Five Questions with Pam Jones, Juvenile Division Director, Adult & Juvenile Detention
1. What is the Juvenile Division responsible for? The Juvenile Division is responsible for the safe and secure housing of juvenile offenders. While detained, juvenile offenders are provided comprehensive services such as medical and mental health services, education provided through Seattle Public Schools, access to a library on site staffed by the King County Library System and the option of participating in other regularly-scheduled programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, Powerful Voices, PONGO poetry and other special programs.
2. What do you like most about your job? Everything. I like working with children and their families, and being a partner with other Juvenile Justice agencies that work to provide nationally-recognized best practices programs for at-risk youth. I am also fortunate to work within a quality work environment with professional and caring staff.
3. What is the biggest challenge in your job? The biggest challenge is balancing needs of safety and security with best practices for adolescents and their unique developmental needs and making sure our policies and protocols, and staff training reflects this balance.
4. What is the Juvenile division doing to reduce disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in juvenile detention? Just as there is no one cause for DMC, there is no single change or agency that alone can eliminate it. Juvenile detention is partnering with Superior Court, Probation, Prosecutors, Defense Agencies, Police and the community to review practices and policies at key decision points in the justice system. Every juvenile justice agency has a role in creating racial equity and a responsibility to work together to eliminate DMC. We are working collaboratively to identify system improvements and make the changes that will reduce minority overrepresentation in detention. For example, we have helped create more objective criteria and risk assessment tools to determine when detention is the right option and we have worked hard to ensure appropriate youth are placed in alternatives to secure detention programs.
5. What is your main goal for 2014? My main goal for 2014 is to work with the new Children Family Justice Center project team which includes DAJD, Superior Court and Facility Management Staff. This is a unique opportunity to create a design that is inspired by community input and supports implementing best practices in operating a juvenile detention facility. Equally important is collaboration with other juvenile justice partners to engage with community groups to share information on the new Children Family Justice Center.
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Take Action to Save Puget Sound
Stormwater, or polluted runoff, is the leading contributor to reduced water quality in Puget Sound. Learn more about its impacts on the environment, how King County is addressing the issue, and how you can help. Visit the public involvement website for more information, including videos, and an opportunity to provide feedback on our stormwater management program.
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Employees Help Local Stores Ditch Noxious Weeds
Employees from the King County Noxious Weed Program are helping to keep invasive weeds off local store shelves, with City People’s Garden Store in Seattle being the first to pledge to stop selling any of the invasive plants or noxious weeds that appear on King County’s Noxious Weed and Plants of Concern lists.
“These noxious weeds and invasive plants threaten our natural ecosystems by choking out native species,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “I commend City People’s for stepping up as the first store in King County to pledge not to sell these destructive plants to their customers.”
Employees with the King County Noxious Weed Program worked with City People’s Garden Store to develop details of the pledge, and now they are helping get the word out to customers about the hazards of noxious and invasive plants, including suggestions for native plant choices that are in harmony with the Pacific Northwest’s environment.
Pictured: Education Specialist Sasha Shaw helps businesses and residents understand the impact of noxious weeds on our environment
“Invasive plants such as English ivy, yellow archangel and butterfly bush are already overwhelming natural ecosystems in King County, so City People’s pledge not to sell these and other invasive plants is an important step toward reducing their impact to our area,” said Sasha Shaw, education specialist with the county’s noxious weed program.
New research into the relationship between climate change and invasive plants indicates their spread will only worsen in the Pacific Northwest because invasive plants are better able to capitalize on and respond to changing conditions.
“More rain and warmer temperatures are likely for King County and this will only increase the advantage of invasive plants,” Shaw said. “Stopping the further introduction of plants known to be invasive is an important first step to fighting the problems they cause.”
City People’s goal is to set a standard for other nurseries to follow and to raise awareness about invasive plants and how gardeners can make a difference by avoiding them in their gardens.
“We have always tried to be careful not to order plants that are invasive, but in working with King County, we found there were plants we hadn’t realized were a problem,” said City People’s co-owner Steve Magley. “Now the Garden Store can be more thorough in protecting our environment. We will lose a little money, but it’s the right thing to do.”
“We in the business community have to do our part, and we urge other garden stores, nurseries, and especially the big national chain stores to join us by ending the sale of these invasive plants,” Magley said.
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ESJ Lunch and Learn – Debriefing the Governing for Racial Equity Conference
Employees are invited to a lunch and learn to hear what a panel of their colleagues learned at the recent Governing for Racial Equity Conference in Portland, OR.
Several King County employees attended the third Governing for Racial Equity (GRE) Conference on March 25 and 26 to learn more about what other governments are doing to achieve racial equity and eliminate institutional and structural racism.
Join King County members of the GRE Planning Committee, conference presenters and other attendees as they share their learnings from the conference and help plan the next steps for our involvement.
- Tuesday, April 22, noon – 1:30 p.m. Chinook Building, Room 121-12
- Our panel: Paula Harris-White, Matias Valenzuela, Jo Anne Fox, Ericka Turley and Rebecca Spithill
Bring your lunch and get informed. No registration required.
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Coming Soon: New KCWeb
Last November, we asked what employees would name the new King County Intranet. Almost 1,400 employees submitted suggestions, and the overwhelming choice was KCWeb.
A team of King County employees is now building a new Intranet site that will make it easy for you to find the resources you need for your job, the tools you use every day, and the news to help you stay informed – all in one central location.
We wanted to share an early design of the site which includes the new logo for the intranet, the main colors of the design, and some examples of the home page layout.
The intranet is being built with the ideas and suggestions from employees in departments and agencies across King County and is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2014.
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Washington Counties Scholarship Fund
The Washington Counties Scholarship Fund is now accepting applications for the 2014/2015 school year. Applications are available online at www.countyscholarship.org. Completed applications are due by April 30, 2014.
The Washington Counties Scholarship Fund awards five $3,000 scholarships to eligible children of county employees and county elected officials. Awards are given in the form of Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) credits.
The Washington Counties Scholarship Fund is a joint project of the Washington Association of County Officials (WACO) and the Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC). Funds for the scholarship are provided by members of the Washington Association of County Officials (WACO) and the Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC). Since 1993, the fund has awarded over $175,000 to eligible students.
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Kudos! “Rave” for Burke-Gilman Trail improvements in Seattle Times
King County’s upgrades to the Burke-Gilman Trail got a shout-out in The Seattle Times last month:
“Rave to King County for Burke-Gilman Trail surface improvements between Log Boom Park and Woodinville that make the trail safer, especially in wet, low-light and debris conditions” – The Seattle Times, March 9, 2014
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Fairs Offer School-to-Work Transition Resources
The Department of Community and Human Services’ Developmental Disabilities Division recently hosted its annual Transition Resource Fairs. Held every March for the past seven years, the fairs support the School-to-Work program by informing and better equipping students and their families to prepare for a successful transition from school to employment and other community resources. The fairs were at Highline Community College on Saturday, March 1, and at Microsoft on Tuesday, March 4.
The fairs are intentionally held away from high schools—the message is about adult life in the community. Over 900 community attendees were served at these events, and both fairs continue to draw younger students and their families. This is a good indicator of the success of the Division’s efforts when “starting early” is the local motto for preparing for a successful transition.
With over 45 exhibitors at each event, ranging from government organizations to generic community resources and the employment service agencies contracted by School-to-Work, the fairs have evolved to mini-conferences by offering 12-16 one-hour sessions. Many opportunities were available so that students seeking employment and potential employers could meet one another.
The Transition Fairs are another reflection that the School-to-Work Program has really become the community’s program. The events are a growing success because of cross stakeholder collaboration ranging from the state DSHS partners, to school districts, community organizations, individual families and a major local employer who all pitch in the time and resources it takes to make it happen. A big kudos to Richard Wilson for collaborating with the partner organizations to put these fairs together, and thank you to the DDD staff who volunteered at the fairs. (Excerpted from DCHS’ Touching Base newsletter.)
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Kudos! Housing Repair Program, Community and Human Services
The Community Services Division’s Housing Repair Program (HRP) provides interest-free loan and emergency grant services directly to low- and moderate-income home owners in King County, outside the city of Seattle, to repair their homes and help preserve our region’s stock of affordable housing. This program also provides grants to individual low-income renters with a disability to help make their housing more accessible.
The City of Snoqualmie has expressed appreciation for HRP for helping a Snoqualmie home owner obtain the required matching funds for his FEMA grant to elevate his family’s home out of harm’s way from future flood disasters. City of Snoqualmie staff says that Housing Repair Program’s “quick response to the homeowner’s funding needs is truly amazing! We hope to work together again in the future.”
Way to go, HRP – thank you for the wonderful services you provide! (Excerpted from the Department of Community and Human Services’ Touching Base newsletter.)
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Working with Teens is a Matter of Building Trust
Benjamin Kaplan understands why the kids he works with no longer trust adults. By the time they enter his world, most have been abused, neglected or mistreated countless times by the adults who were supposed to keep them safe.
So if he tells a young offender he’ll call on Tuesday, he makes sure he calls on Tuesday. He doesn’t say “see you later” unless he really means he’ll see that teen later. And he tries to view his young clients for who they are in the moment – a traumatized kid in a bad situation – not for what they’ve done.
“A lot of what I do is simply about building trust,” he said. “I try to establish a relationship with them.”
Kaplan works with juvenile offenders as a mitigation specialist for the Department of Public Defense, a position similar to that of a social worker in that he helps his clients get much-needed services. His position is called mitigation specialist, however, because of another important role he plays: He takes a close look at what led that young person into the criminal justice system – the “mitigating circumstances” the attorney presents to the court to secure the best legal outcome for the client.
Many of his clients, for instance, have been charged with a sexual offense – from indecent exposure to molestation to rape. He ferrets out the teen’s history, discovers a troubled past and then uses that information to advocate for treatment rather than incarceration.
“The majority of these kids are not criminally inclined. They’re poorly socialized and don’t know how to express themselves,” Kaplan said. Labeling them a sex offender at a young age is tantamount to marking them with a scarlet letter for life. “And if we throw someone away at 13, what does that say about us as a society?” he asked. Read more.
(Reprinted from the Department of Public Defense’s For The Defense newsletter.)
Employee News 