Crossposted from Metro Matters Do you ride transit and have a desire to improve transit service for everyone? King County is seeking several new members for its Transit Advisory Commission. The commission helps improve transit services, planning, and programs by advising Metro, King County, and leaders about transit policy (visit the website to learn more). The commission’s members include residents and other transit stakeholders. Our goal is to reflect the county’s diversity. Most members ride the bus, and all live in King County. Each serves a two-year term. The commission meets monthly… Read More

The Prevention Division of Public Health – Seattle & King County held it’s first ever all-staff gathering. From the variety of diverse programs in the division, this short video by Drew Emery captures eight stories that show what we have in common: we care.

Earlier this year, King County Elections and the Seattle Foundation launched a pilot program to engage limited-English speaking voters. After soliciting two rounds of proposals, 22 organizations received funding for their voter outreach field plans. In total, the pilot program has awarded nearly $242,000 for community-based voter engagement. On August 16, those community-based organizations officially kicked-off their work at Elections Headquarters in Renton. “This represents a new way of doing voter outreach and community engagement in general,” said Director of Elections, Julie Wise. “Rather than assuming we know the right way to… Read More

Ryerson Base has won the 2015 Base Competition Award. As part of the Transit Safety Program, a Base Accident Competition was initiated in 1982. Each base is analyzed by how many collision per million miles they have had and that is compared to the previous years performance. The base with the most improved accident record is recognized for their achievement. This year the award was won by Ryerson Base who reduced their collisions by 19.7 percent.

Crossposted from Public Health Insider When refugees escape from war, conflict, famine and other disasters, it’s not unusual for them to end up in King County. We are one of the nation’s major host communities for refugees. A well-organized local network of agencies helps refugees take the first steps into a new life. This network emerged in 1979, when an earlier wave of refugees came from Vietnam, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries. One first step for every refugee is a visit to the Refugee Health clinic inside the Downtown Public Health Center,… Read More

Crossposted from King County Natural Resources blog Families had a blast at King County’s second-annual Cine en el Parque in Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center on Aug. 6. The Spanish-language outdoor moving night was co-sponsored by White Center Community Development Association and King County Parks. Cine en el Parque was a special opportunity for us to welcome everybody to one of our beautiful parks and build community. King County screened the box office hit and animated Mexican film, “Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos” onto a 40-foot-tall inflatable movie screen (bigger than most… Read More

Crossposted from For The Defense A friend of Dua Abudiab stopped wearing the hijab after a man accosted her and called her several names while she was riding a bus in downtown Seattle. It was a sobering moment for Dua, a public defender at the Department of Public Defense’s The Defenders Association Division (DPD TDA), who wears the hijab every day. Dua is also active in the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Around the same time that Dua’s friend was accosted, the director of CAIR reached out to her and asked her if she would write about… Read More

Crossposted from King County Youth Justice King County Superior Court Presiding Judge Susan Craighead is one of many Court leaders encouraging the use of implicit bias training and awareness among other criminal justice leaders and their staff. Judge Craighead also serves on the Juvenile Justice Equity Steering Committee, a group collaborating on solutions to end racial disproportionalities in the juvenile justice system. Recently, I sat next to a businessman from southern Utah on a plane. Like the rest of the country, we found ourselves reflecting on the apparently unjustified shootings of African-American… Read More

In 2014, Sheriff John Urquhart directed the Metro Transit Police Bicycle Emphasis Enforcement Squad (BEES) to train and implement the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. Since its implementation, it has become a roaring success. The program addresses low-level crimes, focusing on drug and prostitution in many areas of downtown Seattle, White Center and the Skyway area of unincorporated King County. Initially the only downtown area included was the Belltown corridor, but it quickly expanded to all of downtown in May 2014. It recently grew again in August 2016 to comprise the… Read More