Shared from Executive Constantine’s Executive Summary Newsletter

People often ask me, “What can I personally do to help confront the homelessness crisis?” I recently announced two new partnerships that offer more volunteer opportunities to help our neighbors get back on their feet.

We are making a vacant King County warehouse on Harbor Island available to a pair of nonprofits that will use the space to expand their volunteer-driven operations to help more people and families transition out of homelessness.

You can sign up with The BLOCK Project to host a small, self-contained home in your backyard. The staff and volunteers will work with your neighbors to create a welcoming space for people who are transitioning out of homelessness. You also can volunteer at the warehouse to help build the small homes, which are designed by local architects to be sustainable and energy efficient.

Or you can come by to help Humble Design furnish other homes for families who are transitioning out of a shelter with few or no personal possessions, such as beds, furniture, or toys. You also can donate lightly used furniture — our partners at U-Haul are providing a new moving truck — to help create inviting, personal spaces where children feel at home.

This is the type of innovative solution that Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus, and I envisioned when we convened One Table: Under one roof, governments, businesses, philanthropies, nonprofits, and the good people of our community working together to ensure that all people in King County have a safe, warm place to sleep each night.

Thank you, as always, for the opportunity to serve.

Sincerely,

Dow Constantine
King County Executive

(Watch Mitch Pittman’s KOMO News coverage)

At 12:30 p.m. today, County leaders, employees and friends will celebrate the career of King County Workforce Equity Manager Paula Harris-White, and the impact her decades of public service have had on the county’s efforts to advance equity and social justice  efforts. 

Paula, through challenging and groundbreaking work, has helped embed Equity and Social Justice into the very fabric of King County through her knowledge, determination and passion. She has served the people and employees of King County in a variety of capacities, and is often considered the resident Diversity and Inclusion subject matter expert.  

She began her career here as an Administrator nearly 20 years ago. In 2012, she became the Department of Executive Services Equity and Social Justice Manager. Next, she assumed the role of the County’s Diversity Manager in 2015. In her most recent role, Workforce Equity Manager, Paula has been serving as a subject matter and technical expert in the areas of workforce equity, racial justice, fairness and opportunity in the Human Resources Division. 

Paula helped draft the County’s current Equity & Social Justice ordinance and strategic plan, devised the ESJ Training Program and the EEO/AA Plan, leads and manages the work of the Employee-Based EEO/AA Committee, has led an ESJ training design team, serves on the ESJ Interbranch Team and Planning Committee, and is a certified volunteer mediator for the County’s Alternative Dispute Resolution program. 

“I was fortunate enough to work for great managers who encouraged and allowed me to pursue my passion for justice through my work,” said Paula. “I was given the opportunity to connect with diverse and creative county employees who shared my passions for an inclusive, fair, innovative and challenging workplace. As a mediator, I worked with employees from the City and other jurisdictions who were committed to developing a fair and just mediation program.” 

Paula leaves behind a legacy of working for a fair, justice, caring and equitable King County.  

“Paula’s graciousness, integrity, and ethical practice set the standard for how we promote and support equity and inclusion in everything we do,” said Jay Osborne, Interim Human Resources Director.        

Although Paula is retiring, she’s not slowing down. 

“I am going to take some time off, reconnect with family locally as well as in Texas and New York, and travel to Washington, D.C. to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture,” said Paula. 

Congratulations, Paula! You will be missed, but your works will continue to inspire! 

King County Executive Dow Constantine proclaimed April as Records and Information Management Month. The Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA) first proclaimed Records and Information Management month in 1995. This month-long observance promotes record keeping best practices, provides awareness of the records management profession, and highlights the benefits of proper records and information management on daily operations.

Rapid technological changes have transformed how King County conducts business, creating both challenges and opportunities for managing records and ensuring records remain accessible as long as required to support county business. King County employees create and receive thousands of records every day that are necessary for the delivery of essential county services and programs. As King County employees, each of us has a duty to properly manage these records. We celebrate the month of April as Records and Information Management month in recognition of the outstanding efforts by county employees to meet these modern day records management challenges.

The friendly professionals of the King County Records Management Program are here to help you with all your records management needs. They provide tools and guidance for electronic and physical records management, email management, records clean-up projects, trainings on various records management topics, and much more.

For more information about the King County Records Management Program, or to learn about the exciting outreach and learning opportunities happening throughout the month, visit their new website! You can email them or call their helpline at 206-477-6889 for assistance.

King County Executive Dow Constantine

Dear fellow King County employee,

It seems that everywhere around us there’s change. Changes along our skyline and in our neighborhoods. Businesses are opening or expanding, and hiring. Our communities are growing, with people from around the nation and across the world coming to King County in search of opportunity and a welcoming community. They’re looking for a change for the better.

The needs and expectations of our residents are changing too, from the types of services they want us to deliver to the way they want to access them.

At King County we are embracing change, we welcome it, and we are leading it. That was the theme of my 2018 State of the County address today. Because change brings opportunity; it challenges us to innovate, to think outside the box, to try new ideas.

That’s why I have announced a major restructure of the way we operate, with the creation of three new departments starting on January 1, 2019, which will help us deliver our services even more effectively:

• The Department of Local Services that will be focused on better serving the needs of residents in unincorporated King County.
• A standalone employee-focused Human Resources department that will be focused on serving, supporting and developing current and future employees.
• And a new Metro Transit department that will be focused on building the best transit system in the nation.

Metro isn’t standing still during this transition. Today I announced two new programs that Metro will soon launch: a pilot with a mobility service to offer on-demand shuttles to overcrowded park-and-rides and transit centers, and a partnership with ride-share companies to connect people to major bus stops – both aimed at helping people get around the region and take advantage of opportunities, while reducing congestion on our roads

We are also building on our efforts to bring a public health lens to juvenile justice. Today I announced that all of our programming work within the Juvenile Division of the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention will be placed in the care of Public Health.

This change will help us build on the highly successful juvenile programs that are already generating tremendous results. Since 2002, the average daily population of young people at the Youth Services Center dropped from 212 to 55 – the lowest in the nation for a jurisdiction the size of King County. By taking a public health approach we can bring even more innovative thinking to our programs to help all young people in our community – whether they touch the justice system or not.

These are just some of the initiatives and priorities I set out in today’s address. I encourage you to read the transcript or watch the video of my State of the County address to learn more, and I look forward to sharing more about these new proposals with you in the coming weeks as we continue our work together for the people of King County.

Sincerely,

Dow Constantine
King County Executive

Are you too young to think about retirement? Think again! Join us for a three-hour seminar featuring guest speaker Jean Cormier, who will discuss your Medicare choices and options, and representatives from the Social Security Administration and the Retired Public Employees Council of Washington. We’ll also talk about the current retirement climate and projections for the future, and the resources available to you through King County.

The seminar will take place Wednesday, April 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eighth Floor Conference Center, King Street Center, 201 S. Jackson St., Seattle

Registration is required. Due to space limitations, only county employees may attend. Click here to register. Please note attendance is strictly voluntary, on your own time, and non-work related. For more information, contact King County Benefits, Payroll and Retirement Operations by e-mail at KC.Orientations@kingcounty.gov.