King County Wins 2025 Geospatial Professional Network Award for Innovative AI-GIS System
Crossposted from GIS & You King County is proud to have been honored with the 2025 Exemplary Systems in Geospatial (ESIG) Award in the Single Process Systems category by the Geospatial Professional Network (GPN, formerly URISA). This recognition honors our innovative AI-GIS Strengthened State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Response Letter Generator, a novel system that integrates geographic information systems (GIS) with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to advance health equity across King County. Read more.
King County Metro ridership growth second highest among nation’s largest transit agencies
Crossposted from Metro Matters Marking ongoing positive ridership growth, King County Metro posted a silver medal win among the 10 largest transit agencies nationwide. Metro had an estimated 63 million boardings this year through Aug. 31, which is increase and 4.5 million higher than the same time last year. Comparing Aug. 2024 and 2025, we’re seeing about 5,000 more morning boardings, 6,600 more midday boardings and 9,500 more afternoon boardings on an average weekday. A regional rising star is the RapidRide G Line. Although the new line only just celebrated its one-year anniversary,… Read More
King County named Public Agency of the Year
Crossposted from the DES Express Submitted by the Finance and Business Operations Division King County received the Public Agency of the Year Award at an awards ceremony last Friday evening, Oct 17. Ken Guy, director of the Finance and Business Operations Division (FBOD), accepted the award on behalf of the County, quipping, “Better never stops.” The Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council presented the award, which goes to a public agency that demonstrates strong leadership, innovative ideas, and a genuine commitment to supplier diversity and economic inclusion. It recognizes organizations that do… Read More
Sound Transit Sergeant Devon Edwards receives prestigious award at IAWP
Crossposted from the KCSO Employee News It is with great pride and admiration that we recognize Sgt. Devon Edwards for her exceptional achievement in being awarded the prestigious International Association of Women Police (IAWP) scholarship — an honor bestowed upon one outstanding female police officer worldwide. This competitive grant celebrates leadership, vision, and a commitment to advancing global understanding of law enforcement roles across diverse cultures. Devon Edwards made history as the first female officer from the United States to receive this distinguished award. Her selection reflects not only her dedication to… Read More
King County Department of Local Services recognized nationally for ‘Local Services Wants to Speak Your Language’ outreach efforts
Crossposted from King County Local The King County Department of Local Services earned a prestigious recognition for its efforts to reach and engage community members who speak languages other than English in the unincorporated areas. The department recently won a Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Award from the National Association of Government Communicators in the Multicultural Communications Program category for its comprehensive effort, also known as “Local Services Wants to Speak Your Language.” The approach consisted of three main elements: Read more.
Health + Care: A comic strip salutes 10 years of Seattle/King County Clinic
Crossposted from Public Health Insider It’s been over 10 years since Seattle Center invited Public Health – Seattle & King County to join an ambitious effort to stand-up a massive pop-up clinic. The doors opened to Seattle/King County Clinic in KeyArena in 2014, with free medical, dental and vision care. We didn’t imagine then that it would become the largest community-driven free health clinic of its kind in the United States! We are enormously proud to be one of the over 100 organizations that continue to make this free healthcare opportunity happen…. Read More
Green Workforce Development Training receives Innovation Award for Equity and Racial and Social Justice
The recipient of the 2024 Best-Run Government Innovation Award for Equity and Racial and Social Justice is the Green Workforce Development Training program. Developed by the Solid Waste Division in the Department of Natural Resources and Parks – with a big assist from community-based organizations – the innovative job training program protects the environment, provides high-demand job skills to BIPOC and frontline communities, and helps the building industry meet requirements to deconstruct buildings and salvage materials that may still have value. Eighteen participants have completed the training, and several have moved into… Read More
The Parent Champions Pilot Program receives BRG Innovation Award for Service
The Parent Champions Pilot Program has received the 2024 Best-Run Government (BRG) Innovation Award for Service. Congratulations to the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) and the Developmental Disabilities & Early Childhood Supports Division, and their partners for their commitment to Best-Run Government! A special thank you to the program’s project manager Juliette Escobar and group facilitators Ya’Vonne Hubbard and Fathia Hammad. The Innovation Award for Service recognizes workgroups and teams that have made progress on our customer service goals to prioritize customer-centered services, improve the customer experience, increase staff understanding… Read More
Seven national awards for achievements in news, social, video, graphic arts, web design, and multicultural outreach
Crossposted from Keeping King County Green The Department of Natural Resources and Parks’ (DNRP) communications staff recently received a combined seven awards at two national conferences, recognizing achievements in news media, social media, video production, web design, graphic art, and multicultural outreach. On the same night they received the Golden Post Award at the Government Social Media conference hosted in Orlando, they received awards in six categories at the National Association of Government Communicators annual conference hosted in Pittsburgh. Those are in addition to their three Northwest Regional Emmy Award nominations. “We’re fortunate to have a high-performing team… Read More
Recipient of Innovation Award for Cost recovered $5 million in delinquent tax revenue
The Personal Property Escalated Collection Team, part of Treasury Operations in the Finance and Business Operations Division of the Department of Executive Services, is the winner of the 2024 Best-Run Government Award for Cost. The award was one of eight announced by Executive Shannon Braddock on May 8. Through its Outreach to Businesses program, the team worked collaboratively with King County commercial businesses to recover $5.3 million of revenue and fees from 2023 and 2024 delinquent taxes – and reduce the portion of taxes which had become delinquent from 4.06% in 2023… Read More
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