A Message from our Care & Closure Team
Care & Closure is King County’s plan for youth healing, accountability, and community safety. The plan outlines recommendations and next actions to expand community-based alternatives to secure youth detention and ultimately close the current facility at the Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center. This newsletter will provide bi-monthly updates.
Message from the Executive
“I am honored to serve as the new King County Executive from now until the November election is certified. My office has hit the ground running with a 200-day plan to guide our work during this time. An important part of this is a renewed focus on youth justice with particular attention to care, accountability, and healing. We're looking to expand community-informed alternatives to the youth justice system, while ensuring that our staff are supported and that the young people in our care receive effective, compassionate, and developmentally appropriate services. We're establishing a framework that centers youth and their families, aligns with public safety, ensures strong oversight, and promotes restorative outcomes. I am excited to collaborate with all our partners - within King County government and the community - to move this critical programming forward.”
- Executive Braddock
|
Meet Our Partner: Catalyze Justice
On April 28, the Advisory Committee was joined by Catalyze Justice, partners who will support King County in standing up and piloting the first Community Care Home. The primary objective was for Catalyze Justice to introduce themselves, talk about similar work they have done around the country, and briefly speak to their role in this project.
Founded in 2023, Catalyze Justice is dedicated to system transformation by ending punitive approaches to youth justice and advancing community-based support structures. The organization collaborates with every stakeholder impacted in some way by youth incarceration and court involvement to shift resources and implement reforms that prioritize care over incarceration. Their work centers the experience of those most negatively impacted by system involvement while engaging government leaders, grassroots organizations, and individuals and families with lived experience (among many, many others) to shift resources from systems to communities and implement reforms that prioritize care over incarceration.
Catalyze Justice brings deep experience from roles in government, law, and social justice initiatives, and in King County, the primary project team consists of Executive Director Yumari Martinez, Senior Project Director Lane Tobias, and Senior Advisor Gladys Carrion. Catalyze Justice has worked with leaders, practitioners, and community-based organizations and advocacy groups in dozens of states, counties, and cities, providing strategic guidance and capacity building for systemic change.
Some recent highlights include efforts in Harris County (TX), Milwaukee County (WI), and Cook County (IL), each aiming to reduce youth detention and invest in community alternatives. A particular focus of the presentation was the transformation of New York City’s youth justice system over close to two decades, a hallmark of which is the landmark “Close to Home” initiative and its related alternatives to detention diversionary programs. Given Yumari, Lane, and Gladys' outsized roles in New York's system transformation, Catalyze Justice shared lessons learned - primarily the need for clear values, community collaboration, data-informed decision-making, and resilience through complexity. The presentation concluded by describing, at a high-level, what Catalyze Justice's partnership with King County will look like as we work to implement a community care home pilot as part of Care & Closure Recommendation #4.
|
 |
Building Connections in Community
The Care & Closure team continues to connect with and learn from community. Collaboration and partnerships are more important than ever as we move into the next phase of this work. We recently met with Black Prisoners Caucus, gave a presentation to Seattle Public Schools, and engaged with over 50 community members at Better Vision Outreach’s 2nd Annual Wellness and Resource Fair at Delridge Community Center. We are always seeking opportunities to share information about this project in community. Let us know of upcoming events where we can continue to spread the word about King County’s commitment to transforming youth justice.
Join Us at the Next Advisory Committee Meeting
Our Advisory Committee meeting schedule has changed. Meetings will be held bi-monthly on the 4th Monday of that month (unless there is a holiday) from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. We will use this meeting space to provide updates on the Care & Closure project and get feedback from community. Check out the remaining 2025 meeting dates below.
-
July 28, 2025
-
September 22, 2025
-
November 17, 2025 (due to Thanksgiving)
You can find more information on the meetings and the previous meeting notes on the project website.
Quick Links: Recommendations & Next Actions
Over the past few years, the Executive’s Office and county departments have partnered with impacted community members, systems partners, and community organizations to identify better, more effective alternatives to youth when they cause serious harm instead of secure detention.
In January 2024, former King County Executive Dow Constantine published a report that outlined six recommendations and actions to implement them. The report also highlighted the process of developing the recommendations and includes the findings from community engagement. Check out the two-page summary and the full report.
|
Help Others Get Connected
Please share this monthly newsletter to anyone you think might be interested in learning about this effort! To stay up to date:
|
