Drafter
Clerk 07/09/2009
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to the adoption of an equity and social justice framework to direct policy development and decision making in King County.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. In 1986, the King County council voted to rename King County to honor civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Adopted into state law in 2005, this change serves as a daily reminder to employees and residents of the principles of justice and equality for which Dr. King fought, and our role as a government in carrying forth his vision today.
B. Extensive studies demonstrate vast inequities in the health, wealth and opportunity of residents in King County. A youth of color is six times more likely than a white youth to spend time in a state or county correctional facility; a Native American baby is four times more likely to die before his or her first birthday than a white baby; a worker making between $15,000 and $25,000 a year is almost 12 times less likely to have health insurance than one making $50,000 or more per year; a resident of Auburn, Federal Way or southeast Seattle is five times more likely to die from diabetes than a resident of Mercer Island.
C. Inequities have persistent, profound and long-lasting effects. People with lower incomes, people of color and those in disenfranchised communities are more likely to begin their lives with inadequate infant care, to arrive to school unprepared to learn, to play in unsafe neighborhoods, to receive a lower-quality education, to be less likely to find a good job that pays a livable wage, to be less healthy, to be prone to disease and to die earlier.
D. The stressors of racism and discrimination also contribute to poor health. A highly-educated, professional African-American woman is more than twice as likely to have a child with very low birth weight, compared to a white woman with a high sc...
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