News from King County Executive Dow Constantine

April 2018

Expanding innovative volunteer opportunities to help our neighbors transition out of homelessness 

People often ask me, "What can I personally do to help confront the homelessness crisis?" I recently announced two new partnerships that offer more volunteer opportunities to help our neighbors get back on their feet.

We are making a vacant King County warehouse on Harbor Island available to a pair of nonprofits that will use the space to expand their volunteer-driven operations to help more people and families transition out of homelessness.

You can sign up with The BLOCK Project to host a small, self-contained home in your backyard. The staff and volunteers will work with your neighbors to create a welcoming space for people who are transitioning out of homelessness. You also can volunteer at the warehouse to help build the small homes, which are designed by local architects to be sustainable and energy efficient. 

Or you can come by to help Humble Design furnish other homes for families who are transitioning out of a shelter with few or no personal possessions, such as beds, furniture, or toys. You also can donate lightly used furniture -- our partners at U-Haul are providing a new moving truck -- to help create inviting, personal spaces where children feel at home. 

This is the type of innovative solution that Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus, and I envisioned when we convened One Table: Under one roof, governments, businesses, philanthropies, nonprofits, and the good people of our community working together to ensure that all people in King County have a safe, warm place to sleep each night. 

Thank you, as always, for the opportunity to serve.

Sincerely,

Dow Constantine

King County Executive

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A major King County infrastructure project will protect the Duwamish River from stormwater pollution for the next century

Executive Constantine kicked off a major King County infrastructure project in Georgetown that will treat up to 70 million gallons of polluted stormwater that currently flows into Duwamish River during severe rainstorms. King County successfully competed for low-interest federal loans that will cover nearly half of the construction costs. 

The five-year construction project also will generate family-wage jobs in the community. It is one of three King County construction projects that are part of Priority Hire, which requires contractors to train and hire construction workers living in local ZIP codes with high levels of poverty and unemployment.

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Removing a barrier to democracy in King County: Providing ballots with prepaid postage

Executive Constantine and King County Elections Director Julie Wise announced a plan to provide mail-in ballots with prepaid postage to all voters starting this year.

"At a time when American democracy is threatened by our own federal government, we are taking action in King County to ensure that all people have a voice. Providing ballots with prepaid postage will remove a small but significant barrier to the democratic process in our region."

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The first Best Starts for Kids initiative prevented more than 4,000 people from becoming homeless

A new King County program -- the first funded by Executive Constantine's Best Starts for Kids initiative -- prevented more than 4,000 people from becoming homeless in its first year. That included more than 2,400 children and teenagers.

It's an approach less expensive than shelter and one that prevents children from experiencing trauma that can affect their brain development. Researchers at MIT and Notre Dame are now studying King County's approach as a potential model for effective homelessness prevention.

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