Community and Candidates Come Together to Discuss Human Services Issues

We were thrilled to have so many of our community members pack the house for the Seattle Human Services Coalition (SHSC) Candidate’s Forum with moderator Marcus Harrison Green in September. It was a great reminder of how much our neighbors care about the city, region, and each other.

We also appreciated the opportunity to come together and hear what’s on the minds of voters, candidates, and others as we head into the fall elections for Seattle City Council and King County Council.

Couldn’t catch the forum live, or want to refresh your mind on candidate responses? Watch the full video on the Seattle Human Services Coalition YouTube channel.

The Seattle Human Services Coalition brings together organizations including senior centers, youth afterschool programs, housing and shelter services, food banks, disability services, and much more for a more holistic approach to meeting the community’s needs and challenges. Ballard Food Bank’s Executive Director, Jen Muzia, is a co-chair of the coalition. Ballard Food Bank’s Senior Manager of Community Advocacy and Outreach, Nathaniel Lyon, was on the planning committee for this event.

Questions from the coalition and attendees covered a broad range of human services issues, from supporting increased services for survivors of gender-based violence, to ensuring equitable food access, from protecting the tree canopy and addressing heat islands in the city, to addressing the lack of affordable childcare.

The forum included one-on-one time for the candidate pairs from each district to answer specific questions as well as a lightning round where candidates responded yes, no, or waffle to questions ranging from police accountability to if childcare workers should receive subsidies regardless of income. All candidates answered yes to most of the lightning round questions, with a couple of candidates waffling on a question about pursuing more progressive revenue sources for the city.

On one key initiative for the coalition and for Ballard Food Bank - wage equity and living wages for human services workers – all candidates indicated support for additional city funding to human services providers for this work.

Nearly all candidates for current city and county council races were present for the forum, including current city council members who arrived late after passing legislation around prioritizing drug treatment and addressing public drug use.

The two candidates not attending were Sofia Aragon, running for King County Council District 8 against Teresa Mosqueda, and Pete Hanning in the City Council District 6 race against incumbent Dan Strauss. Another way to hear from the candidates on these issues is their responses the written survey from SHSC earlier this year. For the candidates not attending the forum, Aragon provided responses to the survey and Hanning has not.

While there are no other forums or debates planned to focus on human services overall, voters and community members wanting to hear more from Hanning, Strauss, and candidates for other City Council seats about their views and plans around homelessness can check out the recordings of the 2023 Homelessness Debates hosted by KNKX and We Are In. District 6 candidates Strauss and Hanning come to the stage at around the 39-minute mark of the first night’s debate which also includes Districts 2 and 7.

The second night of this two-night event includes City Council Districts 3, 4, and 8 and will be held on the Seattle University campus as well as live streamed tonight, October 11, at 5:30.

We encourage our neighbors to dig deep into candidate plans for human services in our community and make your voices heard as we work toward a more equitable future for Seattle and King County.