Kudos! Tobacco Prevention Program receives national recognition
The Tobacco Prevention Program’s King County Partners with CHWs to Provide Tobacco Interventions initiative addressed tobacco-related health disparities by integrating Community Health Workers (CHW) into tobacco interventions was recently selected as Model Practice by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) Model Practices Program. This NACCHO award nationally honors outstanding local public health practices throughout the country and is highly competitive. Selection indicates that a program demonstrated “Exemplary and replicable qualities in response to a local public health need.” All Model Practices winners will be recognized at the NACCHO Annual… Read More
Kudos! Detention Officer receives MLK Medal of Distinguished Service Award
Juvenile Detention Officer Joseph Townsend was recently awarded the MLK Medal of Distinguished Service award by Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer. The Metropolitan King County Council honor is presented annually to those who make a particularly strong impact on the County, with the hope to encourage others to renew their dedication to serve their community. Townsend was recognized with the award for his mentorship of young people throughout South King County. He coaches the Thomas Jefferson High School baseball team, as well as the school’s nationally ranked Girls Bowling team. Read more in the… Read More
Kudos from a Vets 4 HIRE participant to DNRP section
This kudos comes from James Ott, who participated in the Vets 4 HIRE Program this year with the Department of Natural Resources and Parks. My experience was incredible. I elected to do my entire time at the Bear Creek District due to child care. The crew there is wow, wow, wow. Parks District Maintenance Coordinator Joseph Hughes is a great leader and easily on par with any of the best military leaders I’ve worked with. I have decided to pursue a degree in Parks Management at the University of Montana. You certainly helped me figure out what I’m going to… Read More
Kudos! LHWMP wins award
The Local Hazardous Waste Management Program (LHWMP) won a 2017 EPA Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award in the Supporter Category. Safer Choice is an EPA program that helps consumers, businesses, and purchasers find products that perform and are safer for human health and the environment. LHWMP is a multi-jurisdictional program that focuses on reducing public and environmental exposure to hazardous materials. The award acknowledges LHWMP’s efforts to support the Safer Choice program through Safer Choice-related communications and safer chemistry innovation which included promotion via the LHWMP website, publications, presentations, technical… Read More
KCIT featured in Microsoft’s Customer Stories
Microsoft has featured their work with King County in a recent “Customer Stories” feature on their website. This story discusses how King County is using Microsoft Dynamics 365 “as a rapid application development engine to replatform legacy applications and create new information systems.” The prospect of dealing with a government agency puts a knot in the stomach of most Americans. … But, King County, Washington, is committed to changing that view, with a mission to offer residents the ‘best-run government’ with every interaction. -Microsoft Microsoft spoke with several KCIT leaders working to… Read More
EMAP Accreditation awarded to King County OEM
King County Office of Emergency (OEM) has earned full accreditation by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) – a validation of the capabilities of our disaster preparedness and response systems. Accreditation from this internationally recognized program represents a significant achievement and compliance with sixty-four industry-recognized standards. The rigorous EMAP process required a year-long internal self-assessment of OEM’s organizational programs, plans, and procedures, capped by an on-site peer-review by a team of EMAP assessors drawn from programs across the U.S. “For the past five years, OEM has completed a top to bottom assessment… Read More
Kudos to Jennifer Hills, Risk Manager, Executive Services
This kudos is from Jennifer Ackerman, the Deputy Executive Director of the Public Risk Management Association. She is recognizing Jennifer Hills for her article published in Public Risk magazine. Hi Jennifer, Congratulations! Your article on the Risk-Crisis Continuum has been selected as Public Risk magazine Article of the Year! You were selected by the judging panel for your article. This is a big honor as you were chosen from a pool of practitioner-writers. Your name will be announced at PRIMA’s awards luncheon, to be held on Monday, June 5, during PRIMA’s Annual… Read More
Kudos to employees who care about our residents and our environment!
This piece was featured in the Seattle Times’ Rant and Raves list. Kudos to a DNRP employee for saving a bird’s day! “RAVE To the woman working for King County who took my Saturday call about a coot (bird) trapped in a storm drain in Covington. She reached someone in Covington public works, who called me and said they were closed, but they were there first thing on Monday freeing the trapped animal. Public-sector heroes!
Kudos! Office of Risk Management Services featured in national magazine for significantly improving employee engagement scores
In 2015, the Office of Risk Management Services scored 66% on the countywide employee engagement survey. While a positive score, Director Jennifer Hills sought to improve it. “What I realized was that we really needed to invest in becoming a more cohesive team,” Jennifer said. “We were an agency of strong individual performers but we really needed to come together as a team and start to build trust and have healthy conflict and have commitment around our goals and hold one another accountable to achieve the results that we were looking to… Read More
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