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Photos taken at the reception held at the King County Council where we honored late State Representative Frank Chopp for his over 30 years of legislative service back in November 2024.
Before I delve into this month’s newsletter, I want to take a moment to recognize the life of one of Washington’s most consequential leaders. Our team is mourning the loss of former House Speaker Frank Chopp, who passed away on March 22. Over the course of his career, Frank shaped Washington: he expanded access to health care, enabled the building of thousands of units of housing, and advocated for systems that help all young people succeed. For generations to come, Washingtonians will benefit from Frank’s compassion, tenacious spirit, and urgency for change. And for those of us who were lucky enough to know him, we will remember his good humor and encouragement to think bigger. Our thoughts are with Frank’s family – thank you for sharing him with us.
In my previous newsletter, we covered a lot of ground on the topic of the county’s upcoming 2026-2027 budget and the projected shortfall in the general fund. Driven by my leadership role as Vice Chair of the Budget and Fiscal Management committee and by constituent inquiries, my office will continue to dive deeper into this topic in this edition.
Expanding on our Budget 101 from February, we will touch on the following questions this month:
- Will there be budget cuts to public safety and the criminal legal system?
- How are dedicated funds constrained and why?
- What role do property taxes and sales taxes play in the general fund?
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Do all your property taxes and sales taxes go to the general fund?
As expected, there have been other developments which I will share with you throughout this letter. I hope my communications, specifically the budget sections, are accessible, clear, and overall informative. However, I do recognize that budget processes are complex, so I invite you to continue asking questions on the matter.
Please read on for other council updates, an opportunity to connect with me in the district, celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility for the first time at the council, a reminder about Metro resuming fare enforcement, King County Parks levy renewal, and much more!
 Jorge
P.S. This newsletter is admittedly lengthy. However, I can promise that it is filled with helpful information. As a reminder, you can always utilize the table of contents on the upper left corner to navigate through the information in this letter.
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Brewing Conversations with Jorge
First, I would like to thank all who took the time to stop by the Ballard Branch Library in February for the first “Brewing Conversations with Jorge” session of 2025. I was pleased to see many of you come out to share your concerns and be in community with our fellow neighbors. Connecting in person with my constituents is critical for informing the decisions I am making on your behalf.
I am pleased to announce that I will be at the Broadview Branch of the Seattle Public Library on Friday, April 25 from 1 pm to 3 pm for this year’s second “Brewing Conversations with Jorge” session. I invite you to come with your questions, comments, or ideas on how King County can better serve you.
I encourage you to let your neighbors know about this opportunity to connect.
What can I chat about?
Topics of interest or concern the county has jurisdiction over include, but aren’t limited to public transportation, public health, human services, county roads, courts, parks, open spaces, and more. Please note that these sessions are fairly informal and do not require attendees to be on time. You can drop by when you can and stay for as long as you’d like. The main goal is to make myself accessible to my constituents and this is one of the ways I am proactively doing that.
Not able to make it?
If you are not able to make this session, please note that there will be additional opportunities in the coming months to connect with me.
If you know you will be stopping by and would like to submit your question(s) in advance, please send them to jorge.baron@kingcounty.gov.
Pictured with constituents at the Ballard Branch Library session.
Plan your trip!
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In last month’s newsletter, I expressed my plans to create a space to share information regarding the county’s budget, our deliberation process, and the funding gaps anticipated for the 2026-27 Biennial (two-year) Budget. I received positive feedback from many of you, so we are going to continue to dive into some of the details of the challenges facing the county.
King County currently forecasts a shortfall of at least $210 in the general fund for the two-year 2026-27 budget cycle. This is $10 million larger compared to the figure I shared last month to reflect the recent economic forecast of lower than anticipated sales tax revenue. To put this into perspective, the county expects to collect approximately $2.3 billion in revenues for the general fund in 2026 and 2027. The shortfall therefore represents a gap of 9.1% between revenues and expenses over the next two years. Although this may not seem significant at first glance, the risk lies in the fact that many state-required services and local priorities are funded from this account. Since the county cannot make further cuts below the state-mandated levels, it creates additional pressure on local priorities that are not required by state law.
This month we’ll take a closer look at the factors affecting the general fund, what services would be at risk and why, clarify misconceptions about our budget, and more.
Please note, if you missed our February budget explainer, I would highly encourage you read it prior to this as it serves as a foundation for what we will be discussing. You can access it here.
Will There be Budget Cuts to Public Safety and the Criminal Legal System?
First, I wanted to speak to a question I’ve received from constituents as they learn about the current budget situation. As you recall, a large portion of the general fund, nearly 71%, pays for public safety and criminal legal system services. Many of these services are mandated by the state but are not funded with state resources, including services provided by the Sheriff’s Office, the Superior and District Courts, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Department of Public Defense, and Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention. The rest of the services funded by the general fund include those local priorities for which there are no dedicated funding sources, such as gun violence prevention, investigating land use code violations in unincorporated areas, and navigation and support services for people seeking justice through the criminal legal system.
I want to be clear that the potential for budget cuts to these services is not driven by the county’s desire to make reductions in or eliminate these services. Since no dedicated funds currently exist to support these services, the general fund has provided those needed dollars. However, the revenue streams that primarily contribute to the general fund are not keeping up with the increased costs of maintaining services at the current level. Since some county departments are more reliant on the general fund than others, those departments were asked by the Executive to meet budget targets as part of his budget process. These proposed reductions do not necessarily represent cuts that King County might choose to make under different circumstances but do represent the possible reductions that may be necessary under the current funding reality.
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How are Dedicated Funds Constrained and Why?
To reiterate information we shared last month, dedicated funds have limitations and specific uses, dictated either by state or federal law, and make up 86% of the county's operating budget. These revenues cannot be moved into another fund, nor can they be used for another purpose by the county. Examples of these dedicated funds include fees and voter-approved levies.
With these examples in mind, we can begin to see how the dedicated funds are truly restricted by the fact that they have already been given specific purposes. Whether it is written by law, within the language of levies, or comes through services used by the public, the county is prohibited from reallocating those funds elsewhere.
Diving into the General Fund
Again, the general fund is the only source that allows the county the flexibility to allocate resources to important services and programs that would otherwise lack funding. Revenue streams that the general fund largely relies on include property and sales taxes. These are also the only two significant revenue-generating options granted to counties by state law.
In this section we will take a closer look at property and sales taxes, and how inflation further exacerbated the gap between revenue collected and revenue needed in recent years.
Graphic based on the following source: 2025budget-execsumm-booklet-final.pdf. Click image to go to link.
Property Taxes as the Primary Revenue
Property taxes make up a large portion of the general fund. When all sources of revenues are considered, they contribute 37% of total generated revenue. However, when payments and contracts from other government entities and county departments are considered, property taxes represent 56% of the “net” general fund revenues. “Net” refers to the amount left over after deducting other areas as explained above. This is clearly represented in the graphic above.
Since 2001, Washington State law has limited property tax increases to 1% annually plus revenue from new construction, which has historically only accounted for approximately 0.5% to 1.5% in overall property tax increase. In other words, the county’s main source of revenue for the general fund has only been able to grow at around 1.5% to 2.5% per year. On the expense side, however, the cost for the county to provide services grow due to inflation and population growth (for instance, the county’s population grew by 18% between 2010 and 2020). In years of low inflation, the county has largely been able to balance these increased costs. However, as inflation has exceeded the limit in state law over many years, generated revenues have not been sufficient to cover the cost of services. Since this imbalance is baked into the tax structure by state law, it is referred to as a “structural gap” and can only be remedied through action by the State Legislature. Efforts by local governments across the state to change the limit over the last 20-plus years have been unsuccessful.
This limit on property taxes, along with the rapidly rising inflation and population growth since 2015 has made it nearly impossible for the revenue collected through property taxes to keep up with costs to provide services, resulting in an ever-widening gap, as illustrated by the graph below.
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Bar graph is based on the following source: Executive Constantine's Proposed 2025 Budget, General Fund and Financing Activities. Click image to go to link.
Important info for the graph above: Each year’s right‐hand bar = actual property tax revenue collected by the County’s General Fund. Each year’s left‐hand bar = how much General Fund property tax revenue would have been collected had this revenue kept up with inflation and population growth since 2001.
Do All Your Property Taxes Go to the General Fund?
No. King County collects property taxes on behalf of all taxing districts in the county. While King County retains approximately 20 cents for every dollar collected, the majority is distributed to schools, cities, public libraries, sewer, fire, hospital and other taxing districts
If you are interested in seeing where your own property tax dollars go, you can see a break down using your address or parcel number with the eReal Property tool offered by the King County Assessor’s office.
Do All of Your Sales Taxes Go to the General Fund?
No. At 17%, sales taxes make up the second largest portion of the general fund. However, that figure increases to 26% if only “net” general fund revenues are considered. The local share of the sales tax is capped at 1%. While a significant contributor to the general fund, the amount of revenue collected depends upon where a sale occurs:
- If a sale occurs in the unincorporated area (outside of cities), the county receives the entire 1% local sales tax.
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If a sale occurs within a city, the county receives only 0.15%, and the city receives the remaining 0.85%.
As once-unincorporated areas, including commercial areas, have annexed into neighboring cities, the portion of sales tax collected by King County has reduced over time. In 2023, King County captured only about 4% of all taxable sales at the full 1% rate; of the $93.3 billion in taxable sales that year, only $3.7 billion occurred in unincorporated areas. This is due to the county actively complying with the state Growth Management Act, which encourages urban areas, including almost all commercial areas where taxable sales occur, be brought into cities.
Bar graph is based on materials provided by the King County Performance, Strategy, and Budget Office (PSB). Click on image to go to the PSB website.
Broader changes in consumer behavior have also affected the amount of revenues available to local government collected through sales tax, such as:
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Consumer behavior slowly changing to purchasing fewer goods to purchasing more services, which usually aren’t subject to the sales tax.
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Rising income inequality, which affects sales taxes because higher-income individuals spend a much lower percentage of their income on items subject to sales taxes.
The result of these changes is again that sales tax has not kept up with economic growth. On March 17, the King County Office of Economic and Financial Analysis (OEFA) released a revised revenue forecast citing that while revenue has increased, the county still faces challenges in balancing its budget due to rising costs and increased demand for services.
Where Do We Go from Here?
This month, we have expanded on:
- Property and sales taxes are the general fund’s main revenue source;
- These taxes are not able to keep up with changes in our economy, population growth, inflation, and consumer purchasing behaviors, and
- The forecasted shortfall is the result of structural policy decisions, not one-time events.
I am concerned about the risk and impact of cuts to these important services, especially in my role as chair of the Law and Justice Committee. But the reality of such a significant shortfall is that reductions to the 2026-2027 King County Budget cannot be avoided if King County is limited to the existing revenue options and the cost to provide the same level of services continues to grow.
Over the coming months, I will continue working with my colleagues to explore all options to address this budget situation.
How You Can Be Involved
The Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management (BFM) committee is scheduled to meet twice per month on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am.
If you’re interested in participating or simply having the tools to periodically check in on the work King County is doing on your behalf you can visit the King County website.
Stay Tuned
In my next newsletter, we will continue this conversation when I share more about the behind-the-scenes work we’re doing, including further assessing the impact on county services, considering alternative revenue streams, and new strategies to minimize the financial impact of this shortfall on necessary services supported by the general fund.
Sources Used for Further Reading
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Pictured from left to right: Claudia Balducci, De’Sean Quinn, Sarah Perry, Luna Crone-Barón, Reagan Dunn, Danni Askini, Girmay Zahilay, Me, Pete von Reichbauer, Teresa Mosqueda, and Rod Dembowski.
Recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility
On March 25th, the King County Council presented the first proclamation in honor of Transgender Day of Visibility, observed each year on the 31st of March. I had the honor of sponsoring the proclamation, which was also co-sponsored by my colleague Councilmember Claudia Balducci. As a proud parent of a trans daughter, I felt it was particularly important for the King County Council to bring this proclamation forward, especially given the rhetoric being spread from those attempting to undermine and erase trans lives. Danni Askini, Executive Director of , joined us to accept this proclamation and provided brief remarks on the important work the organization is doing to advocate and protect the trans community. I will always stand in allyship and solidarity for communities most vulnerable to discrimination and will work to ensure that the King County Council continues to advocate and fight for ALL in our community.
Pictured from left to right: Laura Clise, Luna Crone-Barón, Danni Askini, Elayne Wylie, Sarah Perry, Claudia Balducci, Jeanne Kohl-Welles, and Hend Alhinnawi.
Celebrating Women’s History Month
Following the Transgender Day of Visibility proclamation, the council presented a proclamation in honor of Women’s History Month. Former King County Councilmember and my predecessor Jeanne Kohl-Welles received this year’s proclamation and offered brief, heartfelt remarks.
Prior to the March 25th council meeting, the King County Council and the Equity & Social Justice Office hosted the annual Women’s History Panel! Councilmembers Balducci, Perry, and Mosqueda, as well as their staff, supported a fantastic panel of community members to discuss the theme: Moving Forward Together! Women educating and inspiring generations. Missed it? Watch it here.
Also, during the panel event, the second annual Jeanne Kohl-Welles Women Uplifting Women Award was presented to Angie Hinojos, Executive Director of Centro Cultural Mexicano by Councilmember Kohl-Welles, who spearheaded this event and is the namesake of the award. Angie was recognized for her art, efforts towards providing educational equity, and advocacy work. If you are interested in viewing the award ceremony, you can do so here.
King County Parks Levy Renewal
The King County Council is currently reviewing the Executive’s proposed Parks Levy Renewal. The Parks Levy represents a portion of your property tax and is a dedicated funding source to support parks, trails, and open spaces in King County and its cities and towns. This funding supports a wide range of services, including environmental stewardship and restoration, land conservation, youth programming, grant programs, and more. The current levy, which passed in 2019, makes up 85% of King County Parks’ budget and is set to expire at the end of the year. If the proposal is passed by the County Council, it would appear on the ballot in August for the consideration of voters.
The Parks Levy renewal proposal must be reviewed and passed by the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, chaired by Councilmember Rod Dembowski, and the Regional Policy Committee, whose membership includes county and municipal representatives and is chaired by King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer. The Budget and Fiscal Management committee amended the proposal yesterday. The Regional Policy Committee will now take control of the legislation, have an opportunity to amend it, and likely take it up in early April. We expect that the final proposal will be before the full Council in mid-April.
The Budget and Fiscal Management Committee met earlier this week and made several amendments to the proposal as a whole. The Executive had proposed the levy at a property tax rate of 24.43 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, and the committee brought that rate down to 23.51 cents. I proposed several priorities that were ultimately incorporated. Those priorities included a new equity-driven formula for the allocation of funding to local jurisdictions, maintained or additional investments in the Woodland Park Zoo, Memorial Stadium, the Pacific Science Center, and Seattle’s Waterfront Park, and language to support open access to public restrooms. Council will continue to accept public comment on the proposal at upcoming meetings. If you’re interested in finding out more about the proposal, the staff reports are available here (listed as attachments with “SR” in the title). As always, I welcome your thoughts as we review and finalize this legislation.
Ghost Buses?
On March 4th, the King County Council approved legislation asking King County Metro to report on so-called “ghost buses,” a reference to unplanned trip cancellations, to boost transparency and make transit more reliable for riders across King County. This legislation was sponsored by Councilmember Claudia Balducci, with Councilmember Sarah Perry and me joining as co-sponsors.
As a transit rider myself, I understand how important it is to know whether your bus will arrive in a timely manner – and even more importantly, when it won’t arrive at all. I am happy to have been a cosponsor and thankful that Councilmember Balducci brought this legislation forward. The comprehensive data on unplanned trip cancellations will allow us to obtain a fuller picture of the service riders experience so we can know where to grow to better serve riders.
Pictured on left photo from left to right: Me, Clara Manahan from the District 4 team, and Metro staff Phil DeVault, Chris O’Claire, and Mark Ellerbrook.
Metro Transit Appreciation Week
Last week, I joined Metro operators, riders, and the entire community in celebrating Transit Appreciation Week! Transit operators work around the clock to make sure that community members are able to get where they need to go – including me. I was happy to be able to spend some time on Transit Operator Appreciation Day, March 18th, standing at 2nd Ave Extension and South Jackson Street bus stop and expressing appreciation to the transit operators as they stopped by to pick up and drop off riders. Later that day, I joined my Council colleagues in formally recognizing our operators at the Council meeting. Those were small pieces of the week-long celebration and if you missed it – not to worry! It’s always a good time to remind our Metro Operators that the work that they do is vital and appreciated by the community.
Schedule Updates and Increasing Services
King County Metro will be updating schedules and increasing bus service starting Saturday, March 29. Improvements include hundreds of new weekend bus trips on key routes that are supported by the Seattle Transit Measure. One bus route in particular that my office has been receiving consistent communications on, Route 8, will have eight new trips added on Saturday and 33 new trips will be added on Sunday. For more information and other service changes please check out the Metro Matters blog post below.
On the left: Pictured with Jeremy Une with Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) 587. On the right: Pictured with Metro Transit Operator, Zematra Bacon.
Transit Safety Task Force Kick Off
I was pleased to be able to participate in the kick-off event for a multi-jurisdictional Transit Safety Task Force, organized by Amalgamated Transit Union 587, King County Metro, and my colleagues Councilmembers Claudia Balducci and Reagan Dunn. We spent several hours together with Metro drivers, regional and local elected officials, law enforcement representatives, and other community leaders to explore creative strategies to promote transit safety across our region. After hearing from speakers, we broke out into small groups to utilize the expertise of those in the room to identify paths to improve safety for riders and operators. This Task Force will use those ideas and themes to create workgroups for continued action, and I look forward to continuing to participate in this important work in the coming months.
Pictured from left to right: me, Amarinthia Torres, Laurel Redden, Vivian Lee, Jerry Kröon, and Nadia Goforth, Director of the Equal Justice Coalition.
Law and Justice Update
In March, the Law and Justice Committee met to receive updates and presentations on several important topics for our region. The meeting materials and recording of the meeting are available here.
First, we heard an update from budget director Dwight Dively on necessary upgrades to the Detention Facility Distributed Antenna System in the King County Correctional Facility (KCCF). This project is essential to the safety of those working and being held at the KCCF, and this briefing was an important aspect of our oversight duties.
We then heard from Superior Court Presiding Judge Ketu Shah on the state of the civil legal system in King County. This discussion touched on programs that are essential but may be less well known than others within the legal system, including processing of civil protections orders, weapons surrender, unlawful detainers (evictions), and much more.
Following Judge Shah’s presentation, we heard from three community-based advocacy organizations that work to support community members navigating the civil and criminal legal systems, including Amarinthia Torres with the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence; Laurel Redden with the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center; and Jerry Kröon and Vivian Lee with Eastside Legal Assistance Program. All speakers shared how essential the services that they provide are, especially for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence. King County funding is crucial for this work and is derived from both general and dedicated funds such as the Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy. Even in situations such as this, when dedicated funds are available, loss of flexible funds would have a negative impact through loss of capacity. This is an example of just one local priority that stands to be heavily impacted if the general fund shortfall is not addressed.
Chairing the Regional Transit Committee
On the 19th, I chaired the March meeting of the Regional Transit Committee (RTC). This was my first time chairing the committee under our new leadership assignments, and the RTC selected Deputy Issaquah Council President Barb de Michele to join me in RTC leadership as Vice-Chair. At the meeting, the committee adopted its 2025 work plan, which outlines the topics and focus areas for RTC this year.
After those discussions concluded, we had two informative briefings from King County Metro staff on issues of interest: Metro’s research methods and Metro’s updated approach to fare enforcement. In case you haven’t heard, Metro will be resuming fare inspection beginning on March 31st, and more details on their approach are available on the Metro Matters Blog. The agenda, meeting materials, and a video of the meeting will be available here.
Update on the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and Funding
As a member of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s Governing Board, I am deeply concerned about the risk to our region’s already under-funded homelessness response infrastructure. KCRHA is working to maximize available federal funding, while monitoring potential changes. Many of King County’s essential homelessness services are funded through the state’s Document Recording Fee, which collects revenue from property sales. Given high interest rates, property sales have decreased in recent years and caused a shortfall to this revenue source. The State Legislature was able to backfill this funding in 2023 and 2024, but I am concerned that they will not be able to do so in 2025 given their own budget crisis. I am talking with State Legislators about this critical need, and working with Executive Constantine and other councilmembers to advocate for a solution in this upcoming budget cycle to prevent the loss of services to a system that is already insufficiently funded.
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Pictured from left to right: Port of Seattle Commission President Toshiko Hasegawa, Me, Pastor Elise Scott, Nick Johanson and Chloe Johanson.
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97th Annual Blessing of the Fleet
Every year, the Ballard First Lutheran Church hosts an annual event at Fishermen’s Terminal to honor the North Pacific Fishing Fleet, a key component of the commercial fishing industry and an important part of the regional economy. The “Blessing of the Fleet” is an opportunity to share our wishes for the health of all fishers, a bountiful harvest, and a safe return home. I was grateful to join many neighbors on a cloudy afternoon for the 97th Annual Blessing of the Fleet on Sunday, March 9th to once again present a recognition to commemorate the event. I was also excited to connect with and thank Pastor Erik Wilson Weiberg, who has led this event for many years, as he will be retiring from his role later this year. Wishing a safe and fruitful fishing season to those out at sea!
Enjoying a visit with Jeffrey Herrmann, Managing Director at Seattle REP.
Visiting the Seattle REP
Even among the storied arts and culture institutions that call our region home, Seattle REP holds a special place in our community. I had the opportunity to tour the theater with Jeffrey Herrmann, Managing Director, who invited me to learn about its history, see behind the scenes, and learn about the Seattle Rep’s future. It was remarkable to meet people who care for the facility, create the costumes and sets, and bring these stories to local audiences. Seattle REP is one of the hundreds of local organizations that will receive support through the County’s Doors Open program administered by 4Culture, and I’m grateful for our region’s investment in these important cultural institutions.
Thanks to Ilana Cone Kennedy, CEO (left) and Liisa Spink, Senior Grant Writer & Manager (right) for hosting me at the Holocaust Center for Humanity.
Holocaust Center for Humanity
Located in Belltown, the Holocaust Center for Humanity is dedicated to telling the history, stories, and lessons of the Holocaust, while empowering people to take positive action today against hate and intolerance. I appreciated the opportunity during my visit to hear personal stories, see photographs, and learn from the exhibits generated from donations of local Holocaust survivors. The Holocaust Center for Humanity provides this education through school tours, “Teaching Trunks” that share these valuable materials with schools both inside and outside of Washington, resources for teachers and researchers, and public visits. This is truly a unique space, and I encourage you to consider visiting to learn more.
Yes, Seattle has a Holocaust Museum.
Starfire Tour
As a lifelong soccer player, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit Starfire Sports in February. Though Starfire is located in Tukwila, I was impressed to learn about the organization’s impact on young people throughout the county. Starfire is a nonprofit organization and offers scholarships to teams across our region, along with after-school homework help and STEM education to youth. I appreciate the Starfire team’s commitment to expanding access to soccer for every young person and look forward to more opportunities to get involved.
Former Councilmember Julia Peterson showing me the layout of the Starfire facility.
The Seattle-King County Clinic is Back
The Seattle/King County Clinic is being held for the 10th year at Seattle Center on April 24th to the 27th. The clinic provides essential services free of charge, including primary care, behavioral health, vision, dental services, and, of course, emotional support dogs! Thanks to more than 3,000 volunteers, the clinic served 2,900 un-insured and under-insured community members last year. The efforts made by this annual clinic play a pivotal role in maintaining and expanding access to health care to those in and outside of King County.
If you or someone you know is interested in volunteering, please read more info on how you can help your community members obtain healthcare here.
For those seeking services, please read more about the services they will be providing, as well as how to access them here.
Pictured at Partners in Print’s Pre-Construction Open House last December with a print I created.
Belltown Art Walk
Looking for a fun way to get outside? The Belltown Art Walk can be a great way to do that. Happening every second Friday of the month, year-round, from 6 PM to 9 PM the Belltown Art Walk is a free, self-guided, all-ages event. The Belltown Art Walk is a volunteer and donations-driven nonprofit organization serving artists, our community, and the Belltown neighborhood.
I am pleased that Partners in Print, located in Belltown and in District 4, will be a part of the walk now that they have settled into their new space. If you recall, Partners in Print was one of the many recipients of the first batch of grants from Doors Open distributed by 4Culture late last year. This is a wonderful example of how the county’s efforts impact and support artists in King County. Mark your calendars and get outside!
Want to Help Shape a New King County Equitable Development Initiative?
The King County’s Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) is recruiting up to 11 community members to serve one to three-year terms on a new King County Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) Interim Advisory Board. The Interim Advisory Board provides strategic direction and guidance for the new King County EDI including advising on program priorities, promoting accountability to the framework and values, and amplifying activities and programs.
If you are interested, learn more about the roles and responsibilities of the Interim Advisory Board here. For questions or concerns, please contact Yasmeen Perez, Equitable Development Program Manager at yaperez@kingcounty.gov or 206-263-8636.
Submit your application by Sunday, March 30th at 11:59 PM.
Funding Opportunity for Cultural and Science Nonprofits in King County
4Culture’s Launch grant program is set to open this summer, and they’ll be hosting info sessions throughout April to help new and emerging arts, heritage, historic preservation, and science and technology organizations learn more about how to apply. Launch is a Doors Open supported program designed for new and emerging cultural organizations; it provides funding and capacity-building support.
Selected organizations will receive three years of unrestricted general operating support and will also have access to additional capacity-building support services. If you are interested in learning more, sign up for a free info session below.
2025 Community Climate Resilience Grant Program
Grant applications are now open for the 2025-2026 Community Climate Resilience (CCR) Grant Program! This program seeks to serve as a resource for frontline communities to develop new or expand on existing community-based climate resilience projects. Projects may center around community capacity development, community health and emergency preparedness, food systems and security, housing security and anti-displacement, energy justice and utilities, or heat mitigation.
If you would like to be considered, submit your application by Wednesday, April 16 at 8 AM.
Best Starts for Kids is Now Accepting Applications
Resources for Federal Workers Impacted by Layoffs
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