Inside Mountlake Terrace Boards and Commissions: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

My MLT News is publishing a series of stories on how the City of Mountlake Terrace runs and deals with challenges facing elected officials, staff and the community. 

If you have attended one of Mountlake Terrace’s public events, such as Welcoming Week, Children’s Day and Juneteenth with a Father’s Day theme, thank the City’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission (DEIC). 

Created in 2020, the DEIC is made up of seven commissioners, a staff liaison and a City Council liaison. Staff liaison and Deputy City Manager Caroline Hope said her role is to support the Commission and relay their recommendations to the City Council. “[I] work with them to set the agendas, prepare meeting materials, and provide logistic support for events and programs. They do a lot of work with logistics and planning, too,” she told My MLT News.

She used the AANHPI Festival at Terrace Park Elementary on May 2 as an example where the DEIC came up with the name, performances and activities. 

“[Events Coordinator] Andrew Appelwick and I supported by securing a partnership with Edmonds School District, reserving the space, marketing the event, purchasing supplies, bringing city supplies, etc.,” Hope said. “Commissioners supported by volunteering to lead craft activities, reaching out to performers and arranging for them to be present, volunteering to emcee, and providing AV and photography support. It’s a joint effort.”

DEIC Vice Chair Teresa Courtney, who has been on the Commission for nearly three years, said that because Mountlake Terrace has a diverse population, the DEIC wants to understand what is important to them in the City. 

“[We’re] just making connections and acknowledging their place in the City, making sure everybody feels like they belong,” she said.

Courtney said the DEIC also supports the City Council by reviewing materials, such as proclamations and events “to make sure that we are honoring cultures appropriately, using appropriate language and imparting the history correctly.”

Since 2023, Courtney said the DEIC has expanded the LGBTQIA+ event from a flag-raising to an all-day event at Civic Plaza. 

In 2020, Hope said then-Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright and other councilmembers were interested in forming the DEIC because they wanted diverse voices during the policy-making process.

“This also was on the heels of the George Floyd incident in 2020,” Hope said. “So there was extra momentum to make something happen and our community felt their voices could be heard in the civic process. Our government represents everyone, and if our elected officials are only hearing from some of the people, then they’re not getting the whole picture.”

Hope said since the Commission was already doing a lot of community outreach, they expanded their efforts with new events. This includes forming a Community Engagement Plan and a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. 

In addition, the Community Engagement Strategic Plan focuses on improving communication, trust and participation between the City and residents by reducing barriers to civic involvement and ensuring more representative input in government decisions.

According to DEIC’s presentation to the City Council in September 2025, Commissioner Vonita Francisco reported that the foreign-born population has increased 61% since the 1990s, the proportion of residents 65 and older has increased by more than 50% and about 24% of residents speak a language other than English at home. About 6% of residents have limited English proficiency. 

According to the U.S. Census, whites make up nearly 62% of the Mountlake Terrace population in 2024. Francisco added that racial diversity has increased since 1970, with Hispanics make up 17% (the fastest-growing group), people of two or more races 11% and Asians 10% (the third fastest-growing group).

Meanwhile the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan outlines actions to ensure residents have equitable access to city services and feel welcomed and included in the community. According to the 2025 DEIC survey, residents addressed several issues, including:

• Lack of affordable housing and temporary shelters.
• Infrastructure improvements needed for safer walking, biking and transit.
• Need for interpretation services at meetings and events.
• Lack of access to city services during normal working hours

Details on the demographics data and actionable items can be viewed on the city agenda.

Hope also highlighted the Community Conversations event that the DEIC hosted last fall, where people from different backgrounds are invited to talk about their concerns in the City. 

“[In] my past experiences in working in different communities, you can’t just walk into a group who’s never participated in the civic process and expect them to answer questions about some kind of plan or policy decision,” Hope said. “We need to bring people along by building trust and relationships with them before we make an ask. In fact, we should be asking them what we can do to help them, or if they have questions, that we can answer them and show that we’re willing to be at the table in a two-way relationship.”

Courtney said because of the media, the public tends to have a misconception that DEIC is “all about hiring.”

“We don’t do anything like that,” she said. “It’s more about making sure that we gauge the comfort level of people in our community and find out how we can help them, or how we might be able to hook them up with resources.”

“Our government represents everyone,” Hope said, “and if our elected officials are only hearing from some of the people, then they’re not getting the whole story.”

Hope said the DEIC has three vacant positions. For more information about how to get involved, contact Carolyn Hope at [email protected].