The new Together Center campus will feature a full suite of wrap-around social services paired with affordable housing, together in one transit-oriented location
Today the King County Council approved a $672 million supplemental budget. These mid-biennial (i.e., in the middle of the two-year budget) adjustments “tune up” the $12.59 billion 2021-22 King County biennial budget we passed last November.
In this “tune-up” budget I sought to focus on community organizations that went above and beyond to support people through the pandemic. They adapted to a new landscape, expanded their services to increased needs, and created new organizations and coalitions to care for their community. Their work continues and I am thrilled that I was able to directly support eight Eastside organizations in the budget. Also, because I believe mobility is key to connecting to community, I worked with Metro Transit to fund the restart of a planned Eastside bus rapid transit route.
Here are the highlights of items I successfully advocated for:
Supporting Together Center's campus transformation
Together Center has been bringing people and services together for years as a first-in-the-nation facility that co-locates 20-plus diverse human services providers all under one roof. Now, the organization is embarking on a new endeavor: redeveloping its campus to include a full suite of wraparound social services and affordable housing, all located at one transit-oriented location in Redmond. In the budget, I secured $900,000 to help fund the expanded human services hub to bring together more organizations and to provide more services to Eastside residents.
Read more about the Together Center campus transformation:
Helping the Eastside Culture Coalition and Old Friends Club grow and thrive
Many organizations provide critical services and supports with little funding and a lot of dedicated volunteers. Growing these organizations into sustainable agencies requires building organizational capacity and I am pleased to allocate funding to two organizations so they can build towards a sustainable future.
- At the beginning of the pandemic, a group of dozens of arts and culture organizations came together to support each other through the uncertainty and limitations, creating the Eastside Culture Coalition. With a $10,000 grant, the coalition will be able to undertake professional development and cooperative marketing efforts to better assist their members.
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Old Friends Club provides a unique service in our community, engaging people with Alzheimer’s and dementia in safe, fun activities and providing their caregivers with much-needed respite. The organization plans to use its $10,000 grant to increase their fundraising capacity so they can give more people with dementia and their caretakers a safe, comfortable, and engaging community.
Keeping people housed and connected to community
The Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy provides funding to a wide range of community organizations, including two grant programs administered by King County Council offices:
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The Housing Stability grant funds programs that get and keep people housed. In this budget, I awarded $18,500 each to Hopelink and 4 Tomorrow for their rental assistance programs, which are especially important as many families fell behind in rent during the pandemic. I also designated $18,500 to Congregations for the Homeless’ On and Up Housing Program, which provides 20 units of affordable housing with light supports for men transitioning from homelessness to stable housing.
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The Veterans Service Organizations Grant Program provides support to organizations that serve our veterans. I am proud to provide Bellevue College’s Veterans Resource Center with $7,500 for technology upgrades and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5760 with $3,000 to improve meeting accessibility with improved audio and visual equipment.
Restarting Metro Transit’s RapidRide K Line
As the Eastside adds more jobs and housing in the coming years, new fast, frequent, and reliable transit connections will become even more important. Unfortunately, Metro’s transit expansion plans were scaled back in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the pandemic-suspended projects was the Metro Transit RapidRide K Line, a planned bus rapid transit route to connect Totem Lake with Eastgate, via downtown Kirkland and Bellevue.
Last year, I worked to get language in the County budget requesting additional planning to make sure the K Line and other suspended RapidRide lines were ready to go once funding was available. Now with the prospect of new federal funds from both the American Recovery Plan Act and President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, I believe it’s time to restart the K-Line and get it built as soon as possible.
The RapidRide budget amendment I sponsored lays the foundation by creating three new staff positions and including $400,000 to move forward on design and planning for the K Line and one additional RapidRide project.
The RapidRide K Line will have the look and feel of the RapidRide B Line
Spread the word!
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Sincerely,
Claudia Balducci
King County Council
District 6
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