Editor’s note: King County Local Services is checking in with some of the winners of the first Participatory Budgeting vote to see how the funding – which the county’s new process made possible by giving voters an opportunity to choose how funds are spent in their neighborhoods – has helped Click on the photo below to view the story on Local Services Instagram page.
Grant winner: White Center Heights Elementary School
Amount: $25,000
Project: Funding for bilingual staff members (a.k.a., “Bilingual Heroes”) at its Family Resource Center to support families by providing communication in Somali, Vietnamese, and Spanish; capacity building; resource center supplies.
Reason funds are important: “We definitely wouldn’t have language lessons,” says Shoshanna Cohen, S.T.E.A.M. Specialist who helped organize and create the Family Resource Center at White Center Heights Elementary School. “We have such wonderful families that want to volunteer their time … but when I can say, ‘I have money for you to be here, to be a leader,’ they take it very seriously and that creates continuity in the program. Without the funds, we definitely would not be running the Family Resource Center.”
Participatory Budgeting made it possible. Reaction?: “It was a fabulous feeling when we found out we got the grant funds. It’s the only reason why we’re still going. And families are now so much more behind it because they see the success.”
Anything else?: “The White Center Community Development Association has been an incredible partner in this whole experience. They took on the financial and contract responsibilities so that I was able to find ‘Bilingual Heroes’ and the workers for the Family Resource Center. They’ve also spent a lot of volunteer time here, helping us organize, helping us build it. I am extremely grateful to them as well.”
King County Local 