Libraries, Education & Neighborhoods Committee 7/24/2025

All right, everyone.

Good morning.

The July 2024, 2025, the July 24, 2025 meeting of the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee will come to order.

It's 9.32 a.m.

I'm Maritza Rivera, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Present.

Councilmember Solomon?

Here.

Vice Chair Rink?

Present.

Chair Rivera?

Present.

Four Councilmembers are present.

Thank you, Clerk.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Colleagues, there are 13 items of business on today's agenda.

We have three appointments to the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council, four appointments to the Pike Place Market Historical Commission, one reappointment to the Pike Place Market Historical Commission, Two reappointments to the Landmarks Preservation Board and one appointment to the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council.

And in addition, we have presentations from the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs and the Department of Neighborhoods.

We will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment should relate to items on the agenda or within the purview of this committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

Currently we have no in-person speakers and two remote speakers signed up.

Alright, thank you.

Please read the public comment instructions.

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

The public comment period is up to 20 minutes.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

We will start in-person speakers first and then remote speakers until the public comment period has ended.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

The public comment period is now open.

We will begin with the first speaker.

The first remote speaker is Alberto Alvarez.

Please press star six when you hear the prompt, Alberto, that you have been unmuted.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Bring up the Pike Place Market parking, well, how they've closed it off now to cars.

It's really working out.

There's been a lot more foot traffic activity and even people just being able to get off the bus.

You've seen pictures, you've seen videos.

They're online.

You can see them right now.

So that's really worked out.

And I just want to point out that a lot of the business owners down there were, you know, Kind of crying wolf about all of this, that, oh, we close it up to vehicles and cars and people won't show up.

It'll be dead.

People won't be able to move about.

And all of that was a lie.

And they clearly don't understand their own clientele.

So the rest of us, we're trying to make them realize that this is for their own benefit as well.

More people walking around, safely walking around, just means more business for them.

And I think Council Member Rivera had spoken to one of the restaurants or businesses down there recently.

I forget the name, but it starts with a D.

Maybe they were one of the ones that said, hey, we don't want to close it out to vehicles.

So really, we all have to let people, the business owners down there know that.

People are showing up.

It's working.

And as a plus, maybe there's other neighborhoods or other areas in the city that similar changes can be made.

Just to let people walk around and feel safer.

I know that there's a business area in Ballard.

I forget the name of the street, but it's already somewhat closed off the vehicles.

There's a lot of outdoor patio areas there.

Yeah, maybe more of that.

Thank you.

Have a good day.

Thank you, Speaker.

Our next remote speaker is David Haynes.

David, press star six, and you may begin.

Hi, thank you.

Yesterday, there was a naked guy who was most likely raped in the U District.

David, I'm sorry, you need to stick to the items within this agenda.

This is the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee.

Oh, right.

I thought that, like, we could discuss maybe improving the library that you haven't done anything about because it's still impossible to go down there at the Central Library and Read their newspaper without being bothered by somebody else because of the design of a warehouse-like library that seems to be designed to bother people keeping them awake.

But what I'm concerned about is there's a real problem in our society imploding, and you all didn't even show up for the renters commission appointments yesterday.

And I was wondering why you couldn't have showed up for that, but you keep cheerleading and giving praises to the mayor who has failed at public safety and it makes it impossible to go into the library.

I'm trying to go into the library and look on the computer and there's all these junkies that are all screwed up and your district is part of what's being trafficked and you're not addressing that but you keep showing up at public safety and telling us how great the mayor's doing and he's failing miserably but because you keep meeting with the chief every month You keep cheating the people out of proper policy because you're self-dealing as a landlord.

Thank you, David.

Clerk?

Wait, I'm not finished.

I'll address the neighborhood and the library, but it's unfair that you're not addressing the reality of your district and university.

There was a naked woman last week and a naked guy yesterday.

You've got a real problem in your neighborhood and you're not addressing it.

You're just lying about public safety.

You are cheating the people.

You should be designed to be investigated by the Department of Justice for your landlord self-feeling that is cheating the people.

Thank you, David.

You can submit the rest of your comments if you'd like to.

Thank you so much.

Is that the last speaker, clerk?

There are no additional registered speakers.

The public comment period is now closed.

So we will now proceed to our items of business.

Clerk, please read items one, two, three into the record.

Agenda items one through three.

Appointments 3230 through 3232. The appointments of Alistair Ceretti, Jonathan Moore, and Rom D. Wong as members of the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council for a term to November 30th, 2027 for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you.

These appointments have been read into the record.

Colleagues, I always say that I appreciate the willingness of our residents to serve as volunteers for these important opportunities to give us feedback on the work.

I want to thank all the appointees that we will be going through this morning for stepping up to serve in these great advisory roles and for the time they put into this work.

It is unpaid work and I know it's a labor of love for them and we benefit from their willingness to step up and serve.

I want to really appreciate all the volunteers, all the appointees who we are going to run through this morning's appointments.

I will now read a short bio for each of these three appointments and then we will have time for comments and then we'll vote.

All right, Alistair Cerretti has over 20 years in experience as an accounting and finance leader with additional experience leading teams and managing client relationships.

He received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of Washington.

Alistair has held roles as Senior Manager for Watson McDonald, Senior Auditor for John L. O'Brien and Company, and as staff accountant for Princess Cruises.

Currently, Alistair serves as the signing director for Clifton Larson Allen LLP.

Alistair's bringing a wealth of professional insight and experience to the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council, and I want to thank him for agreeing to serve and for volunteering his time.

Jonathan Moore.

Jonathan has approximately 10 years of experience working in finance.

He received a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Redlands.

Jonathan has previously held the roles of Senior Wealth Strategy Associate, Registered Client Service Associate, and Client Service Associate during his time working at UBS.

and currently serves as a financial advisor there.

In his role, Jonathan performs financial research and analysis and has experience managing customer-focused portfolios.

Jonathan would be bringing a wealth of experience in the finance sector to the historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council, and I would also like to thank him for his willingness to serve in volunteering his time.

And finally, for this set, Ram DiWong is a senior deputy prosecuting attorney at the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

Ram works in the civil division where he assists with real property transactions and advises the recorder's office and other King County offices.

In addition to working at the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Rahm currently serves as the Adjunct Instructor for the Advanced Trial Advocacy Program at the University of Washington.

Prior to joining the Civil Division, Rahm spent 10 years as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division.

Rahm would be bringing his legal professional experience to the historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority governing council.

I would like to thank Rahm for his volunteering his time and to serve on this council.

Colleagues, do you have any questions or comments about these three appointees?

All right, seeing none, I move to appoint, excuse me, I move the confirmation of appointments 3230 through 3233. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to confirm the appointments.

Are there any further comments?

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointments?

Council member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council member Solomon?

Aye.

Vice Chair Rink.

Yes.

Chair Rivera.

Aye.

Four in favor, zero opposed.

The motion carries and the recommendation that the appointments be confirmed will be sent to the July 29th, 2025 City Council meeting.

Congratulations to Alistair, Jonathan and Rahm.

All right, we'll move on to the next agenda items.

Clerk.

Agenda items four through eight.

Appointments 3233. The appointments of Alex Apostolopoulos, Pfeiffer Blecker, and Olivia Vermack as members of the Pike Place Market Historical Commission for a term to December 1st, 2026. Appointments and reappointments of Jonathan Cracolici, And Jonathan Kenhow as members of the Pike Place Market Historical Commission for a term to December 1st, 2027. Apologies for any damage done to your names.

For briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you, clerk.

These appointments have been read into the record.

We're joined by Min Chow Lee.

While Min's coming up here, please join us at the table.

Min is the Pike Place Market Historical District Coordinator at the Department of Neighborhoods, and we're lucky to have her here this morning to present these next set of appointments.

Min, please state your name for the record, and then you may present the appointees.

Min Cha Lee, Department of Neighborhoods.

Thank you to all committee members for your time today, and thank you in particular Chairperson Rivera for allotment of time on your agenda, and we're very happy to see that you're feeling a little better today.

I will be presenting Mayor Harrell's five appointees to the Pike Place Market Historical Commission.

I recognize that on today's agenda there are several boards and commissions with somewhat similar names, so I'll take just a moment to differentiate the commission.

It was established in 1971, which represents about the halfway point of the lifespan of the market so far.

It consists of 12 members, and their role is to review and make decisions about proposed changes in the market.

Those decisions are regulatory in nature.

They apply to both the physical and non-physical characteristics of the market.

And finally, they're all done through the lens of preserving the unique characteristics of the market.

Does this sound okay?

Can you get a little closer into the mic so we can hear you a little better?

Thanks, Min.

Okay, no problem.

Perfect.

Thank you.

So I will now...

I'm sorry, it sounds really echoey.

No, it's great.

Okay.

So I will proceed in the order indicated.

So first we have Alex Apostolopoulos appointed to position of merchant.

Mr. Apostolopoulos is the co-founder of Elanos Yogurt, which he started at the market as a small outdoor yogurt stand and which eventually grew to national prominence and recognition.

So his experience highlights how the market is very valuable as a small business incubator.

He continues the legacy of Greek yogurt at the market to this day as the owner-operator of Hellenical Cultured Creamery.

I'm going to speak the best I can, but I'm struggling with an echo that I'm getting.

Second, we have Pfeiffer Blecker, who is appointed to the position of Allied Arts.

Allied Arts is a nonprofit organization that has been instrumental for the preservation of the market for at least the past 50 years.

Ms. Blecher holds an MBA and prior to that earned an undergraduate degree in 2012. Therefore, her life pathway and trajectory indicate somebody who is perfectly poised to step into the next generation of leadership at the Pike Place Market.

Next, we have Olivia Viermak, who is appointed to the position of resident.

Ms. Viervak had previously served as a board member of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the African Chamber of Commerce and more recently opened the Karoo Cafe in the Market, a business which she states is based on concepts from her home country of South Africa and specifically the concept of Ubuntu.

Which, from what I understand, speaks to values of community and unity.

And so Ms. Virmack's background illustrates how the market is a place where culture and heritage is very much embraced.

Next, we have the reappointment of Jonathan Cracolici.

Jonathan's professional background is as a geotechnical engineer.

So that's a very valuable skill set within the market, given its unique topography, which is very varied and has close proximity to a major body of water.

Additionally, his effectiveness and leadership was recognized by his peers when they elected him to be chair in 2025. And finally, five out of five, we have Jonathan Cunow, who was appointed to the at-large position.

Mr. Kino currently serves as the Executive Director of the Southlake Union Chamber of Commerce.

And so this appointment represents the opportunity to continue to strengthen relationships between different neighborhoods and segments of the downtown area.

It also represents an opportunity to continue to build upon momentum of past interneighborhood projects, such as the Market to Mohai.

That concludes the presentation.

Thank you, Min.

And I also want to recognize E.J.

Griffin, who's joining us from the Pike Place Market Historic PDA this morning.

All right.

Colleagues, do you have any questions or comments?

All right.

Seeing none, I move that we confirm appointments 32-33 through 32-37.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to confirm the appointments.

Are there any comments?

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointments?

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Solomon?

Aye.

Vice Chair Rink?

Yes.

Chair Rivera?

Aye.

Four in favor, zero opposed.

All right, the motion carries and the recommendation the That the appointments be confirmed will be sent to the July 29th, 2025 City Council meeting.

Congratulations to Alex, Pfeiffer, Olivia, and the two Jonathans.

Thank you so much for being here this morning, Min.

Thank you.

All right.

We will now move on to the next agenda items.

Clerk?

The items nine and 10, appointments 3262 and 3263. The reappointments of Becca Pheasant-Reese and Catherine Randall as members of the Landmarks Preservation Board for a term to August 14th, 2028 for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you, Clerk.

These appointments have been read into the record.

We are joined by Aaron Doherty with the Department of Neighborhoods.

Nice to see you again, Aaron.

Who will be presenting the appointments.

Erin, please state your name for the record and then you may begin.

Thank you.

Erin Doherty with Department of Neighborhoods.

So I coordinate the Landmarks Preservation Board and the Landmarks Board is a group of 12 volunteers and they review potential new landmarks for the city as well as contemplating alterations to existing city landmarks.

And they review changes in four of the city's eight districts where the district does not have its own board or commission.

So we have two recommended reappointments today.

The first is for Becca Pheasant-Reese in the architect position.

Becca is a local licensed architect that specializes in historic building rehabilitation.

She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Houston and worked in architecture in Austin, Texas for several years before moving to Seattle in 2014. Becca has experienced balancing the complexities of building preservation with the practical realities of programs, codes, and the changing environment.

In addition to contributing her technical restoration expertise, she enjoys helping tell the city's full history.

Becca has given substantial support to the Architectural Review Committee, which is a subcommittee of the full board, in her first term, in addition to her active participation on the full board.

Second, we have Catherine, or as we call her, Katie Randall.

Katie's being recommended for reappointment in the real estate position.

She is a real estate developer in affordable housing and community development with Mercy Housing Northwest, currently focused on the construction of family housing in Tacoma.

She holds a Master of Science in Historic Preservation, a Master of City Planning, and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History.

Katie enjoys delving into building and community history and the storytelling that contributes to a sense of place and home.

Her professional experience and passion for preservation has made her a valued board member, and we look forward to the reappointment of both Becca and Katie.

Thank you, Aaron.

Do any of my colleagues have questions or comments?

Seeing none, I move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointments 3262 through 3263. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to confirm the appointments.

Are there any comments?

All right.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointments?

Council member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council member Solomon?

Aye.

Vice Chair Rink.

Yes.

Chair Rivera.

Aye.

Four in favor, zero opposed.

All right, the motion carries and the recommendation that the appointments be confirmed will be sent to the July 29, 2025 City Council meeting.

Congratulations to Becca and Catherine.

All right, we'll now move to the next agenda item.

Agenda item 11, appointment 3264. The reappointment of Sue John Bertram as member of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council for a term to June 30th, 2027 for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you, Clerk.

This is a reappointment for Sue John.

This appointment has been read into the record and now I will read a short bio.

Sujin Bertram is a C-suite executive with a track record of driving revenue growth, scaling global operations and leading innovation in the tech sector.

Her leadership journey spans companies like Starbucks, Tableau and Amdocs and she has delivered over $150 million in revenue growth while building high performing teams and navigating complex organizational change.

Currently, she serves as fractional COO at Shaw Scott.

She also served on the board of Seattle Credit Union, where she provided strategic and governance oversight with a focus on sustainable growth and inclusion.

Her commitment to the values of Pike Place Market and her insight will further the market's mission of meaningful diversity and inclusion in decision-making as the Pike Place Market PDA Council implements its strategic plan.

I want to thank her for volunteering her time.

Colleagues, any comments or questions?

Seeing none, I move that the committee recommend Confirmation of reappointment 3264. Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded to confirm the appointment.

Any final comments?

All right.

Clerk, will you please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Solomon?

Aye.

Vice Chair Rink?

Yes.

Chair Rivera?

Aye.

Four in favor, zero opposed.

Thank you, Clerk.

The motion carries and the recommendation that the appointments be confirmed will be sent to the July 29th, 2025 City Council meeting.

We will now move on to the next agenda item.

Agenda item 12, the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs has a presentation on supporting immigrant and refugee communities for briefing and discussion.

Thank you.

This item has been read into the record.

Today we are joined by my friend, Hamdi Mohammed, the director of OIRA, who is working tirelessly on behalf of community, and I so appreciate her.

And she's going to be giving an update on OIRA's work in support of our immigrant and refugee communities in Seattle.

Colleagues, I will ask that you please hold your questions until the end of the presentation.

Director, please state your name for the record and you may begin when you're ready.

Looks like we're pulling up the slides.

Good morning, honorable members of the council, honorable chair Rivera.

Thank you so much for having me here today.

It's always a great opportunity to come before you all and give updates on all the work that we are doing.

For the record, my name is Hamdi Mohammed, and I'm the director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs for the city of Seattle.

Today I'll be sharing how our office is serving Seattle's immigrant and refugee communities through direct service, community partners, and proactive coordination across the region.

In a time where immigration continues to be at the center of national headlines, Seattle Remains to be a place that leads with inclusion, leads with facts and readiness.

We are not just here to sound alarm.

Actually, we want to do the opposite of that.

We are here to show how we are listening as a city, how we're acting and protecting access to opportunities, and what we're doing to ensure that our community members feel safe as they access services throughout this region, services that the City of Seattle provides.

So we'll focus on three areas today.

One, the programs that we are running that help people access things like legal services, English classes, jobs, and how we help people prepare for their citizenship programs, through our citizenship programs, how they prepare to become naturalized citizens.

We'll also share how we're tracking policy changes and being responsive when misinformation and fear is on the rise, and how we've been able to partner with our community organizations, how we're delivering on trust, and being culturally responsive during these times, whether that is for someone who is calling Seattle home for the first time, or for someone that has been living in our region for quite some time and called the city home for decades.

I'll walk you through some key areas from our rapid response program, our legal defense program, and our language access and workforce development work that we are doing and impacts of those work.

As you all know, our office is small but mighty.

We have about 12 staff members serving thousands of city residents through our high impact programming and partnership.

Our budget is about $6.4 million, with the majority of those dollars coming from the general fund, but we also do receive State grants, there's some funds that come from the payroll expense tax.

And let me just say, we recognize that the city is navigating a really tough budget year, which is actually new.

And so as an office and as a team, we're also thinking very proactively in seeking out additional funding, additional partnership with our state, and we've been successful, but also communicating with philanthropy partners as well to both sustain and expand our services and also the services of our partners.

Next slide.

So here is the seven core programs and projects that our office is currently focused on.

I wanted to just take a moment to also just share how we do our work.

At our office, we simply do not just contract with nonprofit organizations.

We partner with them.

And what that means is collaborating on curriculum development, conducting on-site visits.

It's supporting a cohort model That ensures that we are building a peer support and learning space for the partners that we are in a contractual relationship with.

And that allows us to stay hands-on to ensure that there is strong implementation, there's accountability, and that we're being really good stewards of public dollars.

And for the purposes of this presentation today, I will focus on key programs and projects that are helping us address some of the highest concerns that we are hearing from our community, some of the concerns that you all hear as council members as well.

Next slide.

So we all see the headlines.

As you know, there are a lot of information that is in the news about immigration.

Hundreds of executive orders have been introduced, proposals introduced by the current presidential administration, many of which are actually tied up in the courts.

And so final decisions have not been made on them or how they will be implemented has not been called.

But whether those policies get put in place, we know that the chilling effect is real.

And that people feel afraid or unsure of what is true and what is not.

And so our office is meeting that moment with clarity and coordination.

And so what we're focused on is truly just getting accurate information out there as quickly as possible and trying to spread that information as widely as we can in the city of Seattle and across the region through our partners, That's tracking policies.

We work very closely with the mayor's office.

We work closely with our Office of Intergovernmental Relations to stay up-to-date on these federal policies and to tell people the reality of what is happening.

And a lot of the times, it is simply saying, this policy is tied up in the courts right now, so we actually don't know how it will be implemented, but we'll continue to monitor and give you updates as they become available.

And it's also supporting our city employees.

We know that our own workforce interacts with our immigrant and refugee communities on the daily basis.

And so it's providing internal training, guidance, and to ensure that departments are aligned.

And then it's the external outreach that we've been focusing on, and I'll share more about this and some data, but it's those community information sessions.

It's the Know Your Rights trainings.

It's investing in our partners who provide legal support, hotline support, and rapid response to ensure that trusted information is reaching people.

If the headlines shift daily, our focus is to stay steady and to respond in real time, to reduce that confusion, and just keep the community as connected and informed so that they can access the services that we provide as a city.

Next slide.

So here is what we know is causing some of the highest fears for people.

It's the expedited removal policy that allows certain individuals to be deported without having a court hearing.

It's bills like the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that was recently passed.

I know the council was recently briefed on that.

And that includes increased funding for deportation and detention efforts.

And it's also because our immigration system, unlike the criminal system, does not offer attorneys on site.

You're not entitled to an attorney that is provided through the government.

And so in most of these cases, what you do see is people not represented.

And so those are some of the top concerns that we hear.

And the other thing that we are hearing is and people are asking us is, are there raids?

Like the ones that we are seeing in LA happening across the city of Seattle.

And let me be clear, the short answer to that is no.

According to the deportation defense hotline through Wizen, there have been about 739 calls that have come through that hotline.

And that they've assisted that statewide.

And out of those 739 calls, 109 of them were from the city of Seattle.

And only eight were verified as ICE activities inside of our city limits.

So that means, you know, When you compare Seattle to other parts of the country, the deportation numbers are a lot lower as of now.

And so we continue to encourage people to stay calm and to stay informed and to use the hotline and the resources that are available.

And these things can change.

The landscape can change very quickly.

And so making sure that you have access to accurate information and that you're following good Outlets is important during these times.

So for the listening public, that is the message that I would want to leave with them.

Next slide.

So again, the numbers of immigration enforcement action hasn't been significant just yet in the city of Seattle.

But where arrests are happening has significantly changed.

One of the things that we are seeing is that In the immigration courts that is in the city of Seattle, there's a trend where we're seeing more of the arrests happening at the immigration courts.

This is something very new in the immigration space.

And let me just also say, at times people do get confused if the city of Seattle, for instance, or the state has jurisdiction over the immigration courts.

These courts are federal spaces, and they're overseen by the U.S.

Department of Justice, and that limits our authority to intervene directly, the city and also the states.

But what it does What we need to think about the most is our role as partners of the community, making sure that people are educated, that we have our rapid response programs in place so that they know these differences and they know who to Contact when.

The reports that our office is currently receiving and the data that we're receiving is that there's been about 25 people per month from King County that have been placed in the Tacoma Detention Center.

This is data that we're receiving from NERP, the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project.

So that's 25 people per month from King County.

And that data is actually not broken down as of now.

And so we don't know specifically how many of those 25 people end up being from Seattle.

The majority of these individuals are being detained after attending immigration court hearings, and so it's not through a raid or ICE officers arriving at somebody's home, but the majority of these arrests that they are seeing and tracking are coming from the immigration courts.

And one of the things that NERP shared with us that I wanted to relay to you all is that they shared that about 45 individuals that were detained at the Seattle Immigration Corps, 24 of them that ended up in that detention center, only two of them chose to appeal their case, and the rest of them are opting in for expedited removal, again, because securing an immigration attorney could be, one, expensive, Two, you're not entitled to that.

And it could be a very, very lengthy process.

And so some people are just opting out to not go through that and wanting to accept the expedited removal.

And so that is something we're hearing.

But again, we're not seeing wide eyes Raids in the city of Seattle.

There's not those large-scaled worksite raids that we see in other parts of the country.

It's not happening in our city.

The two raids that have been documented on worksites have been in Kent and in Bellingham.

And so they've been outside of the city limits.

Next slide.

So I wanted to share a little bit about the Rapid Response Program and what is some of the work that we are doing.

This is a new program that we put in place this year.

It was very much community-informed effort.

When we launched it, we did a number of listening sessions to ensure that as we pivoted, that it was a program that was responding directly to what we were hearing from the ground, what people needed, and a lot of that was Legal information, access to services, and just a trusted place where people could turn when they are seeing all of these changes and this increased fear and confusion is rising.

And so it's legal education, limited legal services, whether that's family planning, application support, the hotline.

And, you know, again, in a city that is as diverse as the city of Seattle, we want families to feel safe, to send their children to school and without fear, or second-guessing whether they stay at home or not.

Our economy depends on immigrant labor.

From essential workers who work in our hospitals, caregivers, janitors, educators, construction workers, small business owner.

The Seattle economy depends on our immigrant labor.

And so we want to make sure that people do feel safe when they're going to work or they're sending their kids to school.

And we're hoping that this program allows our nonprofit organization to provide So I think that's the most accurate information and the level of comfort that people need to be able to move through our city safely.

Again, our immigrant communities contribute significantly to our economy, to the social fabric of this region, both civically and socially.

And let me just share just some data that we recently received from our Rapid Response Program's Quarter one, there's been seven Know Your Rights events, reaching about 170 participants, plus train-the-trainer sessions with 77 attendees, ensuring that knowledge is shared widely.

That is over 191 hours of legal consultation.

and support sessions and assisting about 83 individuals.

There's been two large information sessions, reaching approximately 475 attendees, offering updates on these federal immigration changes, providing local resources to them, and making sure that people know of the legal options that are available to them.

And we do this in a way that also meets people's language needs.

And so we're proud to have been able to stand up this program and to make sure that people have the tools and support they need to stay engaged and to move forward.

Next slide.

So our legal defense program, this is a program that has been existing in the city of Seattle.

It's to ensure that low-income immigrant residents in the city of Seattle have access to legal support when facing deportation or detention.

Again, in the immigration system, there's not a public defender.

And so this program is really about keeping families together, ensuring due process and supporting community stability.

And this year alone, there's been 215 individuals that received full legal representation per quarter.

295 received limited services, such as help with asylum, work permits, and other immigration forms.

Legal partners help about 82 people get their work authorization, 52 of them Obtain some sort of immigration status, and they filed over 148 relief requests and attended 38 courts hearings at the US Immigration Services.

And let me just pause.

on the 82 people who gained work authorization, because this number really represents a life-changing impact.

This could be someone who is seeking asylum.

You've heard migrants come into this chamber, share their stories.

And those are people who are fleeing persecution at times, And under international and federal law, they have the right to seek protection here in the US.

And when they don't have a work authorization, they're not able to work in the US.

And that person may not have a choice but to rely on some sort of public service or public assistance.

And those services are extremely limited for Someone in an asylum status.

But when they receive their work authorization, what ends up happening is they stop depending on the existing safety nets.

But they're able to provide for themselves and become self-sufficient and contribute to the local economy, pay taxes, and support their own family.

And that's what we hear a lot of the times from asylum seekers who come into our office or who we meet with through legal service providers is they simply say, I just want to work, and I want to contribute, and I want to be able to build a better life for my family.

And so when they get those work authorization, it allows them to do exactly that.

And so I see that as a victory for the city of Seattle and our local economy.

Next slide.

Our new citizenship program.

So citizenship in general unlocks opportunities.

It just doesn't provide legal status.

It's really about access belonging.

It's about building a life and stability.

Research data shows that when someone becomes a US citizen, It allows them and unlocks them to be able to access better jobs, to be able to think about home ownership.

It allows you to send your child off to college and also vote or become civically engaged and to participate in your local government.

The new citizenship program has been able to provide that for people.

It's allowing people who've lived in our city, for instance, for many years to give them the confidence to build permanent roots here.

And in just 2024 alone, the new citizenship program has supported over 1,000 community members through the naturalization process.

Nearly 700 citizenship applications were submitted.

With professional support, over 7,000 hours of class instruction in English and civics has taken place, over 560 mock interviews.

I remember being a child and preparing my mom for those interviews as a naturalized citizen myself and staying up really late at night helping with those mock interviews.

And if you're an immigrant, that probably resonates with you as well.

This program, since it's launched, it has helped over 32,000 residents here in the City of Seattle with over 16,000 citizenship applications being submitted.

Again, the research shows that naturalization increases a person's annual income by about 3,200.

And when you multiply that by the thousands of newly naturalized residents, it translates into more than $56 million in increased spending right here in the city of Seattle.

So that's money going back into our economy.

That's money going back into rent.

People being able to buy more groceries, childcare, and small businesses being supported.

So I always see our citizenship programs as transformative for people's lives and for us to be able to grow and stabilize our city as a whole.

Next slide.

Okay, the Ready to Work program helps immigrants and refugee adults build English, digital support, and job readiness skills.

It has served over 1,000 adult learners, and we know through this program predominantly the folks who've benefited from it are women, parents, adults over the age of 40, and many with limited education or job experience.

And we've been able to do some innovative work with this program, in particular, with a new childcare cohort model that's been included.

And its focus is to train and to prepare people to enter the childcare workforce, which we continue to hear is in high demand right now.

And so that's a new model that we've been able to incorporate.

And it provides people with practical skills to be able to be And in just 2024, we haven't completed the entire data for this year, but just this year, there's over 200 participants that have participated in each quarter.

And at one given quarter, 200 participants completed at least one quarter.

And 41 percent of those actively are looking for work founded in jobs and just better job opportunities.

You know, this program will continue to be innovative as we're seeing more opportunities in sustainable jobs, green jobs.

We're also thinking about what are ways to make sure that Ready to Work is also meeting the moment and that we're being innovative.

And so there's a lot of regional coordination that is happening and discussions that are happening.

That picture is one of those examples where we're thinking about what is the future of Ready to Work and what is the future of our region's workforce.

And we see that as we have to do that in collaboration.

with our state partners.

A lot of the folks that were in that room came from the colleges as well.

There's a lot of great apprenticeship programs that are happening in the region.

And so how is the City of Seattle partnering?

So it's not just us providing resources or funding, but really thinking about what are the other funding opportunities that are out there and are we being good partners and are we coordinating?

And so there's a lot of those discussions.

And hopefully the next time I come before you all, we'll be able to share some of those exciting updates.

Next slide.

All right, so our language access program, this is a program that touches all departments across the city.

And let me just say, language access is grounded in both federal, state, and local policies, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which requires all recipients of federal funding to provide meaningful access for people with limited English proficiency.

And for the city of Seattle, that's not just about compliance, it's about Civil rights obligations, and it is very much part of our core values.

With one in five residents speaking a language other than English at home in the city of Seattle, and with over 150 languages spoken in our public schools, this work is essential.

The work is powered through 50 independent community translators.

We're very proud to be able to partner with Many of our local residents who are bilingual, they help provide accuracy in the translations that we're providing and ensuring that the materials that we're pushing out into community is also culturally relevant.

And so we have strong partnerships with them, and it's kind of a cohort model as well.

We bring them in.

Our language access team does a great job in holding information sessions.

And partnering with those translators.

And in 2024, we've supported hundreds of translation projects across the city using the SmartCat system, LanguageLine.

We're seeing those numbers rise.

There's more people who want to do these translations and are participating.

And over 270 city staff received training to help strengthen multicultural communication across departments.

And the goal is, like, not just to translate every And so a lot of that training that our office provides for department staff is helping them understand that.

That also allows the city to be able to save on some costs.

If you have a document that's 50 pages, you might not have to translate all 50 pages, but it could be like an executive summary.

And so it's really engaging with city departments to make sure that we're using our resources well and that we're doing it in a way that is strategic.

And so lots of shout-outs to everyone in the city that engages with our language access program.

Next slide.

And so the Washington WOMAS program, the Migrant and Asylum Seeker Support Program, is providing emergency housing for newly arriving migrants and asylum seekers who are not eligible for the federal resettlement programs that are in place.

You all may remember this work.

Working really hard to help establish this program through the state.

It has been established and fully in effect.

And we have been able to do this work truly in partnership with HSD, our Department of Human Resources.

They've led on this and coordinated with the state.

And now that work is being transferred over to our office.

And so we will be directly working with the state on making sure that the WaMask program is successful.

And since July 1st, we've been using the funds, the state funds.

It has helped house over 302 individuals.

That's over 100 families.

And every family that exits with some sort of transitional housing, a lot of these families end up receiving their work authorization and are able to get a job and become self-sufficient as well.

And so this is really a project that shows regional coordination, regional collaboration, and we're able to leverage the city dollars to respond to some of the needs that we're hearing in the city of Seattle.

Next slide.

So the support for city departments, I shared a little bit earlier about this.

We really want to be a resource for city departments.

We've been doing a lot of train-the-trainer work as well.

This year we've led on nine trainings across departments.

We hosted two large Community sessions as well that we've allowed city staff members to also participate with some of our legal experts and it reached over a thousand participants.

Our teams shut down and there was like a Zoom link.

It was an interesting process.

very early on in the year.

And we held Know Your Rights trainings for businesses as well with OED, making sure that a lot of our small businesses also know what their rights are and that they know how to be supportive to their departments.

And also we've worked with the Office of Labor Standards.

We're making sure that the materials that they're also pushing out is in translation in our office to city Departments who are listening, we do have an office hours internally for city employees who have questions about immigration, how to support their staff, and so forth.

And we've shared that number widely.

We are also, just so you know, are working on some trainings that could reach citywide And we're standing up at a SharePoint site as well that city employees can access, just to make sure that we all have the same information in real time.

Again, we're a small department, so we rely on this information being widespread.

And so we're thinking about ways to make it easy for us to touch as many city employees and making sure that they are equipped with the Right resources and information to best respond to whatever it is that their department may be dealing with.

And we continue to push and support the mayoral directive that came out on federal immigration enforcement, the Seattle welcoming city resolution passed by council, making sure that employees of the city understand what those policies are saying.

Done a lot of train the trainer, making sure that supervisors and directors really understand this information and they can disseminate it across their departments as appropriately as possible.

Next slide.

We'll talk a little bit about some of the community engagement work that we are doing.

We'll move to the next slide.

So when it comes to community engagement, really we ground ourselves in transparency, accessibility, and partnership, just meeting the community where they're at and being responsive in real time as much as possible.

Since January, we've held virtual policy sessions, Know Your Rights trainings, led in-person trainings for service providers in the Seattle Public Library.

They're such a great partner to us.

And in those trainings, we've had over 100 participants that showed up.

And so it's maintaining a regular presence in community events and resource fairs as well and just staying close and in coordination with our partners.

And we've convened Roundtables with our service providers, with the mayor, and we have one that is coming up shortly, and we'll make sure the council members are aware of that once it's on the calendar.

Next slide.

And so we wanted to share a little bit about opportunities, how to get involved.

I know that's so important to all of you as council members.

And thank you, Council Member Rivera, for consistently elevating this.

How do constituents get involved?

How do we, as council, push that information?

And that's the type of partnership our offices need, your ideas, and we want to make sure that people know what are some of the opportunities that are available out there.

So one of the most important ways to support our immigrant and refugee migrant communities right now is being able to expand legal services and legal help.

Immigration law is very complex.

And again, many people end up going through that process not having a government represented attorney.

So our local Legal community and nonprofits have stepped up in very big ways, leading a range of pro bono efforts, making sure that they are supporting people navigating the system.

And so there's a number of different pro bono Programs that are available.

And so if there are attorneys out there or if you all are thinking about what kind of information do I push out into community, we say that this is a very concrete way that you can make a difference.

And for attorneys, those could go towards hours counted towards service hours that are in requirement.

Councilmember Rivera has a legal background and went through law school.

And you share a lot of really great resources on, you know, who should we contact and, you know, what are some of the ways that we can provide opportunities for people to have an impact here.

And so we say amplify this as much as possible.

And if you're out there and as an attorney, these are some of the organizations you can get.

So that's what we've been engaged with.

These partnerships show what is possible when legal experts, community organization, and local governments work together closely to support and close some of the justice gaps that we are seeing.

Next slide.

Another opportunity is here are some of the organizations that we are in contract with, and we hear again from constituents, how can we help?

Here are just some organizations you can partner with.

Made the whole presentation about this slide and added hundreds of organizations.

But we narrowed it down to some of the organizations we are in contractual relationship with.

And they all offer volunteer opportunities.

You can go to their website, social media pages.

It's a great way to get started.

And then our office, if you're following Our newsletters, our social media pages, we try to keep you all connected and to make it easy for you to be able to know about what is happening and other ways that we can get involved.

And in these moments of uncertainty, one of the most powerful things we can do is share accurate information, to stay up to date with what's going on, and to amplify trusted voices.

And these are some of our trusted voices in community.

And so if you're someone that wants to get involved, this is one way that you can do that.

You know, I hope this presentation was helpful.

I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

But I think this concludes.

Next slide.

All right.

Thank you, Director Mohammed.

I always appreciate you coming to Chambers.

Colleagues, you know, a lot of people talk about what we should be doing, but the city via OIRA is actually doing.

So I want to thank you under your leadership, Director Mohammed, and the commitment of your staff who are committed to these issues and to helping our immigrant and refugee communities.

I really want to highlight the work that you're doing.

As you can hear, your team is small but mighty and is having a huge impact in the city.

And do you want to recognize a couple of your staff members who are here with you today?

Yeah, I would love to recognize all of my staff members.

Honestly, this work cannot be done without the incredible team that leads this.

So to all of the staff at the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, thank you so much for leading.

I do have our communication manager here with me, Ozmi.

If you see anything from our social media pages, newsletter, Ozmi's probably pushing that work.

Shawnice is also here with me, who is a Special Projects And policy specialist.

She's often with me when I'm coming to council meetings as well.

And so they all do incredible work in partnership with our community partners.

And I have the pleasure of meeting with your team outside of chamber time when we have our check-ins.

So I really appreciate your staff for all the amazing work that they're doing.

Thank you.

And please thank the ones that aren't here today.

And then colleagues, I thought this presentation was really important because it is important to have accurate information.

And what I don't want that I've heard is to have folks in our immigrant and refugees communities in Seattle Not coming out to receive services or get the food they need or send their kids to school because there's fear.

And there is a lot of fear-mongering, especially coming from D.C.

And, you know, that is egregious.

I've said it many times.

And it's important to know what is happening here in Seattle on the ground so that our folks who are living here Like I said, the fear doesn't have a chilling effect on their ability to get the services they need and get their needs met.

So I really want to thank you for bringing this accurate information, because in the absence of that, we don't know what to tell folks, and then they will not leave their homes and not get what they need.

And we are here in Seattle.

I said this in January, I feel like, but we are a welcoming city.

We are a sanctuary city.

We take care of all our folks in Seattle, including in our immigrant refugee communities, and we will continue to do so.

And it's really, you know, I didn't know before OIRA presented this information to me via our one-on-ones about what was happening on the ground here.

And things are better here than in other cities.

And I was glad to hear it.

And like I said, I want to make sure that our immigrant and refugee folks know not to be afraid.

And of course, as you pointed out earlier, things are evolving.

So we will keep updating information if that should change, if anything should change in Seattle.

You will be out there letting community know so that we're acting in real time accordingly.

But like I said, it's really important that our folks know that they can come get the services that they need and have their needs met.

And then also, I really appreciate OIRA's work with our regional partners at the county, with other cities in the region, and with the state.

in support of our immigrant and refugee families here in Seattle.

So I really want to thank you for that partnership and all the great work that you do.

And then the Know Your Rights education is something that I know is so very important.

When I moved here in 01, right after September 11th, I worked at the ACLU doing Know Your Rights education in Middle Eastern communities that were being targeted by the FBI.

That then turned into also targeting of our Hispanic community.

So I was doing that know your rights education.

It is so important.

Folks don't know they have a right to an attorney when the FBI reaches out to them.

They just don't know it.

So that is all really important.

And so I really want to uplift this work that you're doing just across the board.

And colleagues, you hear I mean the huge impact that OIRA is having in the city via the many, many, many folks that they touch as part of this work, which they've been doing before the egregious actions of the federal administration and that you're continuing to do now even more so.

I really appreciate that and I appreciate all the Funding that you're able to secure again under your leadership because you've given this important focus.

So I want to thank you for that.

I cannot say enough about Director Muhammad and her team.

So, okay.

I see folks have their hands up.

Council Member Salomon.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Again, thank you for being here today.

Just a couple of quick questions for you.

Your language access program.

Okay.

If we're doing events where we need interpreters, is that something you can provide or should we go through the Department of Neighborhoods for that?

I'm sure the Department of Neighborhoods also has resources for that.

We have in the past had council members reach out to our office and we've been able to successfully connect you all to a translator that has been able to come into the chambers and provide translation services.

So I think it's probably a preference.

We've trained up all of our city departments, and so they know how to use language line and to connect with translators as well.

And so if there is a department that you already coordinate with as an office, you're welcome to continue to work with them.

But if you were to reach out to us, we would connect you as well.

Yeah.

I'm just thinking about, you know, some of the meetings I've done in Southeast Seattle where, again, I have a lot of different language groups spoken.

Sometimes they're all in the same room.

I remember doing one meeting where I had six different translations happening at the same time, six different interpretations.

And when I'm talking to a community group who wants to get information, yet we're saying, okay, well, you got to get the interpreters.

That cost can be off-putting or they may not be able to say, well, we can't cover the cost of an interpreter.

That's why I was asking, Do you have a pool that we can draw from at no cost to be able to offer those kind of services?

Not a pool at no cost, but we do have...

No cost?

There's ways that we can be nimble.

If we know an event is happening in advance, Some of those costs do come down, as opposed to there's an emergency meeting and we got to get an interpreter into the room right away.

It is a lot more expensive if the turnaround time is shorter.

But we try to be as strategic as possible to minimize some of those costs.

Sometimes there's interpreters that we secure that they speak multiple languages and can provide Translation's in two languages, but it's one person.

And so it just depends on the situation.

We have some dollars in our office.

As you saw, our budget is pretty tight.

And so we do have some dollars allocated to translation services that we provide, but more so for citywide to disseminate that information as widely as possible, to make those dollars go far.

But I think it depends on what project you're working on.

And if it's a project in collaboration with a city department, a lot of city departments are including in their project plan and budgets line items for translation.

And so that's another thing that you could do is check with whatever the topic may be.

If there's a particular department that's involved, they might already have Budget allocated for translations, and it just might be asking them the question and seeing what that dollar is.

We are encouraging, and as departments come up with their language access plans, that they do budget money for translation services, and they know what some of those costs look like.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

And one other question.

And I see that your rights training has been featured on a number of your slides.

It gets to something that I've been thinking about, which I inadvertently called ice fishing, which is where, you know, immigration and the customer enforcement folks are presenting supposed subpoenas to landlords looking for information on who's living in their property, trying to find out those person's legal status to help boot them out, right?

So part of You know, the know your rights thing is that, you know, what do you do when you come across or when someone from ICE or with a warrant, you know, what do you do when you're confronted with that?

So part of what I'm thinking is, first of all, for those landlords, property management companies, unless it's a signed warrant by a judge, do not comply.

Secondly, notify the tenant that Somebody is fishing for their information.

It hasn't happened in Seattle yet, but I'm looking at what we can do to head that off before it gets here.

Given the Know Your Rights training that you are doing, it seems that it would be logical for us to partner on this or logical for you to take lead, but again, the influence is Educate property management landlords that they don't got to comply unless it's a legit document.

And two, you got to notify the person that somebody is looking for their information so that they are aware.

In other jurisdictions, those residents aren't being told that someone's fishing for their information.

So I'm looking at maybe this is something we can work on together.

Maybe this is something that you can do that doesn't require us to do a resolution or legislation.

I just want to protect the folks who are here.

from what's happened in other cities.

So, thoughts?

Yeah, no, that's really helpful.

It's kind of similar to what we were able to do with OED, providing that Know Your Rights training for some of the business community.

In fact, I have a presentation I'll be doing Next month, I believe, with the Seattle Chambers presenting to them on some of these issues and helping them know what to do in these types of events.

And so I think similarly for homeowners or Or these housing complex that you're talking about, making sure if there is a place that they convene that you specifically know, I'd be happy to have some of our team come and present to them.

We can make sure that they are connected and are receiving a lot of that, those accurate information, knowing the difference between an administrative order and actual judicial order.

Signed warrant from a judge and being able to identify that.

And a lot of those Know Your Rights trainings have that material so people can feel empowered and respond well when they are approached by ICE or any other federal agency.

So I'm happy to be a thought partner in that.

I think it's a great idea.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Salomon.

Vice Chair Rink.

Thank you, Chair Rivera, and I also want to thank you for making time for this presentation on today's agenda.

This was an incredibly informative presentation, and I want to thank you, Director Mohammed and the entire OIRA team for the work you're doing every day.

I'm almost sure that when you signed up to do this work, you didn't expect to be doing it in the midst of what I've come to understand as America's largest mass deportation effort in modern American history, and I know that is heavy on I imagine your heart, your staff's hearts.

This is hard work.

It's traumatizing work.

It's devastating work.

And so I hope you all are taking time to take care of yourselves.

And I want to thank you for standing by our immigrant neighbors and supporting them with these programs.

Just a couple of questions for today.

A few months ago, we had some discussions as a body with the organization Kids in Need of Defense, which we've come to understand they have now closed their doors in large part because of loss in federal funding.

I'm curious how, for all of the partnering organizations OIRA has, how you all have come to understand how some of these partner organizations may also be impacted by federal cuts.

and how that may be impacting their ability to deliver services.

And paired with that, understanding what we've come to understand about any impacts to refugee resettlement efforts at this time, not state-funded, but from federal dollars.

Yeah, thank you for the question.

So for KIND specifically, Kids in Needs of Defense, they did close their doors, as we know.

And so Councilmember Rivera, we've talked about this a number of times.

And what they've done is—or NERP has taken over a number of those cases, actually all of them, especially the cases that included the kids that were being represented in the city of Seattle.

So that has transitioned over to NERP, and they are also receiving support from The Seattle University's legal clinic as well.

And so there are a number of attorneys that are helping support that caseload.

And so that's really good news.

When it comes to federal cuts that our organizations are facing across the board, it's a pain point, right?

There are so many of the nonprofit organizations There are organizations here locally that are facing federal cuts.

There are organizations that 70% of their budget, for example, depends on federal funding, especially if they have early learning programs and so forth.

Citizenship programs have been cut at the federal level.

Some folks are consolidating their programs and merging programs, and others are having to shut down some of those programs.

And it's the same thing for the refugee resettlement work that is happening with the cap and block on refugee resettlement from the federal government.

That is not allowing organizations to be able to do that resettlement work that we know is needed here locally.

And so they're being nimble, and we're trying to be a good thought partner, helping them think about other sources of revenue, whether it's philanthropy.

Other agencies that are willing to step up in these moments and to fund some programs.

We know that in the past, we've been here before.

And in the past, we saw the business community also step up.

Business community that have depended on immigrants to power their workforce have been able to provide legal service funding and things like that.

And so we've been trying to be I thought partner to our organizations and help them think of some of the other resources that are available, but it is limited and it is a real problem, and we do continue to hear significant cuts that they're facing because of the federal cuts that we're seeing.

I'll just add really quick, you know, I think from January until now, we were seeing the cuts that were coming from, you know, executive orders, policies, and directly from the administration.

And now with the passage of the bill, that's kind of a whole different set of cuts and things that we're looking at and tracking as well.

It was more individual and directed, but now there's a bigger package of cuts that we're also expecting.

I think that there will be a big impact also to partners that are doing the work readiness and English as a second language.

They've already seen cuts, and there's a really stated goal in this administration to also cut that kind of work.

Yeah, even in our own office, right, we don't depend on a lot of federal fund, but we do have CDBG dollars for the Ready to Work program, and that is expected to be cut this coming year.

They've already said that.

So we're also thinking outside of the box and looking at other opportunities and other sources of revenue.

Thank you for that.

Any type of landscape analysis your office has at the ready or even just so our office can understand across the board where these cuts may be hitting across organizations, that would be helpful to know as a follow-up to today's session.

And paired with that, I was pleased to see in the presentation just the update on staff trainings across the city in accordance with the mayor's executive order.

Is there intent at this time from the executive to continue those?

I am thinking about, you know, we have a A long presidential term ahead of us and we know that there's things like staff turnover.

I'm just wondering if we're planning some amount of regularity with doing department level trainings and I'm hopeful that the office hours that you are offering are well utilized as well.

Yeah, that is.

It's a priority of the mayor's office and our office as well to continue to do those trainings.

And one of the things that we're seeing is we can't reach every single person in the city.

And to your point, that there are staff turnovers.

And so one of the things that we're looking at right now is how can we utilize Cornerstone, which is the...

Which is a platform that everyone in the city employees, whether you're a new employee, you end up being assigned trainings.

And so we're hoping we'll be able to use Cornerstone as a way to have maybe a mandatory training or just a training that allows people to understand, have just foundational understanding of what the city policies are and so that they're in compliant and they know how to respond in A moment where they're dealing with maybe a federal agent, for example.

And so we continue to think about those trainings.

And Cornerstone is one that we're very honed in on right now.

And they're trying to disseminate a citywide training.

But yeah, we want to continue to do the train-the-trainer work as well.

And that will be a continuous thing for us, for sure.

That is fantastic news.

Thank you.

And I loved the work that you shared on the Legal Defense Network and the New Citizen Program.

Do you have a sense of scale of need or demand for these programs?

I mean, we can bring in some of the experts who carry these bodies of work, because a lot of the times when we hear the demand and the needs, it's very City of Seattle-focused.

And we hear that there are limited resources, because they're dealing with federal cuts as well.

And NERP, for example, is having to take on Kind's cases.

And at times, there's not enough employees to carry that workload.

And so that's some of what we hear from them, is just Having limited capacity to be able to do the work and that resources are limited at this time.

But we can share, we could capture more data and give you more accurate information on some of what we're hearing from those different organizations.

We're in contractual relationship so you can, you know, make some informed decisions if you'd like around that.

I can just add, kind of connected to that a little bit with the limited legal consultation side of the rapid response program, even though it's separate from the legal defense network, it kind of speaks a little bit to where the needs are in terms of what consultations people are seeking around some of these shifting uh, approaches from the administration as well.

So there's, that's kind of, I guess, kind of the goal of the, um, rapid response program is to meet those new legal needs or, or consultations and then, um, you know, provide the best pathway possible for our immigrant and refugee partners.

And, and I will add that, um, this is why that list of, uh, pro bono legal support The department, excuse me, the office has been working really in partnership and reaching out to make sure that these organizations like the King County Bar Association and the University of Washington School of Law and Seattle University have stepped up to really fill a need.

And so that has been really helpful in the context of all of this.

And I'll say this isn't new.

We've always had a great need for this, even prior to January.

So it's ongoing.

But I know that the office has done a really great job of partnering and finding creative ways to get organizations involved.

And some of these, it's my understanding, are even more involved today than they were before this year.

So that's something that is filling some of that need.

Certainly.

Thank you for that.

And any data that you're able to provide on that level of need will be helpful to understand.

And I'll close with this point because I really appreciated the point around good data and information about the realities of how many calls are coming in and the realities of calls within a city of Seattle.

If I heard correctly, we had 739 calls statewide, 109 city of Seattle.

Eight of those City of Seattle ones were verified.

That is really helpful to know.

Got you.

That is really helpful to know and understand because there is such a sentiment of fear right now.

And just based on this data, I think it's fair to say some cities are being harder hit by ice raids and activity than ours is at this time.

We know that things could be changing with the passage of the Big Betrayal Bill.

And I'll close with just some comments on what we've come to understand from the American Immigration Council This bill includes a number of changes and investment into deportation efforts.

It's turning the immigration system into a pay-to-play system by imposing increasing fees for asylum applications, temporary protected status applications.

My understanding is a single lump sum of $29.9 billion toward ICE's enforcement and deportation operations, including funding to hire an additional 10,000 ICE officers in five years while modernizing their fleet and other transportation costs, while hiring new ICE attorneys to represent the government and immigration court, Paired with that, $45 billion for building new immigration detention centers.

There's an estimate that this could translate to, let's see if I can find it, oh, at least 116,000 new beds.

These are astonishing numbers and it's hard to fathom what they will mean in the immediate term, how these resources could scale up, where, how quickly.

But I want to commend the work that the office has been doing with the rapid response network and being able to collect information and good data.

That data will be important to track in the coming months as we better understand the implementation of and These investments under the Big Betrayal Bill.

And with that, Chair, thank you for allowing me the time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

This is why it was really important to me that OIRA come and give the accurate data because, again, All of this instills fear in folks, and the more we talk about it, the more we highlight it.

We just don't know today, but we need to go on what's happening in Seattle today, which is much better than other cities, so that folks, again, the chilling impact on community is real, and we need to make sure that our folks here Know that they are safe to access the services that they need, including food and school and all the things and go to work.

And that is really critical.

So I really, again, I just want to underscore that because unfortunately that is a consequence of folks not having accurate information about what's happening on the ground.

I feel really fortunate that in Seattle things are better at the moment and we will continue to monitor.

And this is why I wanted to underscore Director Mohammed's leadership and the commitment of her team because they are getting all the information in real time quickly so that they can then translate that to community.

And that is really critical.

You know, not, I suspect all cities have office quite like OIRA.

So I am just grateful to you all.

Council Member Hollingsworth, I see you have your hand up.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

And thank you also, Thank you, Chair, for having brought this on the agenda for today.

Thank you, Office of Immigration and Refugee Services, Director Mohamed.

Thank you.

It's good to see you.

I don't have any questions.

I just want to highlight two things that I think are incredibly important.

The first thing is how incredible your office was last year when we had refugees come to Seattle to find services.

They were in a couple parks, particularly in my district, and the Compassion, love, caring, and direction that you all gave from your office, with the mayor's office, with the human services department, arts department.

There were so many different offices involved.

But behind the scenes, and people saw stuff happen in our council chambers, and they didn't know about the inner workings of what the city had to go through and connect with other cities and the state and the county and just different levels.

Behind the scenes, I happened to see the work that you all did, and I just wanted to say, you know, thank you, because a lot of people did not see that, the going out there with vans and going to the hotel, taking people back and forth, or the coordination of, you know, that was huge.

And other service providers as well, you know, that was huge.

I just wanted to highlight that, Because I don't think a lot of people knew about your involvement in human services department and mayor's office and all these folks.

So I just wanted to highlight that.

And then now we have this piece, right?

So that was last year.

And then now we have this component of...

You know, what's going on at the federal level and how it's impacting here.

But I also want people to remember the amount of the, even though it might not live under our OIRA's umbrella, we still have programs within the city That are open to everyone, no matter immigration status, no matter zip code where they are in the city, if they're in the Central District and they live in the North End, they can still go to one of the 40 plus locations for food in parks for the summer meals program and be able to get food if you're under the age of 18. And so I think it's important also for us to remember about how other city departments are, how we have, you know, continue to be an inclusive city and a welcoming city and all the programs that we have.

We put in a slide last year for the mayor's office, they sent us a list of programs that were youth focused in our city.

And it was an extensive list.

That we got and all those programs, how they impact families and children and kids, no matter their immigration status.

And so I just wanted to highlight that because oftentimes we only look at the office where the title, right?

And we think, okay, we're only spending $6 million for this office.

But it's so integrated in our city and how we operate and how we provide services and who is impacted and stuff.

So I just wanted to highlight that because I think it's really important.

And thank you all for this presentation.

It's super helpful to understand the programming you offer, the services you offer, the hub for people.

When they contact you, you're able to direct them to different places.

So I just really appreciate that.

That overview and kind of just where we're at and continue to monitor what's going on.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

And there's a lot of overlap across the city and even in this committee with the Department of Education and Early Learning services, a lot of immigrant families and their kids and the kids, you know, utilize a lot of the education supports, including The college and apprenticeship opportunities available through the Promise Program that the city administers.

So there is definitely a lot of overlap and all the departments working together as one Seattle to make sure that our folks have services.

And that's why it's so critical to me that we have the accurate information so that we're able to tell people it's okay to come out.

And if there comes a point at which it's not, we will tell them that too.

But we definitely want to make sure, Council Member Hollingsworth, I know food is important to you, that folks are getting that and all their needs met.

So thank you so much, Director Muhammad and your team for being here today and your team who's not here today.

Director Muhammad and I meet regularly and we're always talking about these issues and we will keep you apprised.

And thank you for all that you're doing.

Thank you all so much for the time.

And if I could just say quickly to Council Member Hollingsworth, when those migrants were at the park in your district, actually the WOMAS project that I was just sharing, a lot of the families did get moved into hotels, and some of them are now self-sufficient and able to use their work authorization to have homes.

And those dollars came from the state, and so that was Really good regional partnership that was able to happen and coordination across the city.

To your point, there was a lot of departments that were involved and huge shout out to HSD that helped do that work.

But I know that also Department of Neighborhoods is presenting and director.

Chow is here, and she also does an incredible job in keeping our neighborhoods together and making sure that people, our immigrant refugee community members in all of these different neighborhoods in the city also know about the resources and information that they need to have.

And so there's just a lot of really great work that happens across the city.

I feel very proud to be able to serve in the position I do.

Thank you all, all the council members, for your leadership and for caring.

Thank you.

Thank you, Director Muhammad.

Thank you.

All right.

Clerk, can we please move on to the next agenda item?

Agenda item 13. I don't think your mic's on.

Pardon me.

Agenda item 13, the Department of Neighborhoods will be presenting on its community safety portfolio for briefing and discussion.

Alright, thank you.

This item has been read into the record.

Today we are joined by Director Jennifer Chow and Denise Colvin, Community Capacity and Safety Manager for the Department of Neighborhoods.

They will be giving us an update on their important community safety work.

Colleagues, again, please hold your questions until the end of the presentation.

It's 11.06.

This committee goes generally to 11.03.

But this is a quicker presentation, so I think we will get to it and be able to get to your questions.

But if you hold your questions, we'll be able to get through the presentation faster.

Director, please state your name for the record.

And Denise, please state your name for the record, and then you may begin.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Chair Rivera.

It will be a pretty informative meeting and we do plan to return to share in progress.

So there may not be many questions at first and that is okay.

My name is Jennifer Chow and I am the Director of the Department of Neighborhoods.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Denise Colvin.

I'm the Community Capacity and Safety Manager with Department of Neighborhoods.

Thank you, Council Chair Rivera and council members for having us here today.

We are excited to share with you an overview of the Department of Neighborhoods' community safety portfolio.

The work of the Department of Neighborhoods has always intersected with community safety, but our first entry point into formal community safety work began in the Chinatown International District, known as the beloved CID.

On July 23rd, 2015, International District Emergency Center, known as IDEC, founder Donny Chin was murdered.

Donnie's death and life had a tremendous impact on the CID community.

Yesterday, the community gathered on the 10th anniversary of his death to honor his legacy.

There were other city departments that were invited, including the Seattle Fire Department, who Donnie was very close to, and also our chief of police, and also our care chief Barton.

Donnie's murder sparked the CID community's advocacy to address public safety issues in their neighborhood.

Following the recommendations of the community-led CID Public Safety Task Force report released in 2016, the City Council added funding in both 2017 and 2018 to help address public safety issues in the CID.

The first CID Public Safety Coordinator started in 2019. This model established in the CID resonated with community and was soon followed by the addition of a public safety coordinator in South Park in 2020 and then Ballard in 2024 and Capitol Hill in 2025. Thank you to Councilmember Strauss for championing the public safety coordinators and increasing these contracts to 125,000 in 2025 and deep appreciation to the full City Council for their support of these investments.

Each public safety coordinator position was established to improve communication and coordination and create a system of connecting residents, businesses, and city departments to address crime and their perception of safety in their neighborhoods.

The public safety coordinators are each employed by a community-based organization so that it is rooted in community and partnered with the city.

With whom the Department of Neighborhoods contracts with on an annual basis, these are the four community-based organizations that support.

Chinatown International District Business Improvement Area, Seattle Neighborhood Group in South Park, Ballard Alliance, and the Greater Seattle Business Association in Capitol Hill.

Now I'm gonna hand it over to Denise to briefly share about each public safety coordinator so you get to be introduced to them.

Thank you.

The role of the CID Public Safety Coordinator, now known as the CID Community Safety Manager, has three focus areas.

They connect and engage community members by attending community meetings and events and sharing information and resources for public safety.

They survey businesses and residents to gather data on underreported hotspots, crime trends, and community barriers for reporting activities.

They support the CID Public Safety Council by preparing agendas, managing notifications, and taking notes.

They also support community safety education and professional development by researching and analyzing community safety resources and information and supporting learning opportunities for residents and business owners.

The South Park Public Safety Coordinator is responsible for developing relationships with the specific goal of addressing crime and community safety concerns.

They do this by identifying, communicating, and addressing public safety challenges in South Park through partnerships with neighborhood organizations, businesses, City of Seattle departments, and residents.

They organize and maintain community-led, place-based community safety projects.

They identify and track South Park community perceptions of public safety and crime patterns, and they support enhanced transparency to the community from the Seattle Police Department, City of Seattle departments, and elected officials.

The Ballard Safety Coordinator, now known as Ballard Community Hub Coordinator, facilitates relationships, outreach, and communication in the community by identifying and tracking crime patterns and community concerns of public safety, providing follow-up support to business owners and residents who have been impacted by criminal activity, including assistance with crime reporting, coordination with Seattle Police Department, the Seattle City Attorney's Office, and the King County Prosecutor's Office.

They manage the Ballard Safety Slack channel, a tool that's used to coordinate online with Ballard business owners, and they conduct twice weekly safety walks around the district.

Finally, we have our newest Public Safety Coordinator in Capitol Hill, who's Jen Carl.

The Capitol Hill Public Safety Coordinator has just reached its six-month milestone.

This contract is managed by the Greater Seattle Business Association, and they are using the Public Safety Coordinator Model established in CID, South Park, and Ballard as a blueprint to build a body of work that is tailored to the distinct needs of their community.

Thank you, Denise.

The Department of Neighborhood also holds two broader contracts outside the Public Safety Coordinator contracts that provide support to community-led safety initiatives in key neighborhoods.

The first is Rainier Beach, a beautiful safe place for youth.

This is an innovative community-led, placed-based youth crime prevention and intervention initiative focused on five hotspot locations in the Rainier Beach neighborhood.

The goal is to reduce youth victimization and crime by holistically addressing placed-based causes at these hotspots through non-arrest strategies.

Their approach is based on the research indicating that crime involving youth is highly concentrated in small geographic areas or hotspots, such as street segments within larger areas.

This initiative has received ongoing funding from the General Fund and was transferred from the Seattle Human Services Department to the Department of Neighborhoods in 2020. The Rainier Beach A Beautiful Safe Place for Youth Coalition consists of a dedicated core team in collaboration of the Department of Neighborhoods, Seattle Neighborhood Group, Rainier Beach Action Coalition, and Research Partners Seattle University.

The other community safety contract held by the Department of Neighborhoods is the FODEP A Beautiful Neighborhood Initiative.

The Department of Neighborhoods was chosen by community partners to work on this community-led effort in partnership with Friends of Little Saigon and the Seattle Police Department.

The Seattle Police Foundation, SPD, and CARE was a huge contributor to funding this community-led initiative.

Much like Rainier Beach, a beautiful safe place for youth, FODEP centers on a place-based problem-solving approach, which builds local partnerships, trust, and community resources to implement place-based solutions.

The first phase of deliverables for the initiative were centered on community outreach and engagement, research and data-driven problem-solving, community task force training and workshops, development of Little Saigon safety plan and implementation plan.

That was in 2024. 25, as they go into the second phase, we recently secured additional grant funding in partnership with the Seattle Police Department that will move FODEP into its implementation phase in collaboration with other city departments and local community partners.

In addition to the public safety coordinators and those additional contracts, in collaboration with the mayor's office, the Department of Neighborhoods has been the convener of the departments that do outreach and engagement focused on community safety and crime prevention.

The intent is that we are working together internally to inventory and better coordinate our community outreach and engagement roles and responsibilities among departments.

Something the community has asked for is that we are internally coordinated so that when we go out to community they do see us as one and that we are more streamlined and our services are more seamless to them.

The Community Safety and Outreach Engagement IDT is using the CID as the first neighborhood to inventory and assess our outreach and engagement to do better communication, coordination, and leverage much-needed resources.

This goal is to be used as a model for expanding this approach to other communities and clarifying roles and responsibilities among city departments.

And some of the city departments are listed there.

We will continue the IDT until we figure out how to coordinate our outreach and engagement for community safety.

As you can see, the Department of Neighborhood's community safety work continues to expand.

In 2024, we brought on a Mayor's Fellow, Jalen Antoine, to analyze and make recommendations for improving this work.

One of Jalen's key recommendations was that we invest in a dedicated position to oversee our growing community safety portfolio.

We took Jalen's advice, and in 2025, we made the decision to repurpose a strategic advisor role to support this work.

This new position titled Community Capacity and Safety Manager, now filled by Denise Colvin, will bring strategy, alignment, and an interdepartmental approach to our entire community safety portfolio.

We recognize the strong commitment and trust that community has given the Department of Neighborhoods to oversee this community safety work.

This position will help us to continue to build that trust through increased accountability and engagement while advancing community-led and culturally responsive services that lead to increased community safety.

In my new role as the Community Capacity and Safety Manager, I will be creating a unified approach to community safety across interdepartmental teams, leading the development of a framework, strategies, and communication plan for Department of Neighborhood's community safety portfolio.

I'll also provide guidance, strategy, and leadership to our community safety contracts and partners.

I will also design and implement a model that builds community capacity to improve public health and safety.

Our overarching goal with all this work is to be a strategic partner with community to ensure that community-identified data and solutions are part of the city's larger framework for addressing public safety issues.

And I just want to say before we end, Denise has only been here for a month, so we thank you so much for allowing her to be with me and this opportunity to share our portfolio.

So as we continue to build for the future and focus on 2026 priorities, we will continue to strengthen interdepartmental coordination across city departments, implement our community capacity and safety model in other neighborhoods, expand regional partnerships and investments, and develop and track clear metrics of increased safety and wellbeing in collaboration with the innovation and performance team in the mayor's office to make sure again that we have a citywide approach and that we are all aligned and coordinated.

I know this is a broad overview of our community safety portfolio and there is still much work to be done to expand these efforts into other neighborhoods.

We appreciate the opportunity to share the collective work and investments we are making to create a city where everyone is safe and thriving in every community.

We also look forward to returning to council in the future to share our progress.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Director Chow.

Colleagues, I really wanted to give Don an opportunity to show all their Important work that they do with in partnership with community to keep neighborhoods, their neighborhoods safe.

So this is done partnering with community in those neighborhoods to come up with solutions towards some of the public safety challenges.

And it's really been an important piece to the city's public safety work.

And really, it was an opportunity to have them I'll point that out.

Councilmember Solomon, I see you have a question.

Yes, thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Quickly, the safety coordinators that you have, are those full-time positions?

Yes, they are.

Okay.

I was just seeing that Jennifer Carr was there, so you posed her from the school district then, didn't you?

I did not get to meet Jen Carl.

Denise has had a chance to meet with her, but yes, she's from the community and Capitol area, so you are probably familiar, Councilmember Salomon, of who she is.

Yes.

The other question, looking at the work you're doing, you're talking about the partnerships.

I know that in my previous role, of course, you have close working relationship with Yoon and Alvin and the whole crew.

So are your public safety folks coordinating with the crime prevention coordinators that are precinct-based, or are you looking at coordinating at a level above?

So currently right now it's really neighborhood based in partnership with the other city departments.

So some are more connected to SPD and some are more connected to the precinct.

We are looking at every, cause every neighborhood has their different needs.

But there is obviously commonality and safety, but it is coordinated right now individually based on neighborhoods.

Okay, cool.

I would just encourage you to have that partnership because again, they're on the ground, they're doing similar work.

And it makes sense that there's a partnership between you all.

Lastly, as you're looking at your new role as overseeing this body and, you know, having that partnership with SPD, just encouraging you to maybe reach out to Dr. Lee Hunt over at SPD because he's a big proponent of a strategy called safe growth, which really involves, you know, how do you involve neighborhoods in promoting safety overall?

So it might be worth having that conversation.

So just offering that as a suggestion.

No, that's a great suggestion, Councilmember Salomon, because I think Chief Barnes will be okay with me sharing the sneak peek of our partnership with SPD on a community C-STAT in partnership with Dr. Hunt.

So the Department of Neighborhoods will be working closely with SPD to provide community forums that will be coming up.

So that's a sneak peek for you all for now, just to share that that will be coming on board.

Thank you much.

Sorry, Councilmember Salomon.

Apologies, didn't mean to interrupt you.

I was done.

Okay.

The department does partner with SPD.

And so this is really, I'm just trying to highlight the piece that they do with community, identifying together with community needs, but that is not at the exclusion of the work that SPD is doing as well.

And I know you all partner as part of this one Seattle piece.

So thank you.

Councilmember Hollingsworth, I see you have a question.

Yes, thank you.

Yes, thank you, Chair.

Thank you all for being here.

Thank you, Director Chow, and thank you, Denise, for your work.

And then also, you know, showing us how you all have built up and continue to shepherd this program with safety coordinators.

I was happy that we were able to secure that through the budget process for Capitol Hill last year.

I think the GSBA has been doing a great job and you all with Jen's phenomenal on the Hill and I know that's one of the things people had asked about and then a rollout of ambassadors too and then you all helping us navigate a lot of the If a neighborhood doesn't have a BIA, where does it live?

And which group is going to be responsible for it?

And so just really appreciate you all assistance with that.

And then also, I don't think a lot of people understand how integrated the Department of Neighborhoods is, especially with safety.

And a lot of people, either they might not fill out a police report, or they don't know where to go, or they don't know how to contact the fire department.

It might be a language barrier.

Us at the city, we always say, oh we blasted it out on social media or on Twitter or certain things and there's a lot of working class people who just don't have access to technology or don't know what's going on and you all meet people where they are.

And I think that's really important to understand is that there are different levels and engagement of communication that you all do.

It could be a simple phone call.

It could be a simple community meeting that you all show up.

It could be where you all are at some pickleball tournament and you're talking to folks.

I've seen you all everywhere.

And I think that is really important for people to understand that there is a front porch of city government.

And it often, besides councils, it often are department of neighborhoods.

Because you are a lot of the connective tissue between residents when it can seem so cumbersome of the city government and what we do.

And you are able for people to palletize and digest A lot of the city departments and numbers and talk to this person and they'll laugh.

Sometimes people don't understand the difference between a parks department garbage can and one at the metro bus stop.

You know, I didn't understand that those were different.

So you all help with a lot of the safety issues that are going on, especially on Capitol Hill and just being there and present.

And then also, last but not least, and I'm sorry, Chair, I was going along with my comments.

Last but not least, I think what's also important too is that sometimes people, you all actually like, you know, you all help listen to folks on that relatable level and might not give them an answer right then and there, but you also recognize, especially if someone has a safety problem, you're like, hey, we fully understand and you give them that customer service.

So I just wanted to say thank you and kudos and really appreciate the presentations today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Vice Chair Rink.

Thank you, Chair Rivera, and thank you both for today's presentation.

Denise, welcome.

I hope it's been a good month so far.

And welcome to committee.

And I wanted to thank you, not just for the work that you do, but also by starting off today's presentation in recognition of Donny Chin, understanding that community had a memorial yesterday outside of Wing Luke, recognizing his tragic death and unsolved murder.

So I wanna thank you for starting off on that important note.

Understanding what it means for community.

And also just voice my support for this broad portfolio of work and the importance of having a multitude of approaches to community safety.

I know I had the pleasure of joining alongside Department of Neighborhoods for the FODEP event a couple months back.

And my only question for today is just what comes next with that program?

For the listening public, this was just a fantastically run event in so many ways by really Not only bringing together the full community, but also taking time to have tables centered with different kinds of stakeholder groups to focus on and talk through specific kinds of strategies for addressing community needs.

And I think that that approach really was meaningful.

And it was just a very engaging activity too by having community members weigh in on strategies they would like to see.

While also taking time to use little like stickies to like add weight to specific kind of strategies they really want to see.

And so whether you can answer today or offline as a follow up today's session, I would love to know what comes next for that effort.

Because I saw a lot of ideas for action.

And I know some of those actions would need to also be taken up by this body.

And so I'm eager to know what does community want to see this body take up in response to the findings of that FODAP session.

Yes, Council Member Ring, thank you so much for your question.

I know that Denise and a couple of the team members were able to attend that session a few months ago, and I know that they are looking at what priorities they are going to be implementing and coming back to ask the city with their request.

So we will make sure that we are connected to this committee and to Chair Rivera and to this team to let you know in advance as they are preparing their ask for what's next for implementation.

Fabulous.

I'm so pleased to hear that.

I just want to make sure we're taking up action as a response to that really, you know, again, amazing community event.

So thank you.

I look forward to it.

And thank you for the time, Chair.

Thank you, Vice Chair Rink.

And this is another instance.

I said this about OIRA, but Don is another example of we, you know, a lot of people talk about doing and Don is doing.

And so I'm so happy that Denise is here working with the coordinators and we will follow up.

This was a pre, I really thought it was important that folks know what Don was working on in this space and then they'll at a later point come back and give an update and as part of that we can add This particular question you had, Vice Chair.

Council Member Solomon, is that a new hand?

Yes, it is.

Okay.

Okay, so not a question, but just actually offering some historical perspective.

The current crime prevention coordinator cohort is in the police department.

When the crime prevention program in the city first started, it was housed in the Department of Neighborhoods.

And it was focused on burglary prevention.

So there is a long history of Department of Neighborhoods being in that public safety space.

And again, in my former role, I find it just kind of cool that We were in neighborhoods before we were in the police department.

And so that partnership goes back a long way.

Let's just say we're part of the same family tree.

So I wanted to make that acknowledgement for folks who may not know that in the early 70s, the work I used to do actually started in the Department of Neighborhoods.

Thank you for that, Councilmember Salomon.

Thank you, Councilmember Salomon.

All right.

Before we conclude here, I do want to say, give a shout out to the Department of Neighborhoods.

They are the 2025 All-America City Award winner.

So I wanted to give that recognition.

This is a big deal, actually.

And so I really want to thank you and your team for all the hard work that they do.

And it shows when you get these types of awards, the recognition is there.

And I am so proud of you.

So thank you.

And thank you for your leadership, Director Chow.

I really enjoy working with you and your department.

So this is a proud moment for you all.

And I understand there's a celebration on July 29th, colleagues, if you're able to attend.

Um, at 11 AM at the Bertha Knight Landis Room to celebrate this great achievement for the department and our folks that work there.

So wanted to say that.

All right.

Um, I also, uh, all right.

Let's see.

Seeing, okay.

Seeing no further questions.

This concludes July 24th, 2025 meeting of the library's education.

and Neighborhoods Committee.

Council Member Hollingsworth, you promised a joke at the end of the meeting.

We're ready.

I did.

I did.

I did.

I did, Chair.

Okay.

Why did the tomato blush and go red?

Why?

Because it saw the salad dressing.

Oh, pa-dum-pump.

Love it.

Thank you.

All right.

Dad jokes.

Dad jokes.

Council member Hollingsworth loves them.

So do we.

So do I.

Our next committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 11th, 2025 at 9.30 a.m.

I thank you for being here.

If there's no further business, this meeting will adjourn.

All right.

Seeing no further business, it's 11.32 a.m.

and this meeting is adjourned.