About DCHS
Department of Community and Human Services
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At the King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS), we manage a range of programs and services to help our county's most vulnerable residents and strengthen our communities.
We believe in working as one team that solves problems—striving to be customer-focused and an organization that drives for the best results. Our department envisions a welcoming community that is racially just because the field of human services exists to undo and mitigate unfair structures.
We seek to lead the way by working as respectful and responsible stewards for our community. DCHS has five divisions in the department that help offer much-needed resources for our residents. For most work, we contract with our trusted network of community-based agencies to provide direct services.
Our Mission
Provide equitable opportunities for people to be healthy, happy, self-reliant and connected to community.
Our Vision
The Department of Community and Human Services supports and maintains vital communities, families and individuals.
How Our Department is Structured
Our Five Divisions
Adult Services Division
ASD focuses on adult education and employment; civil legal aid; older adult services; service members and military families; survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault and trafficking; and the King County Veterans Program, which includes several unique services in itself.
Division Director: Scarlett Aldebot-Green
Behavioral Health and Recovery Division
BHRD focuses on crisis response and investigation for involuntary commitment; mental health and substance use disorder, intervention, prevention and treatment; and services to support recovery.
Division Director: Kelli Nomura
Children, Youth and Young Adults Division
CYYAD focuses on promotion, prevention, and early intervention for children and youth ages 5 to 24; and life, academic, and employment skills for young people.
Division Director: Sheila Capestany
Developmental Disabilities and Early Childhood Supports Division
DDECSD focuses on early intervention for infants and toddlers with developmental delays; employment services for people with developmental disabilities; healthy development for children birth to age five; infant mental health; and support services for families of people with disabilities.
Division Director: Magan Cromar
Housing, Homelessness and Community Development Division
HHCDD focuses on community development; creating and preserving affordable and special needs housing, housing repair programs, services and shelter for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Division Director: Mark Ellerbrook
Initiatives that Provide Support
Best Starts for Kids
BSK is considered the most comprehensive approach to child development in the nation. Best Starts for Kids invests an average of $65 million per year to support King County families and children so that babies are born healthy, children thrive, and young people grow into happy, healthy adults.
Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy
VSHSL connects servicemembers and veterans, residents age 55 or older, and vulnerable populations to programs and services that help them live healthy, productive and meaningful lives. It helps individuals and families transition to affordable housing, get job training, find employment, receive behavioral health treatment, and more.
MIDD Behavioral Health Sales Tax
MIDD programs and services aimed at supporting people living with or at risk of behavioral health conditions to be healthy, have satisfying social relationships, and avoid legal system involvement.
The Director's Office
Our entire department, along with our trusted network of community providers and partners, plays a leading role in creating and coordinating the region’s human services infrastructure. The Director’s Office, led by Leo Flor, Department Director; Josephine Wong, Deputy Director; and Denise Rothleutner, Chief of Staff, manages the critical business functions of the department and provides regional leadership for our various efforts.
The DCHS Director’s Office is also responsible for providing leadership and coordination for All Home, a regional effort that brings together all levels of the community in a coordinated response to the immediate crisis of homelessness.
Our department also stewards the revenue from the Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy (VSHSL), Best Starts for Kids (BSK) levy and the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) sales tax. These initiatives provide critical funding and support for various related programs.
Dive Deeper Into DCHS
Framework
Policies
Equity and Social Justice
Emergency
Response
Public
Records
Department creates Equity and Social Justice Committee
Equity and Social Justice Initiative
In March 2008, King County Executive Ron Sims launched the Equity and Social Justice Initiative, taking aim at long-standing inequities and injustices in King County. The report shows the close relationship between factors of where we live, the color of our skin, how much money we have and our access to education, health care, and economic opportunities. These factors, in turn, impact health, wellness, and even life expectancy.
Among the findings of the report are these sobering statistics:
- A child in south King County is more than twice as likely to drop out of high school as one in east King County.
- A youth of color is six times more likely than a white youth to spend time in a state or county correctional facility.
The Equity and Social Justice Initiative seeks to identify the roots of these problems and work towards long-term, permanent solutions. The Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) will focus efforts in three areas:
- Improving access to mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services for youth and adults of color
- Improving access to early intervention services for infants and toddlers birth to age three
- Working with the Committee to End Homelessness and other partners to address the disproportionate number of persons of color who are homeless.
Equity and Social Justice Committee - DCHS
Mission:
ESJC's mission is to encourage, enable, and inspire DCHS and individual employees to promote equity and social justice in all areas of business.
Objectives:
- Provide a variety of informational and educational opportunities to DCHS staff on past and present barriers to equity and social justice (i.e., systemic class, race, and gender biases; effects of past prejudiced policies; problems associated with inappropriate service delivery; etc.)
- Act as a vehicle to provide staff with tools for assessing, developing, and embedding practices and policies into their daily work that promote equity and social justice.
- Support DCHS management team in actively seeking out and promoting policies and decisions aimed at equity and social justice, with the goal of long-term, permanent change.
- Build upon past DCHS efforts related to equity and social justice, particularly that of undoing institutional racism.
- Research and develop an online resource library which explores issues of equity and social justice.
- Alert staff to equity and social justice-related educational events in the community at large.
- Build relationships with other departments on equity and social justice issues, primarily by collaborating on educational events.
Coordinating Structure:
Two co-chairs share the leadership role, supported by a planning committee with at least one representative from each DCHS division and site.
Equity and Social Justice Committee co-chairs: Ericka Turley and Adrina Gipson
Equity and Social Justice 2011 DCHS Outcomes
Report on Equity and Social Justice Commitment Outcomes (Jan. 2011)
King County Equity and Social Justice Initiative
The Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) places the highest value on the input and assistance we gain from the clients, consumers, advocates, service providers, family members and interested residents who volunteer to serve on our advisory boards.
Each board plays a vital role in developing programs and policies for the people we serve. They offer advice on funding priorities and service delivery, provide legislative advocacy, and host and attend community events.
Learn more Board calendars and meeting summaries are available on each of the DCHS Board web sites listed at right.
We seek boards that mirror the diversity of our King County population. Several of the boards also have unique recruitment needs or requirements within their bylaws. If you would like to have a voice in shaping human services, please consider volunteering!
View DCHS citizen boards:
- Advisory Council on Aging and Disability Services
- Behavioral Health Advisory Board
- Board for Developmental Disabilities
- Children and Youth Advisory Board
- Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Advisory Committee
- Regional Human Services Citizen Oversight Board
- Veterans Citizen Oversight Board
- Veterans' Program Advisory Board
- Women's Program Advisory Board
Starting in March 2020, households across our region and across the country will have the opportunity to participate in the 2020 Census. Your participation matters. Learn how you can promote a fair and accurate census at kingcounty.gov/census.