Community Initiatives
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Kent Family Center
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At any given time, cities and organizations are striving
for ways to improve the lot of people in King County. Recognizing
that such initiatives often can better the lives of residents in our
communities, the King County Housing Authority actively participates
and promotes a variety of community causes.
The Housing Authority is proud to be a partner with the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation and other agencies in the Sound
Families Initiative. With capital and service funding from the
Gates Foundation and project-based Section 8 subsidy from housing
authorities, agencies are creating transitional housing for homeless
families.
To assist in developing housing for people who are "chronically
homeless," KCHA is participating in the Taking Health Care Home initiative.
Funded by the Corporation
for Supportive Housing, this initiative aims to develop permanent
housing with wrap-around social services in King and Spokane Counties
by integrating housing and service funding.
South King County Housing First Pilot Project
Once considered chronically homeless, 25 individuals now are off the streets and living successfully in their own apartments thanks to the South King County Housing First Pilot Project.
The King County Housing Authority, King County's Department of Community and Human Services and United Way of King County joined forces to make the project possible by contracting with Sound Mental Health to connect individuals with homes and much-needed support services.
South King County Housing First Pilot Project Report (pdf)
South King County Housing First Pilot Project Report (html)
Building Better Futures
The Housing Authority is a partner with Kent Youth and Family Services, the Center for Career Alternatives and the Puget Sound Educational Service District in Building Better Futures –- a project to expand social services in Kent's East Hill neighborhood.
The East Hill neighborhood of Kent is home to many families and individuals
living in poverty. Many of these people are immigrants from countries
torn by war or economic ruin. They want to find jobs and see their
children succeed in school, but area support services facilities have
been meager.
To help the low-income residents of Kent and Covington help themselves,
a group of organizations banded together. Building Better Futures,
a partnership of Kent
Youth and Family Services, the King County Housing Authority,
the Puget Sound
Educational Service District and the Center
for Career Alternatives, is spearheading the construction of buildings
that will offer job counseling, child care, English classes, youth
programs and nutritional assistance for young mothers.
The Kent Family Center, near the corner of 132nd Avenue Southeast
and Southeast Kent-Kangley Road, provides a permanent facility for
the South King County Head Start program, an expanded Women, Infants
and Children (WIC) clinic and an adult learning and job center.
BBF
is continuing to raise money for the Springwood Youth Center (PDF) . Equipped with a gymnasium and computer lab, the Youth Center (HTML) , which opened October 2006, provides supervised programs for middle school and high school-aged youth.
Building Better Futures is truly a community effort, with contributions
from organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
and the Kiwanis Club of Kent as well as government grants going toward
the $6.8 million needed for the project. Building Better Futures still is
raising money. If you wish to make a tax-deductible contribution,
make checks out to Building Better Futures at P.O. Box 1571, Kent,
WA 98035-1571. For more details about the project, contact Michele
Campbell of Kent Youth and Family Services at (253) 859-0300, ext.
3075 or at michelec@kyfs.org.