Pro-equity anti-racism (PEAR) at ESD

The Pro-Equity Anti-Racism (PEAR) effort is a statewide initiative to manifest a pro-equity anti-racism ecosystem in Washington state. As directed through an executive order, and under the direction of the Washington State Office of Equity, all state agencies will develop PEAR action plans to help achieve the PEAR vision that:

“Everyone in Washington has full access to the opportunities, power and resources they need to flourish and achieve their full potential.”

For questions or to share your interest in joining the PEAR team, contact Ayanna Colman, director of ESD's Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Learn more

Read ESD’s PEAR statement

Also available in the following languages:

Read the full ESD PEAR plan

Now. Together. Promoting equity & anti-racism

Agency-wide PEAR plan: three investments

PEAR graphic

Investment 1 - Staff

DEFINE and select staff for opportunities to...
GROW prepare and qualify for future promotions.
DEVELOP through job assignments and special projects.

Create an agency-wide approach to define, communicate, and select staff for opportunities to grow and develop skills to be prepared for future promotional opportunities. This includes developmental job assignments and special projects. All ESD employees will have expectations related to cultural competency in their Performance Development Plans (PDPs) based on where they are on their Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) journey.

Investment 2 - Customers

PRIORITIZE and provide navigational support programs...
SPECIFIC to customers with barriers, while providing...
NAVIGATION assistance for clients using the system.

Our first priority will be to pilot an in-person and virtual program to provide navigational support for all agency programs targeted specifically to highly barriered customers. We envision doing this at our WorkSource Centers by creating a role for staff as navigators to assist clients through the system. In addition, ESD will consider increasing access by expanding hours of operations for virtual services at first, then potentially moving to expanding hours of operations for in-person services.

Investment 3 - DATA

INVEST in completing our Equity Impact Review.
INCLUDE developing deeper community relationships.
ENSURE we have the tools and infrastructure we need.

ESD will invest in completing our Equity Impact Review, including developing deeper community membership and relationship building, and evaluating infrastructure such as data collection to ensure that we have the tools we need to move work forward, using data sources developed and used by partners where appropriate.

Important Updates and Alerts (2)