Our most recent recipients include Sabrina Njoroge, Shared Power Consultant, and Caitlyn McNabb, Director for Innovation & Performance.

Over the next several months, we will be celebrating a whole slew of other change makers turned change champions from our team.

Congratulations to Cate and Sabrina for their hard work!

Staff Spotlight. A weave of orange, red, purple, and teal colors sit below the text.

Since our last newsletter, we have two new staff members that joined the Office of Equity! Our team is still growing and if this work speaks to you, you can find our open positions here.

Help us give a warm welcome to our newest Communications Team staff member: Vic Vong (they/them)!

Vic is smiling and looking at the camera. Vic, an Asian person, has short hair, and is wearing dark gray clothing against a white background.

“As the new Digital Communications Accessibility Coordinator, Vic is thrilled to join the Office of Equity. Vic grew up in Seattle and saw the impacts of redlining, a discriminatory practice that prevented people of color from living in places free from environmental hazards. These histories, along with their multi-generational impacts, motivated them to join efforts addressing environmental racism, ableism, and language discrimination. They have learned by working with community-based organizations, including API Chaya, and policy advocacy organizations, such as the Greenlining Institute. As part of their journey, Vic received a Bachelor’s in Sociology from Seattle University. Vic was also a Public Policy International Affairs Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. Throughout their career, they have strived to center equity and accessibility.

Outside of work, Vic enjoys watching anime, visiting parks, and smelling whatever flowers are currently in bloom. They are thankful for the work of many people and movements that have paved the way for a more equitable future and hope to contribute by ensuring accessibility in communications.”

We also have the pleasure of introducing you to Jasmine Remick (she/her), the newest member of the Pro-Equity Team!

Jasmine is wearing a black suit jacket with a floral print blouse. She is a bi-racial woman, Lithuanian/German and African American.

“Jasmine shared that she is beyond excited and honored to be invited to join the Office of Equity team. She is a Veteran of the US Army and served one tour overseas in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a petroleum supply specialist. Jasmine is originally from New York, and grew up in the mid-west, Michigan.

Her family relocated to Washington in 2012 and she began her career in State Government in 2013. Shortly thereafter she continued her educational goals and achieved dual degrees, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration - Human Resource Management in 2018. Jasmine’s next goal is to complete a Master of Science in Criminal Justice.

Jasmine has 10 years’ experience in State Government, having worked in various facilities and supporting various Leadership teams. She has a knack for developing efficient processes with an equitable lens which has improved services to underrepresented groups.

She is a lover of learning and data because data tells a story. Ensuring that data matches reality is a crucial element of the decision-making process, and she is passionate about how information is conceived, analyzed, and interpreted. She says she totally geeks-out on new software and enjoys finding solutions to solve problems, like a puzzle.

Jasmine’s vision is to help create pathways in State Government that change the trajectory of the negative statics that plague marginalized and underrepresented groups in terms of health, economic growth, opportunity, education, housing, and ownership. She is eager to roll up her sleeves and get to work!

On a personal note, Jasmine is a mother of three (twin, 9 years old and a 19-year-old, all boys). They keep her busy between MMA, soccer, and the transition into adulthood. She loves to laugh and will watch a standup show anytime. She has two dogs, 6 kitties, - (queen and her babies), and two turtles. To keep herself grounded, Jasmine gardens and spends every day nurturing her plants. Jasmine loves the outdoors, exploring the PNW with family and will be celebrating 14 years of marriage this November!

Here is something special that Jasmine shared: “I was told that there is no Testimony without the Test.” Jasmine stated that she is embracing the journey her faith is leading her through and taking each test as an opportunity to learn and grow. She looks forward to meeting and working with you all.”

We’re so excited to see the brilliance that Vic and Jasmine are bringing to our office. Make sure to give them a warm welcome as they get comfortable with their roles!

Thank you for reading! A weave of blue, green, yellow, and purple colors sits below the text.

We are excited to have you plug into the work of the Advisory Board and learn more through Shared Power’s Toolkit & 7 Pit Stops, as well as meet our new staff members. We want to continually remind you that if change is to happen in our state government and for our communities, we all have responsibility to this work amongst each individual agency and throughout the enterprise. See you next time!