HSD’s Victim Support Team (VST) delivers services through two dynamic programs, providing short-term advocacy to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other violent crimes. VST advocates and volunteers address immediate safety concerns and offer connections to resources, working in close partnership with the Seattle Police Department and City of… [ Keep reading ]
Meredith Clark is a Victim Advocate with HSD’s Crime Survivor Services unit, where she has worked for two years. She writes about how she supports victims during one of the hardest moments of their lives, providing them with a shoulder to lean on, an understanding of what is going on… [ Keep reading ]
Dyllyn Werthan is the Pre-Filing Sexual Assault Victim Advocate in the Seattle Human Services Department’s Safe and Thriving Communities (STC) division. She has worked at Seattle Human Services for one year. What is your role at Seattle Human Services? I am one of the Sexual Assault Victim Advocates who works within the… [ Keep reading ]
What is your role at Seattle Human Services? I currently work as a Sexual Assault Victim Advocate for the City of Seattle, with a focus on underserved populations, specifically cold case sexual assaults, immigrants, and unhoused survivors of sexual violence. I provide advocacy and resources to victims of felony sexual… [ Keep reading ]
Victim Support Team volunteers needed – Training will be provided HSD’s Safe and Thriving Communities Division is recruiting community volunteers to offer support to survivors of violence in their unique time of need. About becoming a Victim Support Team volunteer: · VST community volunteers represent diverse personal and professional backgrounds. · No experience… [ Keep reading ]
The Human Services Department would like your help! HSD’s Safe and Thriving Communities Division is seeking help recruiting community volunteers to become trained support advocates to victims of domestic violence and other crimes. Victim Support Team (VST) volunteers offer support to survivors in a unique time of need, and their commitment and impact make this program a vital part of the City’s response to violence.
HSD is excited to welcome Rex Brown, who has been hired as the first director of the new Safe and Thriving Communities Division! This is a very exciting moment for the communities we serve, and Rex looks forward to meeting department staff and our community partners in the weeks ahead…. [ Keep reading ]
New Crime Survivor Services Unit and Job Posting for Division Director As the City of Seattle continues to reimagine public safety, the Safe and Thriving Communities Division is a new division in the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) that consolidates previous and planned City of Seattle community safety investments into… [ Keep reading ]
As 2020 comes to a close, I hope you and your loved ones are healthy and as well as one can be in what has surely been one of the more challenging years we have faced as a department. Back in January, we already knew that “change” would be a theme this year. One of the city’s top priorities for the year was to help stand-up and launch the new King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA). For HSD, this included transitioning our Homeless Strategy and Investment division staff and contracts to a co-location space with their County peers, followed by CEO on-boarding and development of a staffing plan. While that work has been underway all year, little did we know at the start of 2020 that a global pandemic like nothing seen in at least a century was already underway. Not only did that slow the progress of this work, it lead to most employees shifting to work from home, being reassigned, and changing work plans. Plus significant impacts to our economy and unimaginable changes to how each of us conduct our daily lives. With homelessness response transitioning to the KCRHA, our department planned to spend much of the year redefining how it exists within the human services space. HSD planned to work with staff, service providers, and clients to co-create a roadmap for the future. This work launched in February – during Black History Month – with an understanding that race and social justice should underpin everything that we were going to talk about. The public health crisis forced us to pause that work almost immediately. Little did we know the paradigm shift coming in the summer as the support for Black Lives Matter took on new meaning for our general society and millions more people “awoke” to the understanding that it’s time to rethink how we spend our tax dollars and how our governments respond to the needs of the community. HSD staff and our community partners have been a part of the front-line response to COVID-19, pivoting programs and rising to the many challenges to help those most in need. I am deeply proud of the work we have accomplished together during this crisis. Our mission “to connect people with resources and solutions during times of need so we can all live, learn, work, and take part in strong, healthy communities” took on a much greater sense of urgency in 2020, even as we managed our ongoing work.
