NCW Equity Alliance leads dynamic, community-driven efforts to advance equity and inclusion across North Central Washington through education, advocacy, and connection.
E Pluribis Unum
Opinion Piece by the NCW Equity Alliance Board of Directors
April 4, 2025
E Pluribis Unum is the motto of the United States. Boldly, it is carried on currency and is front and center on the seal of the United States. As a banner, it’s proudly held in the beak of our national symbol, the eagle. Do you know what it means?
The NCW Equity Alliance grew out of Our Valley Our Future’s ’One Community Working Group.” The NCW Equity Alliance focuses on community-based education, advocacy, and reconciliation in the diverse, predominantly rural communities of NCW. Our mission is to proactively assist regional organizations, anchor institutions, and individuals in their journey towards equitable and respectful opportunity and inclusion for all of our region’s residents.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work in rural communities and small cities has a different intimacy than the DEI work in larger, metropolitan areas. Though we recognize that there are more commonalities between people – regardless of their backgrounds and geographies – we also know that local and regional cultures determine how best to have difficult conversations and foster deeper relationships. Thus our goal is to grow as a trusted and reliable partner for improving DEI literacy, skills, and policies by, for, and with our rural communities and small towns.
A saying heard often in Central Washington is, “Nothing about us without us.” As a result, the NCW Equity Alliance’s long-term goals prioritize:
- Nurturing local facilitators and consultants with personal lived experience in our communities and commitment to our equity mission;
- Creating a multigenerational and multiethnic pool of regional leaders and mentors;
- Demonstrating the constructive power of “calling in” as a model for accountability, reconciliation, and co-creation;
- Preserving the rural character of our communities and ensuring that tolerance, respect, and inclusion become and remain anchor principles.
