About KCAHS

The King County Alliance for Human Services is a group of King County residents who are concerned about the abilities of all our neighbors to meet their basic human needs.  Many of us are human service providers from across the county and from many different types of agencies.  We are also funders, recipients of services, representatives from local governments and County government, and faith-based communities.

KCAHS participants include members of regional coalitions throughout King County:

Seattle Human Services Coalition (including a dozen member coalitions)

Alliance Of Eastside Agencies

South King Council of Human Services

North Urban Human Services Alliance

Minority Executive Directors Coalition

Seattle King County Coalition for the Homeless

King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Community Health Council of King County

Executive Alliance

Church Council of Greater Seattle

Each of these groups is comprised of from six to sixty agencies and programs.  It would not be possible for this many individuals to collaborate effectively without organizing and communications assistance.

Our primary focus as we work together is to find stable, adequate, dedicated funding for community health and human services to strengthen communities throughout King County.

Alliance members work together to EDUCATE the community, including our elected leaders, about the urgent need for community health and human services, and the successes that strengthen our communities, in every community throughout King County.

Members of the Alliance also ADVOCATE for public officials to work together to create long-term solutions for stable, adequate funding of much needed services.

In 2004 KCAHS participants worked with the members of the Task Force on Regional Human Services to help them understand complex issues around needs for services.  The Task Force came to several conclusions including:

• We need additional dedicated, adequate resources.
• We all need to better communicate the urgent need for services.

In 2005 and 2006 Alliance participants worked as part of the follow-up Healthy Families and Communities Task Force which concluded that there is an annual funding gap of $83.1 million for those services categorized as “regional” human services.  The Alliance also educated the public and elected officials on the need to include broader human services along with services for veterans in the Vets and Human Services Levy, which passed at the level of $13.3 million a year instead of $4 million limited only to veterans.

In 2007 the Alliance helped to build broader awareness and community-wide alliances necessary to implement a new revenue source to fund mental health and substance abuse treatment, intervention and prevention.  County Council enacted this funding in November, providing services that could reduce the gap by over $20 million a year.

In 2008 the King County Alliance for Human Services continues to build broader awareness and community-wide alliances necessary to grow public support for stable, adequate funding for community health and human services throughout King County.

We’re all in this together! The Alliance meets monthly on the third Tuesday from 3:00-4:45, at Mercer View Community Center on Mercer Island with various work group meetings in-between.