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1. Who Completes the Equity Note?

Each department should construct teams to complete Equity Notes, with the goal of reflecting a multitude of life experiences.

Additionally, each department must identify at least one staff member responsible for submitting the Equity Note through the Electronic Data Sheet (EDS).

Beyond proposals for County Council, the Equity Note provides staff with a toolkit to integrate equity across work and decision-making within the county, including in policy development, analysis, and performance evaluation.

2. Where will the Equity Note be housed?

The Equity Note can be accessed through EDS and the Equity Note webpage. It can also be navigated directly with this link:
www.piercecountywa.gov/equitynote 

The form is dynamic, so the answers will inform which questions display next to the user. This customized format will make each experience filling out the Equity Note unique, so questions may appear that have not been in previous applications.

3. How is the Equity Note included in the existing EDS Workflow?

An Equity Note requirement has been added to the Data Sheet system in EDS. A check box is now available at the top right of the ‘General’ tab in EDS, which includes a direct link to the Equity Note Survey Form.

Once the Equity Note is complete, an email will be sent to the staff member who filled out the survey. Staff will then upload a copy to the ‘Documents’ tab in EDS check the box on the ‘General’ tab attesting to having uploaded the Equity Note to the proposal. Finance staff will be notified to review and approve the note before it progresses to additional approval steps.

4. What information is included in the Equity Note?

The Equity Note is a series of questions that help Pierce County staff evaluate potential impacts on equity of proposals going before the County Council. These questions are grouped into six parts:

Introduction 

This section includes a brief description of the proposed action or policy, the desired outcome, and connections to other policies or services. It serves to provide decision-makers with a clear and concise description of the action or decision at hand while considering the information presented in the other portions of the Equity Note.

Appointment Resolution

This section is only applicable if a proposal is a resolution appointing or re-appointing a person to a committee or board. It provides decision-makers with a clear and concise description of how the individual was identified and selected.

Development 

In this section, staff are prompted to describe how opportunities to further equity were identified in the development of the proposal using both quantitative and qualitative data. 

Target Population 

In this section, staff consider residents impacted by the proposal. This section provides information about the scope and impact of the proposal, both geographically and by population characteristics. 

 Monitoring 

In this section, staff identify how impact can be measured and monitored. Developing mechanisms for collecting this data and evaluating progress will help measure whether equity is being advanced. 

 Additional Considerations 

Because the Equity Note is a flexible tool, designed to be useful across all County proposal development, there may be additional information that a Department feels is relevant to County Council when they consider the proposal and its impact on equity. This is an open-ended question that provides staff an opportunity to expound or reiterate upon impacts that the proposal may have on equity.