[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6156175,"mediaKeyId","5471407-2b44193532c69f4ca372ba31d9b33b37","parentId",5471407,"title","Department of Neighborhoods describes neighborhood-based community safety program and new coordinator role","audioSeconds",3013,"startMs",3370000,"endMs",6383000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5471407-2b44193532c69f4ca372ba31d9b33b37&start=3370&end=6383","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5471407-2b44193532c69f4ca372ba31d9b33b37/thumbnail_3370000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6156175/Seattle/King-County/Washington/Department-of-Neighborhoods-describes-neighborhood-based-community-safety-program-and-new-coordinator-role","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6156175-2353b029d98ec4e3545a6bd19066490f/orig.mp4?Expires=1771158881&Signature=K4bDrFlGdt6CvGJibao1q1moMIukdu2tZyde43mCQZ6mpx4gVakBLbRQM0eqyLxmhdleWKVXr8vppkvCsKOfplGKyP4Jtv4c576GdwVOvCTUPsoRPnlEE6xSWW4nNFLmzWgIPj1YrAPvHemYue6xu85rP8blkXU4QNW1UJBPD71GY9SdMEVzihvSEFnd0jioZsMiRiyobW7PliyKO4e2OsffcfT99pVuvUH1ExcmpEPYebgEN~j-0iZwwABbqDl1A9LGPap~EZbqqnAaviClepp7Hd5Po0gqFNV8oy4n9fZV5Yp9PRiAHHRLxUcGJZiJBD4SKBuIAUtH9bO7~Kow9g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Seattle City, WA","date","2025-07-25T08:53:06.36Z","article","Jennifer Chow, director of the Department of Neighborhoods, and Denise Colvin, the department's newly named community capacity and safety manager, briefed the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee on July 24 about a city-supported, community-led portfolio of neighborhood safety projects.
Chow said the department's formal safety work began after the 2015 murder of Donnie Chin in the Chinatown-International District and the CID public-safety task force report released in February 2016; the city added funding in 2017 and 2018 and contracted the first CID public-safety coordinator in February 2019.
The department described four contracted public-safety coordinator positions that are embedded in community-based organizations: the Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area (CID community safety manager), Seattle Neighborhood Group in South Park, Ballard Alliance in Ballard, and the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) in Capitol Hill. Each coordinator, the department said, connects residents and businesses to city services, surveys under-reported hotspots, supports community safety education, and helps manage neighborhood task forces.
Chow said, “Donnie's death and life had a tremendous impact on the CID community.” She noted the CID model's expansion to other neighborhoods and thanked council members who supported a 2025 increase to contracts, raising coordinator contracts to $125,000 in some cases.
The Department of Neighborhoods also described two place-based initiatives: Rainier Beach's \"A Beautiful Safe Place for Youth,\" a youth-focused intervention program targeting five hot-spot locations through non-arrest strategies; and the Friends of Little Saigon's (FODEP) safety initiative, a community-led project that completed outreach and planning in 2024 and is moving into implementation with additional grant support in 2025.
Denise Colvin, who filled a repurposed strategic-adviser role in February 2025, said she will \"create a unified approach to community safety across interdepartmental teams,\" provide strategy and guidance to contractors, and design models that build community capacity to improve public health and safety.
Council members asked about coordination with Seattle Police Department precinct-based crime-prevention coordinators and about how the department is tracking outcomes; staff said neighborhood needs vary and that the department will continue an interdepartmental team to inventory outreach and better coordinate communications and services for neighborhoods.
The department said it will continue to expand the model into additional neighborhoods, strengthen internal departmental coordination, pursue regional partnerships, and develop metrics in partnership with the mayor's innovation and performance team. No formal council action was requested at the briefing; the department said it will return with progress reports and specific implementation requests as projects move from planning into execution.
The presentation listed community partners and contractors by neighborhood and described a governance model that keeps coordinators employed by community organizations to maintain local trust while coordinating with city departments.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Libraries, Education & Neighborhoods Committee 7/24/2025","oneSentenceSummary","Jennifer Chow, director of the Department of Neighborhoods, and Denise Colvin, the department's newly named community capacity and safety manager, briefed the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee on July 24 about a city-supported, community-led portfolio of neighborhood safety projects.","taxTitle","Seattle, King County, Washington","taxId",2543,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6156180,"Seattle OIRA outlines legal, language and workforce supports for immigrants and refugees",2023,1545000,3568000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5471407-2b44193532c69f4ca372ba31d9b33b37&start=1545&end=3568","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5471407-2b44193532c69f4ca372ba31d9b33b37/thumbnail_1545000.jpg","/articles/6156180/Seattle/King-County/Washington/Seattle-OIRA-outlines-legal-language-and-workforce-supports-for-immigrants-and-refugees","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6156180-f8e91777ea2105053363d476e6fef266/orig.mp4?Expires=1771158881&Signature=Fm4pfrY5qVKxaGP~wq7K6EN0SVE7j9H~RKw5TWGUFVMxzdOMZA-j9EjNWK7voP2m0vRGmY-qDdODqLmh~AjeUy4H6N59drY2onBB43ivt9ef8qA3M3GwAqjmfR2f1VctfdudvGwRBzNysQRLotRfOt9WpRw7f7MRds2mNyLzIu2KXlG3Ka76tomCTkqN0~iaQU9LAKYCj7diUT2TMAy3lke79hPakxthQREBE8aE2XBbsYgisUDdWTq-dHetU8Y1WD8ou~-VpKC3iCH46jeQROMdz9c3MJZUAlZdCnWV96Yi5oWcJcf0xqv~pmJXWzEdIdWA7pqB-IM2hD1YpWECQQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Hamdi Mohammed, director of the city's Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, told the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee on July 24 that OIRA is expanding programs to help immigrant and refugee residents access legal services, language assistance and job training.
The briefing centered on OIRA's rapid-response, legal-defense, citizenship, language-access and Ready-to-Work efforts and included program metrics, funding sources and requests for pro bono legal support and additional partnerships.
The update matters because federal policy change and media coverage, OIRA said, have produced a chilling effect that can keep people from getting food, health care, schooling and other city services; the office described itself as a local source of accurate, timely information and coordination.
Mohammed told the committee, “We are here to show how we are listening as a city, how we're acting and protecting access to opportunities.” She said OIRA has about 12 staff and a budget of roughly $6,400,000, primarily from the general fund with some state grants and payroll-expense-tax revenue, and that the office is pursuing additional state and philanthropic funding.
On enforcement and rapid response, Mohammed said statewide calls to the deportation-defense hotline tracked by partners numbered 739; 109 calls were from Seattle and eight were verified as ICE activity inside the city limits. She added, \"the short answer to that is no\" when asked whether large-scale ICE raids like those reported in other cities were taking place across Seattle.
OIRA gave the committee multiple program metrics it said demonstrate reach and outcomes: its rapid-response grantee network ran seven know-your-rights events in the first quarter that reached about 170 participants and provided roughly 191 hours of legal consultation that assisted about 83 individuals. Two larger information sessions reached about 475 people. OIRA's legal-defense contractors provided, in one recent reporting period, about 215 people full legal representation per quarter and delivered limited services to roughly 295 additional people; partners helped about 82 people obtain work authorization and helped 52 people secure an immigration status. Staff said partners filed about 148 relief requests and attended about 38 immigration-court hearings.
On detention and court trends, OIRA relayed data from the Northwest Immigrants' Rights Project (NERP) showing about 25 people per month from King County were being transferred to the Tacoma Detention Center; many arrests, the office said, occur after immigration-court hearings rather than in-home raids. Mohammed said NERP data showed 45 people were detained after attending hearings at the Seattle immigration court, 24 of whom went to detention; only two of those 45 opted to appeal, she said.
OIRA described other programs it runs or funds: a citizenship program that it said supported more than 1,000 community members in 2024 and helped nearly 700 applications reach filing with professional support; more than 7,000 hours of English and civics instruction and roughly 560 mock interviews. Since the program's launch, OIRA said it has assisted roughly 32,000 residents and helped submit about 16,000 citizenship applications; the office estimated the resulting increases in income from naturalization translate to millions flowing back into the local economy.
The Ready-to-Work program, OIRA said, served more than 1,000 adult learners and recently launched a childcare-focused cohort to train workers for in-demand childcare jobs; the office reported quarterly cohorts of roughly 200 participants with about 41 percent either actively seeking work or finding jobs. Language-access work, the director said, is grounded in federal requirements under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and involves about 50 independent community translators; city staff received more than 270 trainings in 2024 and the office supports centralized translation systems used across departments.
Mohammed described WAMAS (the state Migrant and Asylum Seeker Support program) operations that the city is supporting: since July 1 the program has used state funds to house about 302 people (more than 100 families), she said, noting many participants later obtain work authorization and transition off emergency assistance.
Committee members asked about interpreter availability for community events, the vulnerability of nonprofit partners to federal funding cuts, staff training continuity and whether landlords should be educated about requests for tenant information. Mohammed and her staff said OIRA can help connect council offices and departments to translators, is working with partners to identify alternative revenue sources and regional coordination, and is pursuing citywide training pathways so that knowledge persists through staff turnover.
Chair Maritza Rivera thanked the director and staff for the briefing and said the committee and city will continue to rely on OIRA data and outreach to reduce fear and keep residents accessing services.
OIRA did not ask the committee to take immediate legislative action; the office asked council members to amplify requests for pro bono attorneys and community legal services and to refer constituents to the hotline and partner organizations named during the presentation. The office said it will continue regular reporting and return with further data on partner capacity and program demand.
For more information, OIRA listed referral and partner organizations during the presentation and encouraged attorneys to volunteer with local pro bono efforts.","The Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs told the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee on July 24 that it is expanding rapid-response legal outreach, citizenship assistance, language access and job-readiness programs to reduce fear in immigrant communities amid shifting federal immigration policy.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6156171,"Committee confirms multiple preservation and Pike Place Market appointments; public comment praises Market's car closure",661,139000,800000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5471407-2b44193532c69f4ca372ba31d9b33b37&start=139&end=800","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5471407-2b44193532c69f4ca372ba31d9b33b37/thumbnail_139000.jpg","/articles/6156171/Seattle/King-County/Washington/Committee-confirms-multiple-preservation-and-Pike-Place-Market-appointments-public-comment-praises-Markets-car-closure","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6156171-41429d27ded348877a7bf475255eed98/orig.mp4?Expires=1771158881&Signature=mfvkYDlmB3y3DG5xjhQ-F8QDH1bHklULhtcQ5yEurKi~jWdehC5~Cbn-jtFtiFUPwQmKYsE7LEWFt5sUH2BH8p3DURaImnGI1luG6yKHg73-LqwJOy0luUSBhfZT4r8rcKusMuZ7RjJDZlqLl2Ng7d8Fy-9uAFbOX9v~d5Dvikj8wuB3Kn5E5uaGiZOgqhLX6JEjVaQYNulzUMsgtNkoq4VzyG57Mv-bDTQUpFhobBBXWdoZMQ8iUsrq9Hncge2D40rV135MsrFHEmIOiDmTu1deKvE8WXXUaXDKy~-OprMoH9e~Jrj6mmFVOWS9dH-ydYdvXX4ACoz8kmiY7piuCQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee on July 24 moved unanimously to recommend several appointments and reappointments to Historic Seattle, the Pike Place Market Historical Commission, the Landmarks Preservation Board and the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority; recommendations will be forwarded to the full City Council on July 29 for final confirmation.
The committee recorded the clerk's agenda entries and biographical summaries and then voted 4-0 to forward the nominations. Council Chair Maritza Rivera moved the first confirmation motions; a second was recorded but not identified by name in the transcript. Roll-call votes were: Council Member Hollingsworth Yes; Council Member Solomon Aye; Vice Chair Rink Yes; Chair Rivera Aye.
Appointments read into the record included (as clerk announced): Alastair Soretti, Jonathan Moore and Grama D Wong to the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council for terms to Nov. 30, 2027. The committee then moved and voted to recommend confirmation and forwarded the recommendation to the July 29 council meeting.
The clerk also read appointments to the Pike Place Market Historical Commission (items 4\t6): Alex Apostolopoulos, Pfeiffer Blecker and Olivia Vermaque (terms to Dec. 1, 2026) and reappointments including two nominees to terms ending Dec. 1, 2027. The committee again voted 4-0 to forward those recommendations.
The committee recommended confirmation of two reappointments to the Landmarks Preservation Board (Becca Pheasant Reese and Catherine Bridal) for terms to Aug. 14, 2028, and recommended confirmation of the reappointment of Sujan Bertram to the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council for a term to June 30, 2027; all recommendations were forwarded to the July 29 City Council meeting.
During the hybrid public comment period the committee heard two remote speakers. Remote speaker Alberto Alvarez praised a recent closure of a Pike Place Market parking well to vehicular traffic, saying the change has increased pedestrian activity and that many business owners' early objections proved overstated. Alvarez said, “So that's really worked out. There's been a lot more foot traffic activity, and even people just be able to get off the bus and, you know, it's like you've seen pictures, you've seen videos.” He suggested the Market's pedestrian-first design could inform similar changes in other neighborhoods.
Another remote speaker, David Haines, criticized public-safety conditions near the University District and in libraries and used the public-comment time to challenge elected officials' responses to safety and homeless encampments; the clerk reminded him that comments should relate to the committee's purview. The committeeclosed the public comment period before proceeding to business.
No policy votes or ordinance actions related to preservation or market management were taken at the committee; the items were confirmation recommendations that will be considered by the full City Council on July 29.","The Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee on July 24 voted 4-0 to recommend confirmation of appointments and reappointments to preservation and market boards and commissions; remote public comment included praise for the closure of a Pike Place Market parking area to vehicles and calls for similar street changes elsewhere.","actionData","errors"]

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Department of Neighborhoods describes neighborhood-based community safety program and new coordinator role

Seattle OIRA outlines legal, language and workforce supports for immigrants and refugees

Committee confirms multiple preservation and Pike Place Market appointments; public comment praises Market's car closure