Volunteer to close a drop box with King County Elections on November 3
Looking for some Election Day excitement? Meet your neighbors and continue your commitment to public service by volunteering as a drop box closer. Drop box closers are the friendly face the public sees on Election Day, ensuring that every vote is counted, and every voice is heard.
- Who: You and your co-workers
- What: Closing ballot drop boxes across King County
- When: Election night, Tuesday, Nov. 3 from 6-8:30 p.m.
- Where: A drop box location near you
- Sign up: Click here.
Most voters wait until Election Day to return their ballots and drop boxes are often busiest in the last few hours of voting. We need your help to provide customer service and assistance to voters using this last opportunity to return their ballots. Sign up and join us for a fun and fulfilling experience helping your neighbors experience the excitement and community of casting their ballots.
You’ll be partnered with Elections staff and no experience is necessary – we provide all the training you need.
All locations are outside, and we ask that volunteers wear masks to help prevent the spread of CoVID-19. If you do not have a mask, we can provide one for you. More information about precautions being taken will be provided to all volunteers ahead of Election Day.
Our colleagues who volunteered in the August Primary described their experiences as rewarding, safe, and inspiring. Join us by signing up to help with the Primary election on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 from 6-8:30 p.m.
Please note that this volunteer opportunity is for current King County employees only and is not open to those outside of King County employment, including friends and family.
Have questions? Learn more here.
Fun Fact: On National Voter Registration Day, Sept. 22, we saw 10,000 new voters added to the rolls. Are you registered? The simplest way to register to vote is to go online to VoteWA.gov. The deadline to register to vote online or return a paper registration form by mail is Monday, Oct. 26.
Share this:
Training Spotlight for October 13
- QuickBooks Level 1 – Online – North Seattle College – Explore everything you need to get started with QuickBooks Desktop. This class is $85.00 and takes place on Thursdays for two sessions on Oct. 15 and 22. Register here
More opportunities are available on our King County Eventbrite page. For more information, contact the Learning and Development Team at KCTraining@kingcounty.gov or visit Learning and Development at www.kingcounty.gov/learning.
Share this:
Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Today we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day and the rich heritage, culture, contributions, and resilience of Indigenous people in our region and here at King County.
There are 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington State and King County is home to a thriving Native American population from Tribal nations across the country. We are on the ancestral lands of the Muckleshoot, Snoqualmie, Puyallup, Tulalip, and Suquamish Tribes, and the Duwamish people.
Our region benefits tremendously from the generations of Native people on whose land we currently live, and who today continue to fight for their rights, and to protect and promote their culture, language, customs, and values – and their future.
Generations of racist practices and institutions continue to harm and hold back Native people nationally and in Washington State. Native people experience disproportionately worse outcomes in our community: health, access to housing and good paying jobs, educational attainment, income, incarceration rates, and more. This year’s Count Us In, the annual Point-in-Time count for Seattle and King County, found that while Native American/Alaska Native people made up one percent of the population in Seattle/King County, 15 percent of the respondents are experiencing homelessness.
Yet as they have done for generations, Indigenous people continue to stand strong in the face of racism, oppression, and injustice. For several years, our employee-led King County Native American Leadership Council has worked hard to lift up the voices of our Native employees and to serve as a link to Tribal communities and urban Native people throughout King County. Together with our Tribal partners, we are working to develop community-driven solutions and a strong government-to-government relationship between King County and Tribal nations that help ensure that Native people can truly thrive in this region.
All of us benefit from strong partnerships with Indigenous people, and the knowledge, perspectives, and experiences they contribute to our workforce and community. As a government and individually, we all have a responsibility to work to remove the barriers which negatively impact the Native community. We have an obligation to ensure future generations thrive.
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, let us join with the Indigenous community and honor their ancestors in fostering justice and combating racism, and building a strong future here in King County and across the United States.
Sincerely,
Dow Constantine
King County Executive
Share this:
Reasonable Accommodations for WA State DOC Prisoners, October 15
The King County Superior Court and Community Committee presents a facilitated panel discussion on the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and how it functions within Washington’s Department of Corrections (DOC), in particular how Washington State prisoners interact with the ADA-mandated reasonable accommodation process and the DOC’s duties in providing reasonable accommodations to prisoners with disabilities.
- Thursday, Oct. 15 from 12:15 – 1:30 p.m. Join via Zoom. Use passcode: 239752. To dial in, call 253-215-8782 and use ID# 91789390895.
King County Superior Court Judge David Whedbee will host the discussion between Assistant Attorney General Candie Dibble, who regularly represents the DOC in healthcare-related litigation; Risa Klemme, DOC’s statewide ADA Compliance Manager; and Heather McKimmie, a senior attorney at Disability Rights Washington and Director of the AVID Program, which focuses on advocacy for individuals with disabilities in Washington prisons, jails, and the Special Commitment Center.
The presentation will also recognize the 30th anniversary of the ADA as the speakers address how DOC has evolved its reasonable accommodation process in compliance with the ADA over the last 30 years, what the current cutting-edge ADA issues are, and how structural and institutional shortcomings may still need to remedied.
Share this:
PeopleSoft HCM is available
System updates are now complete. We appreciate your understanding and support.
Share this:
Celebrating Latinx voices and culture
We are nearing the end of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage month, but we still have so much to share with you. King County Metro’s very own, Penny Lara, has shared with us a video of her and her family reciting one of her favorite poems – “A Callarse (Keeping Quiet).” She has also shared the significance poetry has in her culture. Read more to learn more about Penny’s story, and view the video below.
By Penny Lara, Transportation Planner III, Metro Transit
Growing up in Mexico, poetry has always been a part of my family. My dad, Ramón Lara born in Zacatecas, Mexico (1936-2000), was a romantic at heart and was always writing poems on napkins, receipts etc. This video, below, is a sample of his art.
Pictured: Penny Lara’s father, Ramon Lara, wrote this poem on the back of a receipt in 1992.
I share this video as I was recently reminded by the power of words and how beautifully they play in my ear. A couple of weeks ago I was in a COVID-19 taskforce meeting and after months of working long hours, while adapting to working remotely, all of us were feeling the effects. One team member had the brilliant idea of adding a poetry reading, song, or film/book review at the end of our meetings to end on a light note. At the following meeting, one of the leaders said they were going to read a poem by a Chilean poet and I found myself getting giddy with excitement. By the time they were done, tears were running down my cheeks. In those few minutes, I relived beautiful memories from my home. One specific memory was how my sister, when we were little, would always recite poems in an overly dramatic way, displaying intensity of a broken-hearted person. We still joke about that!
Since the meeting, I started reading poems again as a way to ground myself after a long day of work. Given it is Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, I thought it might be nice to share one of my favorite poems with my friends and colleagues. I asked my children to join me and I was so delighted when they said yes. They don’t know it, but this is probably one of the best gifts they have given me and their Grandmother. While raising my children, honoring our roots has been a priority. I am very grateful for the contributions of my ancestors to America and I couldn’t be prouder of being Mexican-American.
Soy de aquí y de allá.
I am from here and I am from there.
If you are a Latinx employee and you would like to share a short video for Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, please contact KCLx Co-Events Chair, Margarita Aguado. To learn more about the Latinx Affinity Group, and other King County Affinity Groups, visit www.kingcounty.gov/AffinityGroups.
Share this:
National drug take back day October 24: A good reminder that safe medicine disposal saves lives
Crossposted from Cultivating Connections
Since 2016, DCHS has promoted awareness and use of free and confidential neighborhood medicine disposal programs as a strategy to prevent opioid overdose death, medicine abuse and suicide. DCHS, along with partners that include King County Waste Management and Washington Poison Center, produced a successful “Don’t Hang on to Meds” public health messaging campaign focused on promoting at home medicine safety strategies such as securely storing medicines in use and disposing of unused and expired meds.
The campaign and local information dissemination efforts boosted traffic to the www.TakeBackYourMeds.org website where in 2019, 20,367 unique visitors searched for the local drop-box locations. This October 24, we are excited to promote National Prescription Take Back Day, while we also celebrate that “Take Back Day” every day in King County! Read more about how secure medicine return saves lives and protects water, land and animals.
This post was originally written by the Hazardous Waste Management Program.
Share this:
Art Showcase: Merging Communities and Social Justice, October 12
This event, hosted by King County, will feature local King County Afro Latino artists showcasing their artwork, talking about their community involvement, and explaining how art plays a crucial role in fighting for Social Justice.
- Monday, Oct. 12, from noon to 1 p.m. Join via Zoom. Use passcode: 216492 – Register for this event here on Eventbrite.
For more information, contact Margarita Aguado at MAguado@kingcounty.gov or Maria Jimenez-Zepeda at Maria.Jimenez-Zepeda@kingcounty.gov. View the full list of events for Latinx Heritage Month here.
Share this:
Celebrating 10 years of RapidRide
Crossposted from Metro Matters
October 2 marks the 10-year anniversary of Metro’s first RapidRide, the A Line. Providing frequent service that connects Federal Way, Kent, SeaTac, and Tukwila, the A Line has grown to carry an average of 9,100 riders on weekdays since launching a decade ago.
Across King County, Metro’s RapidRide lines offer riders faster, more frequent, and more reliable bus service, fast all-door boarding, enhanced stations and passenger amenities, and on-board Wi-Fi.
Share this:
King County ePayment Storefront improves customer service
All county customers can now make payments online through the ePayment Storefront system, which launched early this summer. This is an important and timely improvement, since most King County in-person services are shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Congratulations and thank you to employees from several divisions in the Department of Executive Services (DES) and other departments for their hard work and collaboration.
Employee News 