Prosecutor partners to end sex trafficking
Crossposted from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Facebook Even before Liam Neeson’s film, “Taken” hit movie screens in 2008, Tanya Fernandez had the notion that sex trafficking involved kidnapping young girls and forcing them into the commercial sex trade against their will, but that’s not the reality. Tanya learned what trafficking actually looks like while running youth programs in her hometown of Oakland, Calif. and volunteering as a rape crisis counselor for sex trafficking victims. “Every victim I worked with, I kept thinking, ‘How can I build a time machine and… Read More
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
Jay Osborne appointed Director of Human Resources Division
King County Executive Dow Constantine has appointed Jay Osborne as Director of Human Resources Division, effective April 30, 2018. Jay was selected as the successful candidate after a nationwide recruitment that attracted more than 100 applicants. Jay has served King County for almost 30 years and his experience, skills, and commitment to excellence will be vital as HRD transitions to a standalone people-focused department beginning January 1, 2019. He has acted as Interim Director of HRD since December 2017 and has been instrumental in leading the work to create a HR department… Read More
King County increased the pet adoption rate by a record 20 percent in a single year
Regional Animal Services of King County – which has dramatically increased the pet-save rate in recent years – set a new record for adoptions last year, delivering on Executive Constantine’s commitment to transform humane animal care. Executive Dow Constantine thanked the staff and volunteers at King County’s animal services division for increasing the pet adoption rate by a record 20 percent in a single year, building on the successful transformation of regional animal services. The latest milestone is the result of several strategies, including partnering with cafes and pet stores to make… Read More
Popular transit service to the Issaquah Alps returns with locations in Seattle and more trailhead options
A popular public-private partnership that provides direct transit service to hiking destinations Issaquah Alps will return April 21 with expanded service from Seattle to more trailheads. On May 19, a second transit service to Mount Si and Mount Teneriffe near North Bend will start at Sound Transit’s Capitol Hill Link light rail station. Trailhead Direct – a successful pilot project that provides transit service to trailheads along the Interstate 90 corridor – returns April 21 with expanded service in Seattle to more hiking destinations. The public-private partnership between King County Metro Transit,… Read More
Executive Constantine appoints experienced tech executive to lead King County’s award-winning information technology team
After a nationwide search, Executive Constantine selected a former senior Amazon manager to lead King County’s Department of Information Technology, recognized last year as the Best IT County in the Nation. Tanya Hannah will lead the 450-person team that was selected as Best IT County in the Nation last year by the National Association of Counties. Hannah, who joined King County IT in June 2017 as Deputy Director, was selected after an extensive nationwide search in which more than 300 candidates applied. “Our award-winning team of IT professionals has established King County… Read More
King County Public Health now oversees juvenile justice to focus on healing
Crossposted from the KCYouthJustice blog By John Knicely, KIRO 7 News Juvenile justice now falls under the direction of King County Public Health. On Wednesday, King County Executive Dow Constantine unveiled plans that have been in the works since November. The idea is to focus on healing and rehabilitating the youth offender to have charges reduced or thrown out. Jahila Moody is a prime example of the desired outcome. “Summer of 2016, I had a felony and a misdemeanor,” Moody told KIRO 7. Now she’s a high school graduate working at the… Read More
Press conference held to announce prepaid postage request
Crossposted from the Election Connection blog On Wednesday, March 28, we held a press conference to share our proposal for prepaid postage with local media. The press conference featured our director Julie Wise, King County Executive Dow Constantine and Councilmember Rod Dembowski. “When I was elected, one of my commitments was to remove barriers to voting,” Julie said. “As we increase access with prepaid postage and ballot drop boxes, we’re beginning to see a real impact.” Our proposal builds on the successful work we did testing prepaid postage early last year. Our… Read More
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