EQUITY ON TRIAL!: Has the Supreme Court declared Diversity DEAD or ALIVE?

A licensed clinical mental health therapist, and an alum of the University of Washington, School of Social Work, Winona Hollins Hauge is a well-known community connector and advocate for communities that are underserved. During the pandemic, she was the recipient of both a national award for community building and resource development. The local award came from the NW Asian Weekly Newspaper in combination with the Lilly Company for building sustainable connections for families during the height of the pandemic to access the food, technology, and vaccinations. During her ten-year career as a Clinical trials and Outreach Manager for Fred Hutchinson in Seattle, Hauge was credited for creating corporate, industry and seamless connections between multidisciplinary communities needing cancer care resources and prevention information and access to care. Post-career in health care, she has transferred her leadership skill set to the co-founding and building of several non-profit organizations. She has extensive experience training the trainer and training large and small groups around health equity, DEI and anti-racism work. Hauge uses her clinical training to engage audiences and to create creative new pathways to engage learning opportunities around the subject matter of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity. Winona is a long-time member of the UW Health Promotion and Research CAB, where she represents the UW on the National Institutes of Health 's, NCC ( National Community Committee). She is also one of the co-founding members of the Washington Equity Now Alliance (WENA). She is serving on the board and is one of the key coalition builders, team player and advocate of for outreach and full DEIB and Anti-racism education, policy development and takes a special interest in helping to bring policies to fruition for the diverse needs of the communities that they serve in the State of Washington.

Delbert Richardson (he/him) is a community scholar, ethnomusuemologist, and second-generation storyteller of the national award winning “Unspoken Truths” American History traveling museum. Delbert has resided in Martin Luther King County for over 60+ plus years. He is a member of WENA. Delbert is a proud graduate of Franklin high school and holds a B.A. in Liberal Art (international social justice) from Antioch university Seattle 2016. Delbert has won numerous awards for his national award-winning work including the National Education Assoc. (NEA) Human and Civil Rights Award in 2017, the Governor's Arts & Heritage "spotlight" Award in 2021, the museum of history and industry (MOHAI) educator of the year award in 2021, and was the recipient of the Seattle Public Schools Dept. of Racial Equity Advancement (DREA) Outstanding Educator Award in 2022.

U.S. Supreme Court Bar-admitted attorney and native Washingtonian Jesse Wineberry is a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) attorney, 5-term former Washington State Representative, and one of the “Equity on Trial” presenters. He is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Business, Seattle University School of Law and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 1984, when Wineberry was a UW law student, he became the first person of color elected to represent the 43rd Legislative District and the first law student elected to the Washington State House. During Rep. Wineberry’s five undefeated terms in Olympia, he served as House Majority Whip and Chairman of the powerful House Committee on International Trade, Technology and Economic Development. Wineberry’s landmark legislation includes the $100 million Linked-Deposit Loan Fund for Minority and Women Owned Businesses; anti-hate crimes laws, YouthBuild apprenticeship program; Washington Commission on African American Affairs, Employer-Supported Child Care Act, and the Dr. Martin Luther King state holiday. Today, Rep. Wineberry is a Co-Founder of the Washington Equity Now Alliance (WENA). WENA is the statewide Pro-Equity, Anti-Racist, non-profit, non-partisan organization which led 2022’s successful statewide campaign for Governor Jay Inslee to sign Executive Order 22-02, rescinding Governor’s Directive 98-01 and paving the way for race and gender conscious equity in Washington state. On October 31, 2022, Wineberry represented WENA in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Supreme Court hearings on affirmative action. In anticipation of the high court’s June, 2023 landmark ruling, Wineberry says, “WENA is ready to guide a new generation of Washington state administrators on DEI policies, starting with the 2023 DEI Empowerment Conference and continuing as long as equity is on trial in America."

As the leave administrator responsible for administration of all employees leaves to include, FMLA, PFML, Veteran’s Leave and Domestic Violence Leave. As leave administrator responsible for the managing, administering and ensuring compliance with all of the regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). At the United States Department of Justice he worked effectively within a multi-state region to provide technical assistance, support and training for affected groups in conflict as a means to eliminate and prevent violence, escalation of violence and further conflict. As the manager of Equal Opportunity and Conflict Resolution he worked across departmental and organizational lines within MARTA to determine compliance with applicable Federal laws and regulations and MARTA’s policies ensuring Equity, Civil Rights and Non-discrimination for patrons, employees and the general public. His extensive experience working in community agencies in the inner-city as a community organizer performing community outreach and liaison activities, performing conflict intervention activities between the police and the minority community, as a program planner developing and implementing programs in the community for Senior citizens, programs for the disabled, developing education and training programs for youth and adult offenders, programs to promote economic development, drug and alcohol abuse awareness and prevention programs, preventing teen pregnancy, reducing juvenile and adult crime, assisting the homeless and working for equity and social and economic justice for all persons.