Your Update on What's Happening at the King County Council  

The full King County Council with proclamation recipient Judge Regina Cahan, also joined by Kelly Mangiaracina and Sarah Reyneveld.

Proclaiming January 2020 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month

This week Councilmember Kohl-Welles and I formally proclaimed January 2020 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, building on our efforts to bring awareness to a tragedy that often goes unseen. 

To best fight human trafficking, we need to enlist the help of the greater community—who, armed with the correct knowledge, can identify signs of trafficking and act quickly. That’s why I recently sponsored legislation to provide human trafficking awareness to Uber, Lyft, and other for-hire drivers. This training will be implemented in a few months across King County.

Judge Regina Cahan, chair of King County’s Commercially Sexually Exploited Children Task Force, accepted the proclamation. I’m grateful for her leadership in bringing justice to exploited youth. She was joined by her CSEC colleague Kelly Mangiaracina and Sarah Reyneveld, chair of King County’s Women’s Advisory Board.

Introducing Our 2020 Veteran Intern, Brian Crist!

Councilmember Dunn with Veteran Intern Brian Crist

Each year, the King County Council hires veteran interns as part of King County’s Vets 4 HIRE program, which supports our country’s veterans in transitioning from military to civilian employment. I was recently able to meet with and officially welcome one of our new veteran hires, Brian Crist.

Brian is a U.S. Army veteran who served as an indirect fire infantry squad leader on deployments to Afghanistan and with the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa. He moved to Seattle following the end of his enlistment contract to finish his undergraduate degree in International Relations at the University of Washington, where he also worked to support fellow veterans making the transition into academia. Brian continued his studies at the University of Oxford in the UK, receiving a Master of Philosophy in International Relations in 2019. He and his wife have since moved back to Seattle, where they now reside.

Welcome, Brian!

Connecting with the Newcastle Business Community

Councilmember Reagan Dunn speaks to members of the Newcastle business community

This week I had the chance to exchange ideas on transportation and homelessness with the business community in Newcastle. Our local businesses are vital to our region's prosperity, and I was glad for the opportunity to meet with them. Thank you to the Newcastle Chamber of Commerce for the invitation!