School’s out and summer is in session, but let’s keep recycling!
Crossposted from GO, Green Team!
Though summer is upon us and school is out, remember to keep up the good habits of being environmental stewards you’ve practiced during the school year. During the summer, you can focus your recycling, composting, and reducing at home.
Students participating in waste sorting training.
- Donate any old clothing, including single socks and shoes that have lost their mates. Or use old clothes as cleaning rags. For more information, check out our Threadcycle
- In need of summer clothes or swim wear? Give clothes a second life, go to your local Goodwill and see what gems you can find.
- Remind your family members to double-check the recycling bin for contamination. Give them a pop quiz to see if they know what belongs where. Here is a quick guide to recycling at home. Post it on your refrigerator, or on your garbage, recycling, and compost bins.
- See if your local schools are holding any green events this summer. Volunteer at a park or restoration site. Or take a tour of King County’s Brightwater Center.
- Want to do some arts and crafts? Use what you already have at home. Get creative and make a collage with old newspaper, a picture frame with Popsicle sticks, or create sensory jars with small objects you find around the house. Use fallen leaves and twigs from local trees to decorate a nature journal.
- Add a book about the environment to your summer reading list. Check out last year’s post on summer reading to get you started. This list includes book suggestions for early, middle-grade, and high school readers.
Coffee filter student art.
During the summer, do at home the good habits you’ve established at school – reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting. These habits give items a second life, protect the environment from the effects of climate change, and prevent the overuse of natural resources.
Want recycling information in Spanish? Take a look at Recicla más. ¡Es facilísimo! on the King County Solid Waste Division website and on Facebook.
The Go, Green Team Blog! wishes you a safe and fun summer.
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Employees recognized for service by Executive, Council
Congratulations to all of the employees who were recognized at Monday’s Service Awards ceremony in County Council chambers:
Denise Ainslie, 30 years, Transportation
Lucky Auster, 25 years, Natural Resources and Parks
Laurie Becker, 20 years, Public Health
David Bedinger, 25 years, Adult and Juvenile Detention
Rebecca Benson, 20 years, Public Health
Larry Brown, 30 years, Public Health
Judi Chapman, 20 years, Executive Services
Erica Jacobs, 20 years, Natural Resources and Parks
Larry Jaramillo, 30 years, Transportation
Keith Keller, 40 years, Public Health
Larry Moore, 25 years, Transportation
Michael Meins, 40 years, Permitting and Environmental Review
Mark Menghi, 30 years, Information Technology
Donna Miscolta, 30 years, Natural Resources and Parks
Jon Jahmal Poston, 25 years, Executive Services
Jake Richards, 20 years, Natural Resources and Parks
Anne Shinoda-Mettler, 30 years, Public Health
Ricardo Vinueza, 30 years, Executive Services
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Featured Job: Landmarks Coordinator / Preservation Architect
Closing: 07/27/18 11:59 PM (GMT -8:00)
Salary: $83,012.80 – $105,235.52 Annually
Location: King Street Center, Seattle, WA
Job Type: Career Service, Full Time, 40 hours per week
Department: Natural Resources & Parks – Director’s Office
Job Number: 2018-08298
The King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks is looking for a dynamic and innovative preservation professional to serve as King County’s Landmarks Coordinator. Established in 1978, King County’s Historic Preservation Program’s mission is to preserve and protect the county’s significant historic and archaeological resources and enhance public access and appreciation of them. HPP is a regional preservation program, providing preservation and landmark designation services to unincorporated areas as well as 23 of the county’s suburban and rural cities through inter-local agreements.
For more information, contact Prakash Meloot at Prakash.Meloot@KingCounty.gov.
Learn more about this position or all available jobs.
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Social Media Spotlight: Metro Matters on WordPress
If you haven’t already, it’s time to check out and subscribe to Metro Matters. Receive new blog posts as soon as they are published!
- See what Metro Operator Heidi Barack fashioned out of transfer slips as a tribute to MLK Jr. and Metro.
- Meet Susan and Jeff; a couple who met on the bus as students – 25 years ago!
- Learn more about the educational campaign Metro initiated to end sexual harassment and misconduct on their services.
Metro took the best of the Metro Matters blog and gave it a fresh, new look! Stories about King County Metro projects, updates about better bus service coming to our community, the Eye on Your Metro Commute and much more are great compliments to their other great communications channels – like @kcmetrobus on Twitter!
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Bringing the Data Together
Crossposted from Best Starts for Kids Blog
Part 5 of our Community Owned Data blog series
This is the fifth and final post in our month-long Community Owned Data series we are doing to highlight our learnings from the Best Starts for Kids Health Survey. If you are interested in the previous posts, we link to them all at the end of this post so make sure you make your way to the end!
Putting it all together
Last week, we shared what we heard from community members about each of the five key topics we discussed. We invite you to dive deeper into their feedback in the interactive visualization further below.
Overall, what we heard from parents broadly confirmed many of the strategies Best Starts is working on with our community partners – which makes sense, given that they were designed based on community input in the first place! Hearing this consistency from our communities helps give us confidence that we are on the right path.
Young participants contributing their thoughts at a Data Dive.
For example, the trauma-informed and restorative practices school partnerships will help to create a school culture and climate that honors the unique strengths of young people, which so many parents felt was so badly needed when they looked at data about children thriving. Parents in many data dives talked about the need for support in their parenting and connection to community, which will be supported in our forthcoming parent/caregiver education and support awards.
When you hover over a topic in the data visualization below, you’ll see more information including quotes from data dive participants and a link to Best Starts for Kids Health Survey data. You can also select a group from the menu on the right to learn more about specific communities’ responses.
Click HERE or on the graphic below to explore the data visualization:
Using what we heard
We will also be sharing what we learned in the data dives in our forthcoming series of data briefs, right alongside the numbers. Each brief will focus on a different topic and include context on why it is important for King County families, what the Best Starts for Kids Health Survey results show and how they compare to national survey results, and what the findings mean to parents and caregivers. Stay tuned for more on thriving children, adverse childhood experiences, and family resiliency and parent/caregiver support! We will add the briefs here to this blog and the Best Starts website soon.
Our data team also looks forward to incorporating many of the suggestions about the survey – from avoiding words that can be confusing or jargon-y when we talk about results (like “resilience,” for some families) to keeping our partnerships strong throughout the data collection process.
Let your voice be heard!
We’ll be gathering new data through the Best Starts for Kids Health Survey in early 2019. If you are a parent or caregiver of a child in 5th grade or younger, you may be randomly selected to participate! If you receive an invitation to take the survey, we hope you’ll take a few minutes to do so. Your family’s voices and experiences can help shape the future of Best Starts for Kids, and help us understand how things are going so far.
If you are a member of a community that is not as highly represented in the past Health Survey and speak a language other than English, please let us know if you are interested in engaging your community to participate more in the upcoming Health Survey. You can contact our Community Partnerships Manager, Kerry Wade, at KWade@KingCounty.gov to express your interest. Best Starts is currently building out a new model of community engagement that prioritizes relationships with historically underrepresented communities and you may be a perfect partner!
For more general data thoughts or questions, you can always leave a comment below or reach out directly to the data team at BSK.Data@KingCounty.gov. We’d love to hear from you! While we are wrapping up this data blog series (including all previous posts below), there is much more work to be done and we look forward to continuing to explore ways to encourage community ownership of data.
Previous Posts in the Community Owned Data Blog Series
- Part 1: Community Owned Data Series
- Part 2: What’s a Data Dive?
- Part 3: Learning from Listening
- Part 4: Enseñanzas del Data Dive Latino/a
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KCIT Help Desk to transition from email tickets to online portal
Email Help Desk Tickets will become a thing of the past later this summer, as KCIT is preparing to launch a new online Help Desk portal.
The new online portal will offer:
- self-help resources.
- instant access to service requests.
- news about outages, attacks and phishing attempts.
- simple ways to either report problems or request new services.
Specific launch details will be shared here as they become available. Departmental IT staff can email Amy Hitchcock with questions.
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Pet of the Week: Sebastian
Crossposted from Tails from RASKC
Such a handsome gentleman – Sebastian is our Pet of the Week!
This young cat is an affectionate lovebug who would be thrilled to cuddle up with you at home. While he loves being petted on his head, he’s not fond of having his tail touched. Sebastian has a “Rambunctious Red” personality, meaning he’s a spirited cat who loves to play. He may be a bit sensitive to handling, so we think Sebastian would do best in a home with a cat-savvy family who knows when to give him some space.
Sebastian is FIV+ and may need some special veterinary care to help him live a long and happy life. He should be an indoor-only kitty, and either an only kitty or live with other FIV+ cats. The staff and volunteers at RASKC would be happy to answer any questions you have when you come visit Sebastian.
Sebastian is litter box trained, neutered, current on vaccinations, and microchipped. His adoption fee includes a certificate for a free veterinary exam and 30 days of free pet insurance through Trupanion.
You can find out more about Sebastian on our website, kingcounty.gov/AdoptAPet, or visit him in person at the King County Pet Adoption Center in Kent.
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Training Spotlight: Introduction to Strategic Planning
Thursday, August 9, 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
What is the difference between mission and vision?
Do goals or objectives come first?
Who should be involved in developing my plan and how long should it take?
This training provides an overview of what strategic planning is, when and why to develop a strategic plan, and how it fits with other management systems and functions. The basic elements and processes used to develop a strategic plan and key issues that need to be addressed with implementing strategic plans will be described. Participants will be provided with several planning tools to help with a planning effort.
Learn more and register on Eventbrite before the session fills up!
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Administration Building 5th Avenue entry ADA wheelchair lift replacement begins today
FMD Advisory
The Administration Building ADA wheelchair lift at the 5th Avenue entry is scheduled to be replaced. Construction will begin tomorrow, July 12 and the new lift is scheduled to be in operation by September.
The ADA-accessible route into the Administration Building will be closed during construction. An alternative route is through the Chinook Building at 401 5th Avenue, proceeding through the tunnel to the first floor of the Administration Building.
If you have questions or concerns, please contact the FMD Customer Care Services Team at 206-477-9400 or by email.
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Weed Control Methods Workshop (this evening), other upcoming classes
Crossposted from Noxious Weeds Blog
Beating back noxious weeds is often tough, but knowing the best way to control them can make your job a whole lot easier. That’s why the King County Noxious Weed Control Program is offering a free Weed Control Methods Workshop for homeowners on Thursday, July 12th—join us to learn the best practices and tools for your fight against noxious weeds!
Manual control is a tried and true method for many weeds, especially in smaller infestations.
- When: July 12th, 6:30-8:30pm
- Where: Meadowbrook Farm Interpretive Center, 1711 Boalch Ave NW, North Bend, WA 98045
- How to Sign up: Register Online
If you can’t make it to the July 12th workshop, don’t worry. We’re also offering a free Noxious Weeds Class on September 10th, which will cover ID and control methods for a wide variety of noxious weeds in a range of habitats.
When using chemical control, follow all applicable laws and regulations regarding herbicide use on your site, and follow all label directions.
- When: September 10th, 6:30-8:30pm
- Where: Renton Library, 100 Mill Ave S, Renton WA 98057
- How to Sign up: Register Online
Alternatively, if you or anyone you know would rather learn about noxious weed control in Spanish, our Free Spanish-Language Workshop on Tree Pruning and Care, as well as Weed Control, is a perfect fit. (See our bilingual blog post about it here.) This class will take place:
- When: August 8th, 6-8pm
Visitors learn to identify noxious weeds with the help of demonstration plants.
- Where: Tukwila Library, 14380 Tukwila International Blvd, Tukwila, WA 98168
- How to Sign up: Register Online
Last, if you’re not able to make it to any of the workshops this summer or fall, we have plenty of information on our website to help you get a handle on your noxious weeds. Our page on weed control practices is a great place start (or, if you’re dealing with knotweed, check out our Knotweed Control Videos).
And, as always, feel free to contact us at noxious.weeds@kingcounty.gov or (206) 477-9333.
Hope to see you soon!
Employee News 