It’s time for another King County Department of Local Services Community Spotlight! Today, we highlight Cherryl Jackson-Williams with The Dare2Be Project and coordinator for this Saturday’s Skyway Juneteenth Celebration and Festival. The annual event draws hundreds from across the unincorporated community. Organizers – specially youth – work and plan to make sure the event is free, and the community is not limited by “fiscal barriers.”

The event was also one of the efforts chose by community members to receive funding as part of King County’s Participatory Budgeting Program. Last year, the community chose to dedicate $110,000 to fund Dare2Be – the organization that Jackson-Williams belongs to – to support a free, community-centered event that honors African American heritage and promotes cultural pride through connection, education, and empowerment. The event includes a youth job fair, diverse entertainment, free bags of groceries, and “resource zones,” and it serves the intersectional needs of more than 1,000 attendees, fostering a strong, united community.

Please join the Department of Local Services at the 2025 Skyway Juneteenth Celebration and Festival, on Saturday, June 14, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Campbell Hill Elementary School, 6418 South 124th St.

About Juneteenth

Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 that Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas, with word that the Civil War had ended and that enslaved Africans were now free. Juneteenth became an official holiday for King County employees in 2022.

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, and is an opportunity to reflect on and learn about our nation’s history, Black history, our shared history. It is a time to celebrate the vital contributions that Black and African Americans have made – and continue to make – to this country. It is an opportunity to learn from some of the most shameful aspects of our past as we work to create a better future.