King County is awarding more than $100,000 in grants to dozens of volunteer-led community events and projects in its unincorporated areas through the Alan M. Painter Grant Program.
Community groups in unincorporated King County competed for the grants, which range between $500 and $4,000 each. Applicants had to match at least one quarter of the total cost of their projects, and the projects had to be accessible to all unincorporated residents, regardless of race, income, or language.
This year’s successful applicants include:
- The Alajawan Brown Foundation — backpacks and school supplies giveaway, community family reunion, food insecurities and Thanksgiving Day events
- Fall City Community Association – signage for community engagement events
- Sammamish Valley Alliance – valley farm celebration/education events
The full list of award winners is below:
Engaging community
These grants support 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
The competitive grants will help community organizations in each of King County’s Community Service Areas:
Southeast King County, Snoqualmie Valley/Northeast King County, Vashon-Maury Island, Bear Creek/Sammamish, Four Creeks/Tiger Mountain, Greater Maple Valley/Cedar River, and West King County (including Skyway, North Highline, East Renton, East Federal Way, and Fairwood).
About the Alan M. Painter Grant Program
In 2021, 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.
Painter lost his brief battle with cancer last year.
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 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 Local 
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