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CountyBest Starts for Kids officials brief Snoqualmie council on levy-funded programs and local awards
Summary
Best Starts for Kids co-leads gave the Snoqualmie City Council a presentation on the voter-approved King County levy, highlighted 2023 program metrics for Snoqualmie and the Snoqualmie Valley, and outlined upcoming funding rounds and data resources.
Best Starts for Kids co-leaders Jessica Tallinar Cafferty and Jamila Jones told the Snoqualmie City Council on July 14 that the county's voter-approved Best Starts for Kids levy is midterm and continues to fund promotion, prevention, early intervention and systems-level work to support children and families. The presenters said the program partners with community organizations and is emphasizing racial equity and community-driven investments.
The briefing matters because Best Starts for Kids is funded by a county property-tax levy that allocates substantial multi-year resources across King County and directly supports programs in Snoqualmie and the Snoqualmie Valley. Council members heard how levy-funded work ties to local needs for housing supports, mental-health access, flexible services and child-care capacity.
Cafferty said Best Starts for Kids is a six-year, voter-approved levy and that the second levy round is currently under way. She described the program's four pillars as promotion, prevention, early intervention and systems and policy change and said staff are centering community expertise when designing and awarding grants. "We really do try to center our communities and community partners that are rooted and grounded within their communities and honor the fact that they are the experts of what is needed," she said. Jones added that Best Starts seeks to move work upstream so fewer families need crisis-level services.
Presenters provided 2023 figures and said they would deliver updated 2024 data to council when the county's 2024 annual report posts. According to the presentation, since the levy renewal in 2022 the levy totals about $880,000,000 across King County over six years. The presenters said Best Starts partners reached more than 200,000 children, young people, families and community members through 336 community-based organizations operating 591 programs countywide in 2023.
Cafferty and Jones said Best Starts awarded $9,500,000 in 2023 to organizations serving people in the city of Snoqualmie and that the program awarded about $35,200,000 to projects in District 3 (county district figures were presented by district). They said awards to individual partners ranged from small mini-grants around $5,000 up to larger awards of about $1,100,000 for intensive early supports and that the county also added child-care subsidies, a wage boost for child-care providers and capital investments in the second levy round.
Council members asked about district-level distribution and color-coded maps the presenters used to show where need and funding density overlap; the presenters said the county's child opportunity index was one tool they use to target funds. Jones said an updated data dashboard and a community "year in review" report would go live the day after the presentation and that the dashboard can be queried by ZIP code, region and program area.
The presentation closed with upcoming grant opportunities and outreach: a youth-led "Youth Healing Project" posting on July 17, a Help Me Grow request for proposals and workforce development mini-grants in August, and an automated data dashboard link to be supplied to council. The presenters invited council and residents to view district-level detail and to contact Best Starts for follow-up.
The presenters emphasized that the 2023 figures in their slides are historical and that they will provide updated 2024 numbers when the county report posts. No formal council action or vote occurred on the presentation.
