New ESJ iMap tool brings together community and capital projects for employees
Back in 2013, the Water and Land Resources Division wanted to find a more efficient way of determining the characteristics and statistics of the populations they serve or would impact when doing capital projects. The information is critical to supporting King County’s equity and social justice goals and better project or program outcomes. Developed over the last three years through a partnership with King County GIS Center, the Equity and Social Justice (ESJ) iMap application was developed to allow employees to access and view census and demographic data with a geographic context for their projects, programs and… Read More
Application period is now open for project funding from the ESJ Opportunity Fund
The Office of Equity and Social Justice (OESJ) is now accepting applications for the Equity and Social Justice (ESJ) Opportunity Fund. The Opportunity Fund is a competitive process that provides resources to King County employees to develop and implement projects that work to advance equity and social justice and that complements the ESJ Strategic Plan. For the 2017-2018 biennium, there is a total of $100,000 in one-time funds available and grants ranging from $500 to $7,500 will be awarded to projects that the Funding Committee determines best meet the outlined criteria. For more information, read… Read More
Metro employee gets to “Be the boss”
By Hannah Debenedetto, intern with King County Department of Transportation What would you do if you were boss for the day? Metro’s Gerald Freeman found out after winning an employee sweepstakes to “be the boss” of KCDOT Director Harold Taniguchi. As a marketing specialist, Gerald is regularly at community events to help customers sign up for ORCA cards or to answer their questions. This month, Harold joined him for an afternoon helping customers in Metro’s booth at Kent Cornucopia Days. “Harold jumped right into engaging people, answering questions, and referring people to me… Read More
Keeping employees safe delivers cost savings
“Prevention is the best cure” might sound like a cliché but it’s an important part of keeping King County employees safe at work and decreasing injury-related costs. King County’s Safety and Claims section is implementing a multifaceted approach to reduce costs on workers compensation claims and lost work days as a result of occupational injuries and illnesses, and their efforts are delivering an estimated $7 million in annual savings in liabilities – funds that can go to providing services to more customers. “It’s not any one thing in isolation that is moving… Read More
You belong here: Welcome Inclusion Symposium supports 2018 Special Olympics
Shared from the DCHS Touching Base Newsletter The Special Olympics USA Games are coming to Seattle/King County in 2018! Thousands of athletes and their families will travel to the Pacific Northwest to compete in the games. Businesses and governments across King County are actively preparing for those visitors. More than 300 people attended the Welcome Inclusion (WIN) Symposium hosted by Microsoft at their Redmond Campus on June 27, 2017. Sponsored by the Arc of King County, WIN is a public awareness campaign to promote a community of inclusion for children and adults with intellectual, behavioral and… Read More
The 2017 King County Trans Resource and Referral Guide is now available
The Department of Community and Human Services is excited to announce that the 2017 version of the King County Trans Resource and Referral Guide is now available! Thanks to Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) funding provided last year, the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence, in partnership with several community organizations and with support from King County, was able to produce this updated guide. The online version is available here and is live – available in both Spanish and English versions now. The web hosting has been donated by a community member and will be updated ongoing. In 2014, the Coalition was… Read More
Bridge Fellowship kicks off third year program with expanded group, more development opportunities
Twenty four employees from across King County have been selected to participate in the 2017-2018 Bridge Fellowship Program as part of the County’s Investing In You commitment to provide leadership and development opportunities to employees. The Fellowship, open to all full-time and TLT employees, was reestablished in 2013-2014 by King County Executive Dow Constantine. The program was expanded in 2017. Bridge participants underwent a rigorous application and interview process before joining this year’s cohort. Over the course of the program, participants engage in classroom learning, group projects, presentations and career development activities, as well as interviews… Read More
Best Starts for Kids Health Survey Recognized with National Equity Award
Crossposted from the Best Starts for Kids Blog Last fall and winter, almost 6,000 people participated in a survey to learn about the health and well-being of King County kids and families. The survey closed January 31st. Our data team has been hard at work crunching numbers and analyzing this data, and you’ll hear more about what we learned soon. However, there’s one thing we know already: the groundbreaking new methods we used in the Best Starts for Kids Health Survey lead the nation in ensuring our data reflects the strengths and needs of all King County kids… Read More
Metro is taking action to address cost, quality, and equity in Access paratransit
Crossposted from Metro Matters By Chris O’Claire, Metro Transit Assistant General Manager, and Priscilla Vargas, Managing Director of Paratransit and Rideshare Operations Metro Transit is committed to continuing to improve the Access paratransit service we provide to qualifying riders who cannot ride fixed-route bus service. The King County Auditor’s Office has presented the findings of a performance audit of Access Transportation to the King County Council. Metro concurs with the recommendations of the audit and is moving forward to address each of them. The audit results echo feedback Metro staff solicited and… Read More
New video series on protecting immigrants and refugees
King County has put together a series of videos to help us learn more about the challenges facing immigrants and refugees in King County and across the country. The videos, recorded as part of a recent Equity and Social Justice event, are now available as a series entitled “Protecting Immigrants and Refugees: Our local response.” You can watch each of the videos, which feature speakers from five local community organizations, below: Aneelah Afzali, founder and executive director of the American Muslim Empowerment Network, a new initiative launched by the Muslim Association of… Read More
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