It’s fitting that the grant program Alan Painter was so passionate about now bears his name.
Earlier this year, the King County Council approved renaming the Community Service Area Grant Program officially to the “Alan M. Painter Grant Program” as a tribute to his passion for the community.
The grants program – administered by King County Local Services – is one of the legacies of Painter, whom Executive Dow Constantine named Community Service Area Program Manager in 2012. At the time, the CSA program was part of King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, where Painter led the program for many years.
Before being named CSA Program Manager, Painter had previously advised the Executive on human services, health, and housing policy, and was a former director of the Department of Human Services for the City of Seattle.
Painter lost his brief battle with cancer earlier this year.
The grant program that bears his name supports projects that advance the King County Strategic Plan and achieve at least one of the following goals:
- Promote the engagement of unincorporated area residents in community or civic activities
- Educate local residents about issues that affect them
- Implement a community enhancement project
- Identify and gather community needs and priorities
- Meet King County’s equity and social justice goals of increasing fairness and opportunity for all people, particularly people of color and those with low incomes and/or limited English proficiency
Painter retired in 2019 and his efforts became a blueprint for Local Services, which assumed responsibility of the grants program when it began operations that same year.
King County has awarded nearly $750,000 in grant money to these organizations. In 2021, community groups in the unincorporated areas competed for a total of $90,000 in grants, with awards ranging from $500 and $4,000 each.
King County Local 
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