Crossposted from Local Services David Daw has joined the Department of Local Services, where he will lead the new department’s efforts to engage and collaborate with King County’s unincorporated communities. A Seattle native, David attended Evergreen State College in Olympia and studied economic development abroad in both Central America and Africa. After earning a bachelor’s degree focused on public administration and intercultural communication, he returned to Seattle. With a friend, he co-founded The Initiative Newspaper, which ran stories about positive community action and provided resources and information about the local African-American community. Read more from… Read More

Crossposted from Zero Youth Detention Public Health – Seattle & King County is honored to announce that Derrick Wheeler-Smith will lead the County’s ongoing work to achieve Zero Youth Detention. As Project Director, Wheeler-Smith will lead the implementation of the Road Map to Zero Youth Detention, which outlines strategies to lead with racial justice and further the work underway to transform the juvenile legal system. Wheeler-Smith’s background in youth empowerment makes him poised to build bridges between juvenile legal reform and the upstream community development work that schools, community groups and County-led programs are… Read More

Bringing in a leader with strong management skills, a background in law enforcement and community policing, and more than three decades of public service, Executive Constantine named John Diaz as interim director of the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention.  Diaz was Seattle police chief from 2010-2013. He began his career at the Seattle Police Department as a patrol officer in 1980 and held many leadership positions before being named Chief of Police.  Diaz was Deputy Chief of Administration, then Deputy Chief of Operations, for nearly ten years, where he oversaw administration… Read More

The King County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) welcomes their new director, Brendan McCluskey. Brendan comes to King County from the State of New Jersey, where he was the director of emergency management for their state health department. Brendan has more than two decades of experience in government, emergency management, homeland security, and public health. Before joining New Jersey state government, Brendan was the deputy emergency management director for the state of Maryland, and led the emergency management program for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Programs under Brendan’s… Read More

Crossposted from King County Local One of our goals at King County Local Services is to help our unincorporated communities thrive. This week, we took a big step in that direction as Hugo Garcia, our first Economic Development Program Manager, joined our team. Hugo brings nearly 15 years of economic development experience, serving both rural and urban communities. He’s worked directly with small businesses during prosperous and tough economic times, and understands the dedication required to run a local business. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, he immigrated to Seattle with his family in… Read More