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
Record number of bidders for Fleet Administration spring auction
Crossposted from Inside Transportation King County Fleet Administration held its version of a spring garage sale last month, but customers weren’t shopping for gently-worn sweaters or antique dishware. Instead, bids were taken on scores of tractors, autos, vans, pickups, trucks and heavy machinery. Fleet Administration holds two auto and heavy equipment auctions each year, one in spring and one in fall. Both are on Saturdays, and both are open to the general public as well as to nonprofits and government agencies and employees. The 2017 Spring Auction drew a record 500 bidders on… Read More
Saving lives on the paramedic beat
Crossposted from Public Health Insider Today, we’re taking a closer look at Advanced Life Support (ALS) response. Sent to an incident by 911 dispatchers, ALS personnel, better known as paramedics, are sent to scenes where more intensive medical care is required, such as a heart attack or substantial physical trauma. Emergency Medical Technicians may have already reached the scene, providing initial support until paramedic units arrive. We talked with Matt Riesenberg, Chief of Operations at King County Medic One, to learn more about his work as a paramedic Read more at Public… 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
Executive meets with employees to hear ideas on improving veteran services
King County Executive Dow Constantine recently met with eight employees to hear their experiences and thoughts on what King County can do to improve services to veterans, seniors and vulnerable populations, the people who would receive support from the Executive’s proposed Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy. The employees from the Department of Community and Human Services, District Court and Public Health – Seattle & King County, many of whom are veterans themselves, provide an array of support services to veterans and other clients, such as case management, housing assistance, healthcare and… Read More
Featured Job: Capital Projects Oversight Analyst – Council
Closing Date/Time: Monday 06/19/17 4:00 PM Pacific Time Salary: $102,038.00 – $137,230.00 Annually Job Type: Appointed Location: King County Auditor’s Office – 516 Third Ave, Room W-1033, Seattle, WA 98104, Washington Department: King County Council Description: The Auditor’s Office is hiring an experienced professional to oversee county capital projects. Qualifications include a degree in engineering, architecture, construction management, or related technical discipline, and/or significant experience in delivery of capital projects. The selected candidate will join a committed, tight-knit team of exceptional analysts who drive improvement in King County government. We prioritize work-life… Read More
Summertime discounts for employees
Employees are welcome to take advantage of two new discounts: Wild Waves -The Metro Employees Recreational Activities Association (MERAA) is offering discounted tickets to Wild Waves to King County employees. MERAA is NOT receiving any money or percentage of tickets sold. The online purchase price is $25.00 and Main Gate prices are $43.79. Click here to access this offer (PDF). Puget Sound Moving offers affordable, reliable solutions to the most common moving problems, including the complete packing, storage and shipment of our customers’ belongings at competitive prices. King County employees are eligible… Read More
What is “Investing in You?”
Last week Executive Constantine launched Investing in You, a strategy that brings together our work in Equity and Social Justice, Best-Run Government: Employees and Continuous Improvement into a single, comprehensive plan focused on making King County a great place to work. By aligning this work into a single strategy we can ensure that all of the County’s employee-focused efforts are working collaboratively towards the same goal – a fair, supportive, innovative and racially diverse workplace – and we can see how the individual components fit together. Investing in You teams are working on… Read More
Five questions with Bookda Gheisar, Immigrant and Refugee Policy Analyst
1. Why did you start in your role with King County? I am a social worker by training and passion, so my entire career has been focused on fighting poverty, eliminating barriers that people of color experience in accessing services, and allowing for voices who are not usually present at the table to become heard and to influence policymakers. The specific way that I carry out this mission has shifted from time to time, because social work is a broad field, so I have looked at emergent issues within that umbrella. It… Read More
Employee News 