Employees of Color Share Their Stories of Racism
Earlier this year the King County ESJ Literary Project invited employees of color to share stories of times they were affected by racism. The project reflects King County’s commitment to addressing the historical and persistent inequities in our communities that result from race. Such inequities are experienced by the county’s own employees, both on and off the job.
The project received more than two dozen stories, which are available now to read at http://untoldstoryproject.blog.
Sign up to attend one of the performances in which local poets and performance artists will read aloud the untold stories of racism. Each performance will be different, with the stories divided up among the three dates. Employees are encouraged to sign up for the performance that best fits their work location and schedule.
Performances are directed by writer, actor, and storyteller Jekeva Phillips. Each performance will include a discussion with the audience about the stories and the issues they raise. Natasha Marin, poet, conceptual artist, and community-builder, will facilitate the discussions.
Performance dates and locations
September 20, 2018, 1:30-3:30 pm
Alvine Room, Elections Office
Renton
8th Floor Conference Room
King Street Center, Seattle
Tateuchi Story Theatre
Wing Luke Museum
719 S. King Street, Seattle
Read the opening paragraph of a few of the stories below. The links will take you to the full stories.
I grew up in Southeast Alaska, in an environment of land loss, racism, and poverty. But at the same time, our community is very proud and continues to fight for justice, self-determination, and tribal sovereignty. I am Pamela Stearns. My traditional name is Kajaastee.
From Alaska Indigenous Resurgence by Pamela Stearns
I was a child farmworker. My family immigrated to this country. My parents came first and I came at the age of two or three. There were nine of us in the family and we all had to help out picking fruit. We harvested apples, strawberries and blueberries, and cut asparagus.
From Child Farmworker by Jose Reyna
I was working for a hospital in Enumclaw, one of the only people of color there. The other person of color worked in the kitchen. I worked in the ER and registration. I had this one doctor who wouldn’t talk to me. When she needed my help, she would go and ask another person to come and ask me to help her. She would never address me directly.
From Cultured by Shai Malone
I am a Mexican immigrant. I’ve lived in Washington State for almost thirty years. I have been working with King County for 24 out of those 30 years. I feel very fortunate that I have come across amazing people who have provided me with many opportunities, but I have also experienced racism as a person of color, as an immigrant. Maybe in subtle ways, maybe not as aggressive as others have faced. But it’s still there. Often.
From Speak vs. Talk: The Vocabulary You Use Defines You by Penny Lara
Growing up in Memphis during the era of the King assassination meant being socialized to the ins and outs of white domination, without having to learn a single word of it. As a girl, I heard from my grandmother, who grew up in the Mississippi Delta, the importance of certain customs of the South, and that to be Black and ignore these customs was to invite danger to yourself and your front door.
From White Domination VS. White Supremacy: Why Precision in Language is Key to Dismantling Racism by Cecelia Hayes
The ESJ Literary Project is a joint effort of the Solid Waste and Wastewater divisions.
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Employee Discounts to Husky Football
Employees can buy discounted seats for two upcoming University of Washington football games this season: Saturday, September 29, against Brigham Young University, and Saturday, November 3, against Stanford.
Click here to go directly to the discounted seats, which are scattered across Husky Stadium. In addition to discounted ticket prices, employees will also avoid the normal single game prices and fees.
See all available discounts on the Employee Discount webpage.
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The community that farms together, stays together
Crossposted from Clean Water Stories
Hidden on the South Treatment Plant lies a small oasis known as the CitySoil Farm. This pleasant surprise comes as a vast scenic change from the surrounding industrial area and brings a different sense of life to the plant.
Located on a previously unused 1.5 acre plot, the CitySoil Farm has transformed the vacant space into urban agriculture that is dedicated to environmental education and sustainable farming. Through this teaching farm, King County and its non-profit partners hope to see a future where environmental education can lead to an increase in community participation and sustainable food systems.
At this farm, you can receive a free tour and not only learn about sustainable farming, but learn about things like recycled water recycled water and Loop.
What is recycled water or Loop? Recycled water is odor-free water produced onsite at the plant that enriches the soil and protects our waterways, and Loop is a natural fertilizer and soil builder, also produced onsite that recycles the nutrients in our food back into the soil. Through this usage of Loop biosolids has come the commercial product GroCo compost which is a local and recyclable alternative to chemical fertilizers that boosts plant growth and replenishes the soil. By demonstrating the sustainable resources used at the farm, we are encouraging conversations and spreading awareness of how we should manage our nutrient and waste streams.
Those who volunteer at the farm are free to harvest the food while they work, but most of the product from the farm is donated to local food banks such as the Renton Food Bank and White Center Food Bank. In fact, very recently the summer interns at WTD were able to tour the teaching farm and native tree nursery. There at the farm, the interns were able to harvest figs, plums, apples, and veggies and apply mulch between the garden rows for water retention and weed suppression. Everything that was harvested by the interns was donated to the White Center Food Bank, which receives thousands of pounds a year from the CitySoil Farm.
This farm couldn’t have been possible without the four-way partnership between King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division and King Conservation District, Tilth Alliance, and DIRT Corps. Without this communication and organization between the partners, our strong ability to interact with the community would not be possible. Through this partnership we are able to give under privileged groups access to resources they may not otherwise have.
The partnership has brought stronger community involvement and participation at the farm, heightened accessibility, and created a larger platform for ideas around sustainability.
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The importance of STEM
KCIT Chief Information Officer Tanya Hannah delivered a baccalaureate address July 25 to graduates and students attending Goodwill Missionary Baptist Church in Seattle.
Hannah urged the young people to consider careers in STEM fields, noting that artists, geographers and writers can combine technology with their passions for well-paying, absorbing careers.
“It’s all part of STEM. STEM careers offer fun, compelling, important work,” Hannah said. “It’s work that pays well. It’s work that can change the world. And it’s time people of color take their rightful place at the technology table to help shape our future.”
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Kudos! to FMD for the DPD moves
Staff from Public Defense’s The Defenders Association Division moved in with the rest of their colleagues at the Dexter Horton Building last month. TDA Division leadership shared their appreciation for the great work Facilities Management Division did in a note:
The Dexter Horton Building
“FMD movers did an outstanding job moving a majority of containers and furniture Friday night. They were methodical, professional and skilled in doing the move job. IT team members were patient, calm and very helpful. The DPD Operations team and FMD team members were busy answering questions and helping staff find their offices and items. Due to your team’s dedicated work, [we] were able to carry on our work the very first day as we did at Central Building. There were a few technical glitches and a few tweaks needed to be made. It would not have been possible without your skilled team members’ help.”
Kudos, FMD!
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King County District Court Community Court Program
King County Community Court seeks to go beyond punitive actions to identify and address the underlying challenges of court participants that may contribute to further criminal activity. The hearings are held at Redmond Library instead of a traditional courtroom. This setting is less intimidating and allows the judge to be seated at eye-level with those being spoken with.
The court addresses things like theft, shoplifting, trespassing, and other low-level offenses. Traditionally punitive action is taken against crimes like these, which don’t address why the crime is happening. In this courtroom members have the opportunity to sign up at the community resource center next door for services such as drug and alcohol treatment and employment services. This approach allows people to get services connected to the underlying issues and foster a community of growth.
Click on the video above to hear from Judge Paglisotti and Community Court Program team members.
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Her passion now: Preparing nurses to build resilience in our community
Crossposted from Public Health Insider
This article was originally posted on campaignforaction.org.
As the chief nursing officer at Public Health Seattle-King County, Washington, Dorene Hersh, MSN, RN, is responsible for clinical practice oversight for over 350 public health nurses employed in management, supervisory, advanced practice, field nursing, ambulatory care, and correctional health roles. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Public Health Nurse Leader and Culture of Health Breakthrough Leader in Nursing.
Why did you decide to become a nurse?
I became a nurse by accident, literally. In the summer of my junior year of high school, I was working at a restaurant. There was a large roast beef-carving stand and I was slicing meat for customers. The knife slipped, and a customer said, “You should get that taken care of.” I looked down and saw that I had cut myself quite deeply. While in the emergency department, I admired the way the nurses cared for the patients, triaging and balancing the needs of everyone present, including the providers. This experience inspired me to pursue nursing.
I also grew up in a very small town in Michigan and wanted to travel. The flexibility of nursing would allow me to attain employment no matter where I decided to live.
Can you describe your philosophical evolution from making that decision to where you are today?
Nursing is probably the only field where you can have a “do over” any time you desire. Though my graduate degree was as a pediatric nurse practitioner, I never worked a day as a PNP after discovering great gratification working in public health care.
I began as a bedside nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit. Since my original degree was a diploma RN, I pursued my bachelor’s degree while working full time—12-hour nights. After I graduated with my BSN, I began working per diem in home care, caring for the graduated preemies from the hospital. I eventually moved into home care full time, moving into leadership positions until I became a chief of nursing for a pediatric center for medically fragile children.
I had moved from Michigan, to New York, to California, then to Washington State, where I currently reside. My graduate degree was as a pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP). I had cared for medically fragile children for the first 20 years of my career, working with populations that were impacted by social determinants of health (although it wasn’t called that at the time). I had realized that caring for well children didn’t hold the same degree of satisfaction as I had previously enjoyed.
I graduated, passed my boards, and entered the field of public health leadership, where I could put my passion into upstream strategies to change the trajectory of health.
Of all that you have accomplished, what are you most proud of?
I am proud of all that I have accomplished. Each milestone seems the most important at the time.
I cherish my time as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Public Health Nurse Leader. The training, coaching, and support has exponentially moved me forward onto state and national stages, which I never thought would have been possible before that experience.
As of July 1, my team was awarded a multimillion dollar [Health Resources and Services Administration] HRSA grant that will train future generations of ambulatory care nurses to care for medically underserved populations. The funds will support training nurses in our unique clinical experiences, including primary care, mobile medical vans, Refugee Screening—a nurse-run clinic that serves all newly arrived refugees providing culturally sensitive care for those who might have been through trauma—and Buprenorphine Pathway clinics to prepare nurses in the delivery of trauma-informed care. All of this is part of preparing nurses to build resilience in our community—that is my new passion.
If you could change the profession in any one way, what would you change and why?
Excellent question! If I had a magic wand, I would establish parity in nursing practice across our nation. We as a country are missing a great opportunity utilizing nurse practitioners to the fullest extent of their licensure. This is an important strategy in providing care in underserved areas. The nursing and provider shortages are growing as the Baby Boomers age. I think this strategy is attainable.
What is the most important action that nurses can take to lead the way to improve health and health care in America?
If each nurse found one thing in their community, where they work, where they worship or where they play, to model for others, it would be a great start.
I work with inspiring, talented, and dedicated nurses who make a difference every single day. Not only at work, but after hours, dedicating their time to running for office, raising money for charities, participating in marches, volunteering for community clinics, the list goes on. If we could engage every nurse across our nation to do one thing, think the impact would be great. A ripple in the pool of health in America.
Nurses are the largest sector of the health care workforce and the most trusted profession. We are essential to improving health and achieving health equity. Solving the health care crisis will be a multifaceted approach, with no one answer.
What role do you see for yourself in building a healthier America?
In Washington State, our Action Coalition is working on this very thing. We have three goals:
- We are striving to create meaningful leadership opportunities for nurses, with a key focus on statewide efforts to advance health equity and population health.
- We are educating nurses in various practice settings on the impact of the social determinants of health through a variety of strategies.
- We are striving to transform nursing practice by incorporating social determinants of health into plans of nursing care in all care settings.
We are fortunate to have three statewide initiatives to leverage in achieving our goals, Healthier Washington, which is our state health improvement plan; Action Now!, which is a group of nursing leadership across the state joining together to address the nursing shortage; and the American Hospital Association’s 123forEquity Campaign to eliminate health care disparities.
Volunteering my time and effort to co-lead our Action Coalition has been very rewarding by mentoring the next generation of nurse leaders, and by engaging nurses to help move the needle to improve the health of our communities.
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Stop Noxious Weeds, by Land and by Seeds!
Crossposted from Noxious Weeds Blog
Many noxious weed seeds stick onto boots, pant legs, car tires, and other objects to spread to new sites. Don’t let them use you—brush them off!
Noxious weeds are sneaky. Each one has its trick for taking over: many spread by seed, while others use stem and root fragments, underground rhizomes, or aboveground runners. Anytime you’re out around a noxious weed, make sure you know how it reproduces, and don’t let it use you to invade!
One of the main methods of weed dispersal is via seeds and other propagules that latch onto boots, pant legs, pet fur, tires, and other moving objects. Some, like the infamous garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), are really hard to see once they’re mixed in with mud and dirt. When you’re working around these plants, always use a boot brush to clean seeds and soil off of you, your pet, and your friends before leaving the site.
When it comes to many weeds that spread by stem and root fragments (and those going to seed), don’t toss them in your backyard compost pile. They can re-root and grow right out of it. Instead, put them in your city-provided yard waste bin or in the trash, depending on the species. For disposal tips and other information on a specific noxious weed, visit our website.
Many of King County’s noxious weeds are going to seed right now, so it’s crunch time to control them. Good luck out there—drink water, wear sunscreen, and don’t forget to brush your boots!
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Meet Tammy Klein, 7-time champion of the ‘Metroadeo’
Crossposted from Metro Matters
By Scott Gutierrez
Ask Tammy Klein what she enjoys most about her job at King County Metro and she lists three things: her customers, her coworkers, and getting to drive a bus.
This veteran driver can sure handle a 40-foot coach. She’s a seven-time champion of the “Metroadeo,” the annual transit Olympics for some of Metro’s most skilled drivers.
Klein is the first and only woman to win the competition, and in June, claimed her third consecutive title in three years. She will represent Metro at the Washington State Public Transportation Roadeo on August 19 in Kennewick, and then at the International Bus Roadeo next year in Lexington, Kentucky.
“Participating in the roadeo does make you a better-focused driver,” said Klein, a 23-year veteran who drives a variety of routes every week as a board operator out of Metro’s Ryerson Base in Sodo. “It is about safety and (avoiding) collisions and pedestrian accidents. It’s very rewarding. I think it’s something that every new driver should consider. “
There were 37 competitors in this year’s event at Metro’s training yard in Tukwila. It consists of 11 obstacles testing drivers’ abilities to maneuver the bus forward, backward and around tight turns, as well as precision braking, judging distance and how evenly they can pull up to the bus stop. Drivers have seven minutes to complete the obstacles while trying to avoid hitting any of 150 red traffic cones set up throughout the course.
“The hardest part is just getting over the nerves because it is your one shot you’ve worked all year for,” Klein said. “You do have to practice.”
There also is a inspection test in which drivers have to find a variety of operational defects on the bus within 8 minutes. Usually that includes one “security issue,” such as a suspicious package hidden from view.
Klein didn’t hit any cones during the driving test and scored a total of 682 points out of 700. The second-place score was 612 points.
Klein now has her sights on the state competition, where Metro will be one of 20 agencies participating from Washington and Oregon. And she’s looking forward to another chance at beating her personal best of 8th place at the International Bus Roadeo in 2019.
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Map literacy and the 2016 presidential election
Crossposted from GIS & You
Here’s some food for thought about elections-related maps, how they can be used and abused and what they can teach us about effective and valid cartographic design.
Among the fundamental skills required to be map literate, that is, to be able to read and comprehend maps, are an understanding of scale, the recognition of spatial orientation (north-south-east-west, up-down, etc.), and an appreciation of map projections (by which a three-dimensional surface is represented in two dimensions). A higher-level, overarching principle of map literacy is that a single map can seldom tell a whole story, which is a point well made by Dr. Kenneth Field, Esri senior cartographic product engineer, in a recent article in Wired.
In “Is the US Leaning Red or Blue? It All Depends on Your Map,” Field discusses a number of dramatically different maps that display voting data from the 2016 United States presidential election. Field avoids branding certain maps right or wrong (assuming the data in the maps are valid). Instead he explains how certain types of maps can emphasize a particular story, or how they can obscure or reveal specific aspects of the data they portray.
Understanding how maps can do these things is a necessary skill in being able to judge the validity of particular maps. A collection of various maps of the 2016 election could function as a wonderful laboratory for learning and exercising map literacy. As noted in the Wired article, Dr. Field has provided just such a learning laboratory with his interactive map gallery, “Thematic maps of the 2016 Presidential election (lower 48 states).” Perusing 32 different maps of the election results and their explanations should help anyone better understand any one map of election results, past or future.
Some of the maps in the gallery “Thematic maps of the 2016 Presidential election (lower 48 states)” by Kenneth Field.
Dr. Field goes by the Esri username “cartogeek,” but he also blogs under his own “cartonerd” label. On the same day the Wired article was published, Field drilled down in his blog on yet another 2016 election map which appeared recently in the New York Times. The result is a highly acerbic and instructive case study in map literacy. We would all do well to use examples like these, and the insights of professional cartographers like Kenneth Field, to heighten our awareness of how maps can represent, and misrepresent, data. When it comes to elections data, that can’t help but make us more informed and better citizens.
Patrick Jankanish is Senior Cartographer in the King County GIS Center and is a member of its Client Services group.
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