Orange also worked for seven years as Executive Director of the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs.

Orange was Executive Director for the Coalition for Quality Integrated Education before landing a job as Manager in the Equity and Compliance Department of the Seattle Public School District in 1977.

During his time in Seattle, Orange served on more than 20 boards and commissions, including serving as the Vice-President of the Board of Directors for the Festival Sundiata in Seattle, the Task Force on Policy Issues in Elementary and Secondary Education for the U.S. Office of Education, the Task Force on Goals for Common Schools for the Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Washington Council on Crime and Delinquency, as well as the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission and the Loren Miller Bar Association Judicial Review Committee.

Former King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, a long-time friend and colleague of Orange, said that Tony Orange “was one of the truly great activist/leaders Seattle produced during the Black Power and social justice movement during the past 50 years in Seattle and beyond.”

One such person, Ed Prince, who is the current Executive Director of the Washington State Commission on African Americans, says that Orange provided him with his first opportunity to serve, and although he let him bump his head a few times he was always there to make sure that he didn’t fail.