Building a Sustainable Human Service Sector - King County Funding

Automatic Human Services Contract Inflation Adjustment, with King County Department of Community and Human Services

Issue: Human service contracts must have an automatic annual inflation adjustment that accommodate inflation adjustment in order to sustain current levels of services. This must be standard business practice as in all other county expenditures.

The Alliance’s involvement with the Automatic Human Services Contract Inflation Adjustment came out of need to correct the King County Department of Human Services (DCHS) only providing inflation adjustments on contracts funded through local sources and when those adjustments are deemed “possible” by DCHS administrators.

Goal: Secure this investment by adjusting all human services contracts annually for inflation.


Issue: “Human service providers pay does not reflect the education required, difficulty, or value of their work to build economic, emotional, physical, developmental, and social wellbeing for all community members.”

The Alliance’s involvement with Wage Equity came out of Funding Equity conversations between the Alliance and the County.

Goal: “Community leaders collaborate to raise the funds necessary for the seamless implementation of wage equity for our communities' human service workers without reducing services to residents across King County, including Seattle, strengthening and stabilizing the services that build well-being across the region.”

To learn more or get involved, Contact Jason Austin, jaustin@shscoalition.org.