Equity and Social Justice- Assessment Tool Model. No. 582.

In support of the King County Equity and Social Justice Initiative (http://www.kingcounty.gov/equity), DNRP recently carried out an equity assessment for its major lines of business. The assessment utilized Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map how selected services and facilities relate to basic demographic conditions.

This comparison helps identify and address the relative fairness in distribution of benefits and burdens across our service areas, with the goal of reducing racial or income-based inequity associated with facilities and programs.

Having this basic, screening-level understanding of how our service portfolio impacts residents of various demographic backgrounds provides a useful perspective for more detailed assessments, if needed. When considering capital improvements, outreach or planning decisions, these maps help assess the potential impacts of new actions as they relate to current service levels and spatial demographics.

[Thanks to a post from EcolIbrarian,
Jonathan Betz-Zall, at the Task Force on the Environment (TFOE)discussion list.]

The Task Force on the Environment (TFOE) was created in 1989 in the spirit of the 20th Anniversary of Earth Day (1990). TFOE is one of the issues-oriented task forces that comprise the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) of the American Library Association (ALA). TFOE includes librarians, publishers, vendors, and other interested parties from a wide variety of settings, from public libraries, school libraries, and college and university libraries, to government agencies, public interest groups, publishers, vendors and other information providers.