2018 was a remarkable year! We elected a new mayor, prepared for changes in the HSD directorship with the departure of Catherine Lester, and experienced growth in our budget and staff as well as changes to some long-standing programs. Instead of letting it slow us down, we focused on the work and our department’s core values of racial equity, results, stewardship, innovation, and our collective experience as employees. Together, we saw many successes. You’ll see this work and its impact described in our just-released 2018 Annual Report. 2018 was a remarkable year! There are changes at the national level that we are trying to stay current on— many of which are making our work locally that much more critical. And changes here at the City have also had an impact on our work. We elected a new mayor, prepared for changes in the HSD directorship with the departure of Catherine Lester, and experienced growth in our budget and staff as well as changes to some long-standing programs.
Instead of letting it slow us down, we focused on the work and our department’s core values of racial equity, results, stewardship, innovation, and our collective experience as employees. Together we accomplished much.
You’ll see this work and its impact described in this 2018 Annual Report, but I want to highlight a few items from the year that I think we all should celebrate:
- Racial Equity – 211 staff attended race and social justice trainings.
- Results – We conducted six funding opportunities investing more than $11 million in community-based providers.
- Stewardship – We had zero audit findings, and tripled the number of contracts executed on time.
- Innovation – We have an indicator library available to staff who need population level data to help identify the disparities we address with our funding.
- Employee Experience – 200+ staff were trained in Results-Based Leadership and Facilitation.
That’s just a fraction of our informal work in 2018 – there were direct services provided, important convenings with stakeholders, expertise offered, and investments managed daily that were core to a successful year. There’s certainly always more to do, and we rolled straight into an ambitious work plan in 2019. A big thank you to all of our staff and our community partners for your work that makes our community stronger and Seattle a better place to live!