Indigenous Peoples’ Day

October 11, 2021.Reading time 3 minutes.

This Indigenous Peoples’ Day we gratefully recognize and honor the Suquamish, Duwamish, Nisqually, Snoqualmie, Muckleshoot (Ilalkoamish, Stuckamish, and Skopamish), and other Coast Salish Peoples’, on whose ancestral homelands we live, work, and gather today. In the city, whose very name comes from the Suquamish and Duwamish Leader, Chief Seattle, we know that we could not call this land home without the stewardship of Coast Salish Peoples’.

Centering community voices: Reflections on King County’s pandemic response

September 1, 2021.Reading time 20 minutes.

Photo of the authors, Tara Lawal and Jodilyn Owen, of Rainier Valley Midwives. The woman on the left is dark skinned, with glasses on her head, and is embracing another woman with lighter skin and glasses that is wearing a head wrap. The woman on the right is cradling a tiny little baby that is wrapped in purple fabric.

When COVID-19 hit our region last year, we saw immediately just how dangerous it could be for our clients. Rainier Valley Midwives works with pregnant people and their families to improve parent and infant health outcomes in the Seattle area.

What we need is action: Reflections on King County’s pandemic response

August 20, 2021.Reading time 18 minutes.

“There’s no excuse to not make a change,” shares Bereket Kiros, a community member who’s been working with King County’s Pandemic and Racism Community Advisory Group. This is his reflection of the past year.

Racism is a Public Health Crisis: Community Engagement

April 28, 2021.Reading time 11 minutes.

Inequity and injustice impact us all. Since declaring Racism is a Public Health Crisis (RPHC), King County Government and Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) have committed to developing stronger and better resourced partnerships with community organizations and leaders to disrupt and dismantle racism and protect the health and well-being of our all our residents, regardless of race or location.

New work from local artists depicts the impacts of COVID-19 and racism

January 11, 2021.Reading time 16 minutes.

New works by seven local artists and community creatives offer fresh ways of understanding the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic with race, bias and culture.

Bridging the Gap Between Community and Systems

August 7, 2020.Reading time 3 minutes.

Willard Jimerson, Jr. grew up in Seattle’s historically African American Central District neighborhood. Raised by a loving grandmother and grandfather, young Will could never have predicted that just six weeks after his 13th birthday he’d become a ward of the state and spend the rest of his childhood in America’s adult prison system.

One fatal and catastrophic moment on a late night in 1994 changed everything. The kid who once fancied himself a charming and mischievous prankster, who loved playing arcade games and pick-up football, was gone.