Training Spotlight: Igniting Employee Development
Tuesday, July 24, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m.
People leaders (supervisors, managers and directors) are key to creating a culture of respect where all employees are inspired to grow, thrive and serve! According to the engagement survey, employees are looking for more development opportunities – this workshop for people leaders will support employees to do just that! Empowering individuals to reach their full potential to do their best work for the people in our community is critical to continuous improvement and equitable workplace efforts.
Igniting Employee Development will help you support Investing In YOU goals to build a workplace where employees have the tools and support to innovate, achieve career goals and do their best work for King County as a Best Run Government.
Learn more and register on Eventbrite before the session fills up!
Share this:
Pretrial, probation and parole supervision week July 15-21
Crossposted from American Probation and Parole Association
Shared by Michelle Mihail, King County Superior Court Juvenile Probation Counselor
The American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) recognizes the nearly 100,000-strong members of the community corrections and supervision workforce for your dedication to and influence on the justice system. Each year during Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week, we make an extra effort to acknowledge your compassion, strength and determination. You make a difference, even though over the past two decades, caseloads have grown exponentially, exceeding five million people at their peak; and resources are still minimal.
There does appear to be a great deal of attention and focus on our industry, and there is a move afoot to shift the way others – policymakers and the public alike – think about the best ways to enhance public safety and improve justice system outcomes.
Public safety is important to everyone! As an industry, we must be more visible so people will recognize the significant role pretrial, probation, and parole practitioners play to enhance the safety of our communities. APPA is working to ensure all our external stakeholders are aware of the valuable contribution our industry makes in this area. We hope you are also ensuring the voice of our industry is heard!
For far too long, community corrections/supervision professionals have been relatively quiet, fearing we would do more harm than good to our work if we spoke about our occupation externally. We now know it is our responsibility to speak up about what is needed or required to make progress that will make a difference for every American.
Share this:
PeopleSoft Outage, 3 p.m. Friday, July 20 to 6:30 a.m. Monday, July 23
To allow for system maintenance, the PeopleSoft system will not be available this weekend, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday, July 20 until 6:30 a.m. Monday, July 23. During this planned outage, the PeopleSoft team will apply vendor updates and maintenance. This work will begin on Friday, July 20 at 3 p.m. and is scheduled to be completed by 6:30 a.m. on Monday, July 23. The system will not be available for access by any County staff during this outage window. An email communication will be sent to all County staff when the system becomes available. We realize that this outage impacts PeopleSoft users. We appreciate your understanding and support.
Share this:
Parks Specialist Anthony Haapasaari awarded Polish Armed Forces Medal
Anthony Haapasaari is a Parks Specialist with King County Parks’ South Trails Crew, and he recently received the Polish Armed Forces Medal during a visit to Seattle by Major General Cezary Wiśniewski, Defence Attaché at the Embassy of the Polish Republic in Washington D.C.
Pictured from left to right: Cross of Polonia Restituta recipient Mr. Andrzej Mroz, Assistant Defense Attaché at the Embassy of the Polish Republic Lieutenant Colonel Karol Sobczyk, Anthony Haapasaari, Shaan Haapasaari (Anthony and Kristin’s son), Defence Attaché at the Embassy of the Polish Republic Major General Cezary Wiśniewski, and Kristin Haapasaari (Anthony’s wife).
“Receiving this award was a very humbling experience,” said Haapasaari. “It recognizes the work I have been doing at public events and military ceremonies here in Seattle and Vancouver, Canada to commemorate and increase awareness and appreciation of the heroic – yet little known – contributions of the WWII Polish Armed Forces to Allied victory in Europe during WWII. I also work to increase awareness of the significant assistance the Polish Armed Forces have provided to the United States in both Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of combat operations after 9-11, and I provide support to the last of our Polish WWII veterans and their widows in the Seattle area as a volunteer “military attaché” for the Polish Honourary Consulate in Seattle.”
“The Polish Armed Forces Medal was established in 1999, to recognize civilians and military personnel abroad for their effort to support Poland and – in this case – Polish and U.S. cooperation, in the tradition of the Polish armed forces,” said Lieutenant Colonel Karol Sobczyk, Assistant Defense Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington D.C. “In recognition of that, the Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak decided to award Anthony Patrick Haapasaari with the Polish Armed Forces Medal.”
The Polish Minister of National Defence Coin (left), the Polish Armed Forces Medal (center) and the Defense Attaché for the Embassy of the Republic of Poland Coin.
“On behalf of the Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, I present you with this Polish Armed Forces Medal,” said General Wiśniewski. “I think that building relationships between nations is not about our leaders and officials only, but about the people. So, with this medal, we would just like to thank you for your dedication, your commitment, to the U.S. Polish people. Building relationships is important for us because we don’t have a consulate here, there’s no embassy in each town, but you just take this role and spend a lot of time and money just to build relationships between Poles and Americans. That’s really important from our perspective. So, thank you very much.”
Haapasaari is a member of the Polish Riflemen’s Association (Związek Strzelecki), a group founded by Marshall Józef Piłsudski during the First World War to fight for Polish freedom. Związek Strzelecki is considered the first Polish military force of the 20th Century and, today, most of its members are teens, young adults, and veterans who train to perform as a reserve force for the Polish Army. To the best of Anthony’s knowledge, he is the only member in the U.S. He began working with Parks in 1985 as a seasonal employee while in college, and has been a full-time employee since 1991. “I enjoy being a public employee and working in nature every day,” added Haapasaari. “Working on the Cedar River Trail and Green to Cedar River Trail in Southeast King County, I meet people from all over the world and – as my own father was an immigrant from Poland – it is especially important to me that our immigrant population feel welcome at our King County Parks facilities.”
Anthony Haapasaari (left) after receiving the Polish Armed Forces Medal from Defense Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland Major General Cezary Wiśniewski.
Share this:
White Center Teen Program helps local youth thrive
The White Center Community Center, also known as the Log Cabin at Steve Cox Memorial Park, houses King County Parks’ White Center Teen Program and serves the community by fostering a safe positive place for local youth to partake in recreational and educational programs.
The Log Cabin at Steve Cox Memorial Park
The goal of WCTP is to reduce youth involvement in violent, criminal or gang-related activities and increase young people’s connection to community through civic and volunteer opportunities.
“We want to keep them out of trouble, and we want to also keep them in school,” said Darlene Sellers, Recreation Coordinator for Natural Resources and Parks. “We are trying to provide every youth in White Center with recreation.”
The WCTP has 1,400 registered kids age 12-19, and has served more than 26,000 kids since its creation in 1991. More than 80 percent of the teens attending the program are from White Center, and more than 30 languages and dialects are spoken.
Program participants enjoying a game of basketball.
The program, which takes place five days a week, has raised high school graduation rates among participants by 19 percent and more than 200 youth participants have earned their GEDs.
The community center offers a recreation room, basketball court, outdoor fields, a playground, cooking classes, gardening lessons, college application help, homework tutoring, free dinner, kendo martial arts, visual and performing arts classes, and the youth also volunteer throughout the community. WCTP volunteers annually during White Center Refresh, formerly known as White Center Spring Clean, picking up litter and painting murals.
“Kids are taking pride in their neighborhood, and the work that they are putting into it,” said Sellers. “They are also able to put their community service on their resumes.”
Their program is also connecting young people to employment. The recent 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament and Job Fair known as Peace N the Hood was hosted by WCTP June 8, and it led to 46 kids receiving job offers.
Program participants attend a Peace N the Hood Job Fair
Steve Cox Memorial Park is currently undergoing renovations to improve conditions and better serve local youth. The project will construct a multi-use synthetic turf athletic field with LED lights and a ten-foot-wide paved walking path around the perimeter. The field will be lined for soccer, lacrosse, and two baseball diamonds.
For more information on the White Center Teen Program and Steve Cox Memorial Park, contact ParksInfo@KingCounty.gov.
Share this:
Measuring Change in King County
The cranes dotted across the Seattle skyline may lead you to believe that King County has only begun to experience rapid growth within the past decade. However, in a new video, King County Demographer Chandler Felt discusses how the County has been booming and diversifying for the past 40 years.
“Looking over a period of almost 40 years, King County’s population growth has been very steady gaining 400,000 people in the last 17 years to a population of more than 2.1 million,” Felt says in the video.
Prior to 2010, the majority of King County growth occurred in South King County, but the focus shifted back onto urban King County with the start of the Growth Management Act (GMA). The GMA focused on protecting farm and forest land while simultaneously focusing on building growth in urban growth areas.
The GMA and its impact is just one of five big trends that Felt identifies as he looks at events that have affected King County. Since 1970, Felt has identified economic diversification, increasing race and ethnic diversity, increasing income inequality, age and household changes, and shifting locations of growth within the county as key trends in its evolution.
Click the image above to watch Felt’s full presentation.
Share this:
Summer brings more than 40 farmers markets to King County
You’ve probably enjoyed great food and supported your local farmers by visiting the farmers market near your work place, by signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture CSA-at-work program, or by visiting a farmers market near your home. Did you know there are more than 40 farmers markets in King County between the months of May and November? More than 200 unique farms sell at markets in King County, and more than 60 of those farms are in the County.
Pike Place Market remains the longest-running year-round farmers market in the U.S.
Here are a few of the resources available to make the most of your ability to explore farm-fresh food and eat like a local in and around King County.
In ‘Celebrating DNRP’s 2017 highlights,’ the Department of Natural Resources and Parks shares ‘Local never tasted so good’ on their home page features carousel.
Local never tasted so goodThe Farm Fresh Local program educated and inspired eaters across the region on how to access local food at farmers markets, farm stands, and CSAs in our community. The program, supported by a USDA grant, included a 2017 media campaign to promote farmers markets, creation of a CSA@Work program for King County employees, a Farm Fresh Local Healthy Eating Blog, and a new story map that offers a virtual tour of farm- fresh food in King County.
This brings you to Water and Land Services’ ‘Taste variety at your Farmers Market’ page (also in Spanish here), which – in addition to data and maps – includes the ‘Explore farm-fresh food’ link to the story map mentioned above.
This is a fantastic ArcGIS story map that dives into the history of Farmers Markets in our area, highlights a number of favorite markets, and provides mapped links to markets not only in King County, but throughout the Puget Sound area. The mapped links connect you to specific markets and their days and hours of operation.
Pike Place Market, which opened in 1907, remains the longest-running year-round farmers market in the United States. Farmers and consumers advocated for the market so they could transact with each other directly. In addition to Pike Place, the University District, Ballard, West Seattle and Broadway Farmers Markets are open year-round and are centered in Seattle.
The University District Farmers Market; featured as one of The Top 25 Farmers’ Markets Across America by PARADE Magazine. Photo by Redstone Photography.
In addition to our own ArcGIS Story Map, local and regional resources are available to explorers ready to visit the markets throughout the region.
Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Markets is a neighborhood alliance committed to supporting and strengthening Washington’s small family farm businesses by creating and operating vibrant, successful neighborhood farmers markets. They are a 501c3 nonprofit that manages seven food-focused farmers markets in Seattle. They are online, have a Ripe and Ready Blog, and are social on Twitter and more; providing great information about the markets 
in Seattle proper.
Outside of Seattle and King County? The Tilth Alliance has a site that links to a list of regional farmers markets. You can search markets and information about them by location. They also have an app for that!
Eat well and enjoy the season by visiting the farmers markets near you!
Share this:
Executive visits employees who are empowering strong communities through partnerships
King County Executive Dow Constantine and Chief People Officer Whitney Abrams recently visited King County employees and partners from the Communities of Opportunity program to learn more about their work to create greater racial, economic, and health equity that enables all people in King County to thrive and prosper.
“Our goals for Communities of Opportunity line up with the intersection of wanting to see that all people are thriving economically, that all people are healthy, that they have quality, affordable housing, and that they are connected to the community,” Andréa Akita, Director of Communities of Opportunity, said during the visit.
Communities of Opportunity is a partnership between King County and Seattle Foundation to create safe and healthy communities throughout the region by working with community leaders and organizations to design effective strategies. It is funded jointly through Seattle Foundation and Best Starts for Kids, a voter-approved initiative led by Executive Constantine to promote healthier, more resilient children, youth, families, and communities in King County.
Communities of Opportunity Staff from Public Health Seattle & King County and Department of Community and Human Services, as well as representatives from the Seattle Foundation, Ballmer Group and HomeSight, gave Executive Constantine and Abrams an overview of their work and some detailed examples of projects that are making a real difference in the community.
For Kalayaan Domingo, a Project Manager for COO, the work is more than conceptual or theoretical as she has strong connections to the communities where COO is focusing its partnerships.
“I’m from this area, I grew up in south Beacon Hill, I went to the Northwest School on Capitol Hill, my parents grew up here, so this work is not theoretical for me,” Domingo told Executive Constantine. “The ability for my family to stay in this county living close to each other is something that we feel we fight for every day. When I’m out in the community these are not conceptual partners, these are people who raised me in this community, they’re people who I’ve had a long-term relationship with, and when I go out to the grocery store I have to go out there and see them every day, and if this doesn’t work I can’t go back out and show my face. So when we ask our community, and we ask ourselves to be accountable to the community, we really have to mean it and we really have to show it.”
Both Executive Constantine and Abrams appreciated the opportunity to meet with the COO employees and some of their partners to hear first-hand about their work, challenges, and successes.
“These employees are partnering with local communities creating innovative, tailored solutions to help everyone in King County grow, thrive, and prosper,” Executive Constantine said. “Their passion and commitment to building fairer, stronger communities is inspiring. I appreciate the time and care our employees taking to share their insights with me, and I thank them for the work they do every day for the people.”
Learn more about Communities of Opportunity at www.COOpartnerships.org.
Share this:
King County releases Annual Financial Reports
The 2017 King County CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) and the PAFR (Popular Annual Financial Report) are now available online.
The CAFR consists of management’s representations concerning the finances of King County. The financial statements within the report have been audited by the Washington State Auditor’s Office and were prepared according to generally accepted accounting principles that are prescribed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board for all state and local governments in the United States of America.
The PAFR provides an overview of King County’s financial condition with a brief analysis of where revenues come from and how the monies including tax dollars are spent. It seeks to inform readers about King County’s basic financial structure with emphasis on the results of its operations during the 2017 fiscal year. The PAFR is not audited, but the report is based on the audited CAFR.
Click on the above corresponding acronym link to view the PDF file. Hardcopies will be available towards the end of July. If you need a printed copy of either report, send a request to July.Maha@KingCounty.gov . For questions about the report, please contact Manny Cristobal at Manny.Cristobal@KingCounty.gov.
Share this:
KCIT deploying new tool this month to protect data and systems
KCIT will deploy a new security tool later this month that will help protect the entire King County network from cybersecurity attacks. The new tool will operate behind the scenes, helping to protect all of our data and systems from both external and internal cyber threats.
This deployment should affect neither your computer nor your day-to-day business operations. If you are blocked from a work-approved website or application, either submit a Help Desk Ticket to HelpTicket@KingCounty.gov or escalate the issue through your technical support group.
Employee News 