Thank you for Daniel Gilbert’s and Dahlia Bazzaz’s article on King County’s Best Starts for Kids levy. I must say I’m impressed with the county’s work.
King County acted boldly in getting the levy dollars out to dozens of community-based groups instead of using the safe approach of only funding large organizations with big finance departments. It looks like funding was backed up quickly by monitoring, including contract terminations and claw backs. I’m not surprised that some of the goals of the contracts were not met — improvements in child welfare are not easy to make or measure. The funds are supporting efforts to get at the heart some of our deepest injuries from racism and poverty. Some of the organizations may not last, but others will grow, develop leadership and have a significant impact on reducing suffering in their communities. It’s hard to tell in the beginning which is going to be which.
I did appreciate the analysis of a “factoid” — that’s fair criticism. I’m glad to know that a portion of the levy goes toward evaluation and look forward to seeing how the results of those evaluations feed into the levy’s renewal, which I’m going to vote for.
Kathy Roseth, Seattle