Listen to Executive Constantine on KUOW’s “The Record”
King County Executive Dow Constantine joined KUOW host Bill Radke on Tuesday, April 17, to discuss a range of issues, including the new Children and Family Justice Center, which is being built to replace the failing Youth Services Center. “King County has long had a goal of reducing the number of kids involved in the justice system, including the number detained,” Executive Constantine said during the interview. “Over the course of the last 20 years we’ve reduced the number of kids in detention from around 200 on an average day to, on… Read More
Report it to Stop it: Let’s put an end to sexual misconduct on our services
Crossposted from Metro Matters By Rob Gannon, King County Metro General Manager Today Metro launched an important public awareness campaign to encourage reporting of unwanted sexual harassment and misconduct on board our services. We’re working with the King County Sheriff’s Office, Metro Transit Police, King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, and local law enforcement to increase awareness, encourage reporting, support victims, and reduce misconduct through our “Report it to Stop it” effort as part of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. All of us have a critical role to play in keeping one another… Read More
Senior Leaders meet with Juvenile Detention employees
Two members of Executive Constantine’s Senior Leadership Team recently met with a group of employees from the Juvenile Detention Division to hear about the work they are doing to help the young people entrusted to their care. Chief People Officer Whitney Abrams and Chief Performance Officer Gary Kurihara sat in on the daily briefing of about 20 employees at the Youth Services Center to hear about their work, the challenges they are facing, and what they can do to remove any barriers. “Employees know more than anyone about the work they are… Read More
Third workshop for US – The Untold Story Project is May 1 in Chinook Building
“The thing you’re most afraid to share is the thing you most want to say.” This is one of the observations journalist Florangela Davila made during the workshop she provided last week as part of the Untold Story Project. Davila also said that stories are built on verbs and movement, and that the most powerful parts of a sentence – and a story – are the beginning and the end. The Untold Story Project, in support of the county’s commitment to lead with racial justice, invites employees of color to submit a… Read More
ESJ Speaker Series: Impacts of Japanese American Internment during WWII
On Tuesday, May 8, attend the next ESJ Speaker Series for a discussion on the “Impacts of Japanese American Internment during WWII” led by Tom Ikeda, Executive Director of Densho, the Chinook Room 123 from noon – 1 p.m. Densho means “to leave a legacy”. At Densho, our mission is to educate, preserve, collaborate and inspire action for equity. Densho uses technology to preserve and make accessible primary source materials of World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans; to present materials for historic value and as a means of exploring issues of… Read More
King County Hiring Managers: You are the key to the success of Vets 4 HIRE
Each of the past three years, King County has met its goal of hiring 16 veteran fellows as part of the Vets 4 HIRE program. Funding is available to hire 16 more this year, but we need the help of hiring managers. What began as King County’s Heroes Employment Reintegration Opportunity (HERO) Program five years ago has developed into the Vets 4 HIRE (Heroes in Reintegration Experiences) Program, a paid fellowship/internship for qualified veterans funded in part by the Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy. While the success of any program of… Read More
Creating pipelines to future careers
Crossposted from WTD’s Clean Water Stories Half of King County Wastewater Treatment Division’s valued employees are expected to retire in five years and one of the biggest questions we face is: How will those spots be filled? How can we reach out to the next generation? We want high school students to be aware of these career opportunities. We host two high school career events in the spring every year and hire 10 high school interns for a summer, and they do some amazing work for us, even if they choose a different… Read More
Second workshop for US – The Untold Story Project is April 17 in Renton
The Untold Story project, in support of the county’s commitment to lead with racial justice, invites employees of color to submit a 750-word story of how racism has affected them and their sense of self, belonging, or worth. Examples can be found on the project website. Stories are due May 25. Submitters are cautioned that this project is not a forum for discrimination or sexual harassment complaints, which must be legally addressed by Human Resources. The second in a series of three lunchtime workshops to assist potential submitters in writing their story… Read More
Executive Constantine proclaims Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in King County
King County Executive Dow Constantine today proclaimed April 4, 2018, to be Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in King County: View the PDF document here.
ESJ Legislative Branch Committee guest speaker to discuss Dr. King, April 6
The Equity and Social Justice (ESJ) Legislative Branch Committee and Councilmember Larry Gossett invite all employees to attend the first event in an ESJ lunch and learn guest speaker series, entitled “The Forgotten King” with author and activist Bill Fletcher, Jr. The event will be held Friday, April 6, 2018 at 11:30 a.m. in the Superior Courtroom, E-942. The King County Council passed King County’s Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan 2016-2022 and the goal of the ESJ Legislative Branch Committee is to help advance the vision of the Strategic Plan.
