Washington Department of Commerce dissolves standalone equity team
Washington’s Department of Commerce is dissolving its standalone equity team, the state’s commerce director said Tuesday in an all-staff email.
Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn said in a statement to McClatchy that equity work is too often siloed, lacking the power to usher in lasting change. Now the department is moving toward “a more integrated model with clear leadership from my office and direct accountability across all divisions.”
“Equity will no longer be treated as the responsibility of a single team,” he said. “It will be a shared expectation for every team.”
Noting that most of the agency’s work involves managing grants, he said that it is expanding the Compliance and Contracts Division in an effort to make sure funding consistently reaches folks who are most in need.
Agency spokesperson Amelia Lamb told McClatchy that there are seven positions on the standalone equity team.
Asked whether those employees are being laid off, she replied: “We hope they’re able to stay with us, and we’ll work with each individual to move them into different roles here at the agency, if possible and depending on personnel factors.”
The decision comes as the administration of President Donald Trump has sought to unravel diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, initiatives and programs nationwide. Washington state leaders, meanwhile, have largely stood by DEI.
During a February news conference, Gov. Bob Ferguson noted the president can’t stop Washington from using state resources to advance its values. And at an event last week to raise the Pride flag at the state Capitol, the governor said that “it’s a time to lean into diversity, equity, inclusion” amid federal hostility.
The Governor’s Office did not immediately return McClatchy’s request for comment on the Department of Commerce’s standalone equity team being dissolved.
Lamb said no federal dollars funded the equity team positions. She said the department doesn’t know exactly how much money the move will save, citing “employee return rights at the agency” and the agency’s push to “de-silo” equity work. Commerce Department layoffs
Nguyễn began Tuesday’s all-staff email by referencing the state’s significant budget shortfall and agency efforts to meet the governor’s budget-reduction goals. He also pointed to an agency restructuring, with 24 filled positions getting axed.
Nguyễn wrote that the Department of Commerce sought to slash spending while minimizing impacts to employees. It eliminated vacant positions, prolonged its internal hiring freeze past what the governor had required, and slashed administrative costs.
Such actions kept roughly 10% of positions unfilled and “created more internal mobility options during this transition,” he said in the email. It’s the only round of layoffs the agency anticipates, although it could take time to realize the full effects, he wrote.
Impacted staff have been informed, with most changes taking effect around the start of next month.
“As we look ahead to how our agency evolves through these changes, we’re also making intentional shifts to better align our structure with our values,” he wrote.
The standalone equity team is going away, but Nguyễn reassured staff that the agency remains committed to folding equity work into all positions agency-wide. He said the Compliance and Contracts Division’s expansion will aid in driving that change, and that a new role in the department’s Legislation and Policy Division will bake environmental justice into policy-making and government-relations work.
The director said the department will charge ahead with urgency and purpose.
“Even as DEI efforts face opposition at the national level, we are committed to building a more inclusive future in Washington,” Nguyễn told McClatchy. “That commitment remains firm, even as we navigate one of the largest state budget shortfalls in a decade.”