We have been on a long and trying road together in the nearly two years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Take a deep breath—this is one of the most extraordinary times in our history, and the disproportionate racial impact on the community has been heartbreaking. At the risk of stating the obvious, we must get the pandemic under control to ease the suffering. But let us be real with you: our vision of an equitable workforce system centering racial equity is incompatible with the pre-pandemic status quo.

The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC) is awarding five organizations a total of $1.825 million to serve individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. This system creates disparate racial impacts on low-income communities, especially individuals of Black, Indigenous and Latinx origin, making it an important priority toward advancing the WDC’s commitment to equitable economic recovery.

The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC) is excited to welcome four new members to the WDC Board: Dr. John Mosby, Caroline Chan, Jason Nakamura, and Kate Harkess. Collectively they bring a leadership vision and wide range of experience in many of the WDC’s priority areas for regional transformation. Please join us in welcoming them.

Angela Dunleavy, Princess Ayers-Stewart, and Katie Garrow have been elected to WDC Board leadership as Board Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary, respectively. The WDC is thrilled to welcome the new leadership team and is excited for them to they apply their diverse perspectives and community dedication to their leadership roles. Please join us in congratulating them.

We begin the new program year (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022) focused on recovery. Our region is seeing promising trends, from lower infection rates to positive economic indicators. Despite the beginnings of recovery, we are seeing widening economic disparities for women and people of color. This is a critical time for our region to work together around a shared vision of support and inclusion.

Designed to meet the expanding labor needs of Seattle-King County, the Health Professions Opportunity Grant (HPOG) connects job seekers to training that leads to careers in healthcare. This year marks the 11th and possibly final year of the program, with HPOG slated to end in September without re-authorization by Congress. As we look back, and look forward, it is important to highlight the accomplishments of program participants and the organizations the WDC has partnered with for more than a decade to bring success to TANF recipients, immigrants and refugees, and large and small healthcare employers.

The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC) is proud to announce the addition of two new members to the WDC Board: Justin Magouirk Crowe and Jiquanda Nelson. We are excited for Jiquanda and Justin to bring the full range of their extensive experience and community focus to the important work of the WDC Board and committees. Please join us in welcoming them.

On Wednesday, April 28, 2021, the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce will hold their 2021 PNW Education & Workforce Summit and Virtual Job & Career Fair. The summit will act as a collective look into the status of the school-to-work pipeline in the Seattle Southside region while the job and career fair will be a focused effort to connect community members with employment opportunities and family-wage careers.

The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC) is awarding five organizations Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (WIOA) grants to serve in-school and out-of-school youth with workforce services, including educational credential attainment, post-secondary placement, unsubsidized employment placements, training, and employment retention. The organizations were chosen for their proven experience serving youth, dedication and ability to prioritize racial equity, and capacity to implement high-quality services.

On March 15, 2021, the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the provision of business services within the WorkSource Seattle-King County system. Services will be funded in accordance with resources from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

On February 18, the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County and National Fund for Workforce Solutions held a live discussion on new research detailing racial disparities in the Seattle-area workforce and how to build an equitable economic recovery. Panel featuring: Marie Kurose, CEO, Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County; Amanda Cage, President and CEO, National Fund for Workforce Solutions; Rich Stolz, Executive Director, OneAmerica; W. Tali Hairston­­, Equity Research Specialist, Root and Branch.

A new report shows that despite Seattle’s reputation as a progressive beacon of economic vitality, deep racial inequities remain in the labor market that are made worse by the pandemic. Using disaggregated data analysis, the report identifies workforce equity strategies that should be implemented to foster broad economic prosperity.

Recover Better: A Regional Plan for Equitable Economic Recovery is a 3-5 year blueprint to align shared priorities between regional partners in the local workforce development system. It analyzes the economic impacts from COVID-19, the recovery outlook for sectors and workers, and presents two north stars: equitable economic recovery and job quality.

On January 11, 2021, the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the provision of education, employment, training, and youth development services for in-school youth ages 14-21 and out-of-school youth ages 16-24 residing in King County. Services will be funded in accordance with resources from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

COVID-19 is a wakeup call for our region. We must address long-standing racial inequities as we respond to the crisis.

In Program Year 2019 (July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020) we served 41,069 people, including 1,365 young people (age 16-24). We also served 1,735 businesses, including 413 we had not worked with before. Those numbers only hint at the unthinkable challenges our communities and systems faced this year—a global pandemic that took lives and upended livelihoods and had an unequal impact on Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), and immigrants and refugees. From infection rates to employment rates, those most at risk were most impacted.

The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County is pleased to announce a $500,000 investment from JPMorgan Chase focused on COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts. The WDC will assist individuals who have lost jobs and income as a result of the ongoing public health emergency.

We begin the next program year in a substantially different place than from last year, even than from a few months ago. The health and economic impacts of COVID-19 have created massive disruptions to the economy and created a new reality for workers, the unemployed, and small businesses.