City of Seattle Mike McGinn, Mayor

City, Parks and Recreation Win Diversity Award

The Association of Washington Cities (AWC) has awarded a 2005 Diversity Champion Award to the City of Seattle and Parks and Recreation.

The AWC award this year honors 12 cities that have taken the initiative to support and honor the diversity of their community members; the organization rated the applications on the basis of how well each city celebrates, educates, collaborates, leads, empowers, and creates an impact on community diversity.

The City of Seattle, under the leadership of Mayor Greg Nickels, has undertaken a sweeping effort, the Race and Social Justice Initiative, to make cultural and ethnic diversity an asset, to eliminate institutional attitudes that result in racial disproportionality, and to transform our civic engagement processes to address these challenges.

"Our challenge is to bring everyone in Seattle under the umbrella of our services," Nickels said. "We need to reach into every corner of language, of culture, and of ethnicity to engage everyone, especially those for whom barriers exist to receiving those services."
Each agency in city government has a leadership team responsible for creating the department's race and social justice strategic plan and for working with leadership to implement it.

In conferring the award, AWC recognized Seattle Parks for:

• Engaging in cultural celebrations, setting a good example for the community, and empowering community members by encouraging participation;
• Internal emphasis on diversity and multicultural outreach;
• An active team of diverse employees who work to ensure quality services are accessible, and accountability for that effort;
• A comprehensive strategic plan for diversity that promotes systematic change in a large organization; and
• Acting as a model for local governments across the state.

Judges included Jerry Hebert, Washington State Human Rights Commissioner; Sarah Bergdahl, Founder of Main Street Mediation and Communications Services; Carlos Gil, owner of DiversityCentral.org; and Michelle Neal, Managing Director at INROADS, Inc., a firm that develops and places people of color in leadership positions.

Parks staff members Mazvita Maraire, Sal Munoz, Karl Fields, and Mary Beth Josef will travel to Kennewick on June 22, 2005 to accept the award.

For more information on the Race and Social Justice Initiative, please visit the web at: http://www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/issues/rsji/.

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Seattle Parks and Recreation

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