[music]
As I was about to say, I'll bend down a little bit.
I want to thank Tanya Kim and Doctor Hunt.
Doctor Nara and doctor.
A lot of doctors here. Doctor Hart here.
Just going to share some few words, about what we're trying to announce today.
I first want to sort of root us in,
The purpose of our investments that we're talking about.
So when we look at public safety,
yes, the obvious thing is we're trying to do is keep them safe.
And we're here.
We're talking about less violence or the absence of violence,
the absence of blood, the absence of trauma.
But we're also talking about the presence of opportunity,
the presence of promise, the development of hope.
And so these concepts are certainly intertwined
because for these children, these young adults
to grow into who we want them to be, they will need both.
So this brings us together today to define our one Seattle public safety approach,
building on a continuum
of prevention, intervention, restoration services.
So every neighborhood is safe and every person is supported.
We believe in our administration.
Safety is the foundation for everything we want in Seattle and requires
more than just responding after harm is done.
It requires us to line all of our systems, all of our investments,
all of our talent.
That would include schools and law enforcement, health care, human services
to foster healthy and hopeful communities.
The sad reality of this country
is that gun violence is a serious American problem.
Seattle, of course, is not immune to this.
There are too many guns on our streets, and it's too easy
to access them, and the consequences are devastating.
A week or month has not gone by where I've not talked to a
person affected by gun violence.
This year, for example, the Seattle Police Department has already seized
1380 guns.
That's five a day,
and that's a 33% increase
compared to the same period last year.
Now, while we are making progress with violent crime
and homicides are down this year, you've heard me say this before.
One life lost or one person shot is too many.
So before we go further, I want to think about where
we're standing right now, why we chose to come here
at Garfield.
Last year.
We all know that
on the steps here,
Amarr Murphy-Paine was killed.
I've had a chance to talk to his family members, and we honor his life.
And remember, he was much more than what happened to him.
He has inspired many of us to be better and do better.
And certainly that should have never happened.
It's not just
Garfield, and tragically, it's not just a march across our city
where we're seeing this kind of gun violence, this Garfield.
I think many of you know,
I not only went to school here, but my mother and father met here.
Some of my best memories were here
in this school.
Today,
I am announcing nearly $15 million for community safety investments.
This is a critical strategy
designed to help prevent violence before it starts.
So the request for a proposal officially opens tomorrow, September 28th,
for community based organizations to apply.
As you know, many of these community based organizations
have lived experience technical training.
The heart, the commitment,
the intellect, the drive, the credibility to do this kind of work.
They are our partners and we cannot do this work without them.
These investments will build on and work
in partnership with our broader public safety ecosystem.
The Seattle Police
Department's crime prevention and harm reduction work in neighborhoods.
Our C.A.R.E. civilian crisis response, our school based
safety and mental health supports our hospital and community based programs.
Our neighborhood
ambassador and outreach programs that connect people to services and care.
This is peer to peer work that is essential, and our upstream
investments in food, education, health and employment.
We understand
how difficult, if not impossible, it is to learn
and optimize who you are as a human being when you are living with trauma.
What makes this work distinct is that it reaches
people in ways government and traditional law enforcement cannot.
That's why it's a critical part of a complete public safety system.
And we know this work is related, is is rooted in relationship and trust.
These strategies only only work when they're invested
in, consistent, invested in, consistently and at scale.
Small pilots or one offs will just not work.
Certainly not to the degree we need it to work.
Gun violence is just
taking too much from us.
Physically, emotionally.
Spiritually.
And we want every system and every partner and every neighbor
neighbor to know how much we are invested in our children,
our young adults, our elders, our teachers, our administrators.
They are clearly worth the investment.
So that you're going to hear a little more detail from the next speakers.
I will invite Tanya Kim to take the microphone.
Our director of the Human Services Department, Tanya, the mic is yours.
-Good morning.
So I'm with the Human Services Department.
Consider us to be the,
social services branch of, the city of Seattle.
Long term, supports that. We offer.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I'm yelling here.
I don't I don't know if you can hear. No. Okay.
I got a thumbs up. It's not green.
It's red.
That's why.
One moment please.
Oh, well. Hello.
The Bluetooth okay,
I think I think it just cut out right now.
Technology. Okay. I'm going to yell.
So we're, with the Human Services Department.
My name is Tanya Kim.
And, consider us to be the longer term,
social services, for the city of Seattle.
And we do this through direct services as well as,
investing in our community based partners, because we cannot do this alone.
There's a lot of expertise out in the community, as Mayor Harrell announced.
The Human Services Department
is pleased to release the community safety request for proposal.
That is tomorrow, September 23rd.
Through this new model, we are investing in a range of gun
violence reduction services.
Our services focus on specific neighborhoods, schools
and Harborview, where survivors and victims of gun violence are treated.
We will provide concentrated services
for those most impacted by gun violence.
Now, how did we develop this request for proposal?
I'll shorten it by saying RFP.
We did our homework
and we listened deeply to community.
Some of our community members are here.
My team studied Oakland
and Baltimore initiatives where they've seen successes.
And we saw an academic review from the University of Washington
firearm Injury and Policy Research program.
Again, we have subject matter expertise here in our community as well.
We examine the strengths of our current investments,
and we identified areas that need to change as part of this change.
We are intentionally aligning with our key partners,
many of whom you see here, but many of whom are not here.
With deep planning, we included the Department of Education
and Early Learning, Doctor Chapelle.
We included our Seattle public school district.
Doctor Howard is here.
We have our Seattle police department.
We've got a lot of doctors.
Doctor hunt.
Mayor's office, public safety, leadership, and many others.
And over the last year, we've held over ten community engagement sessions.
We have listened to community,
the community safety RFP, implement several notable improvements.
And let me talk about that. First, focus.
We'll continue place based services in central southeast,
southwest neighborhoods and will expand to North Seattle.
Our selected providers will offer intervention,
school safety and supportive services.
Second, accountability.
All selected providers will have the same North Star,
and we will have clear reporting requirements
to this.
We are also setting aside some dollars to make sure that we have
an external evaluator to hold the work accountable,
and third, quality.
We are investing in the providers
around workforce development and around a strong network.
What this means is that we are going to provide
the capacity for our providers to be excellent through,
technical assistance, training opportunities, certifications,
and we're going to ensure that there is consistency
and of high quality across the city.
So what you will receive in the South End should be similar to what you receive
on the North end, while catering to the needs of the community.
In short,
this request for proposal process will ensure we are contracting with
the set of providers who are committed to a shared model and vision.
With that,
I do want to close with gratitude.
I'm grateful to our partners, including community based organizations
and community members who have been doing incredible work for years.
No. One agency, no.
One department, no one person can create safety on their own.
And there is rich subject matter expertise
and strong leadership in our community.
Together in partnership, we will deliver safer
pathways for our young people and their families across Seattle.
Thank you.
- Thank you Tanya. Thank you Tanya.
Thank you very much, Tanya.
Next you hear from Doctor Lee Hunt, who is our crime and community
harm reduction executive director for the Seattle Police Department.
Doctor Hunt, you have the mic.
-Thank you. Mayor.
Good morning everyone.
I am Doctor Lee Hunt and I have been with the city of Seattle for six months
in the new role as the executive director for Crime and Community Harm reduction.
I'm a criminologist and an anthropologist.
For two decades, I have been successfully applying
evidence based strategies to mitigate violent crime.
I know from experience that police cannot do
this alone, to reduce harm in Seattle.
We as a community need to create meaningful and sustainable partnerships.
The evidence that
partnerships work is overwhelming.
Community safety investments facilitate and generate those partnerships.
One of the programs that work particularly well is community violence Intervention.
It is evidence based strategy that effectively reduces gun violence
and builds a web of partners, preventing
intervening and supporting those at risk.
Now, let's be clear.
Gun violence is a real issue in the city of Seattle.
People are concerned.
They tell us they're concerned and they are worried.
And we, all of us here before you are concerned and we're acting.
SPD is now holding twice a week
meetings dedicated, to analyzing shots
fired in a park, robberies
with a firearm or senseless homicides.
Let me give you an example of our findings.
In the first six months of this year, police arrested
17 children for carrying a gun.
Meaning they had it either on them or in a backpack.
And one of those children we arrested was 13 years old.
Two of those children were 14. Why?
Why are middle school students feeling the
need feeling the need to carry a firearm?
I mean, there is nothing.
Nothing more important than preventing our community's
children from picking up and using a firearm.
In 2020, firearms
became the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in 2020.
More so than diseases, more so than car accidents.
It's guns.
Under the Seattle Centric Policing plan and the mayor's
one Seattle Restoration Framework framework.
SPD is committed to working with every city department,
every community group, service providers, public health providers and schools.
We will stand shoulder to shoulder
with anyone and everyone to assist in addressing this issue.
We're working towards a united goal reducing gun violence to its lowest
possible level, and certainly not having our children killed or injured by gunfire.
While crime levels are down this year.
We continue to focus and our on illegal possession
and our Gun violence Reduction unit.
Our patrol officers, as the mayor of mentioned,
have seized a large number of guns this year.
Our fatal shootings are down 39% this year.
And that's just the beginning.
And with plans like this, this is how we're going to
do business moving forward.
Investments like this and working partnerships will reduce the
use of firearms by the most vulnerable, at risk populations, our children.
Thank you.
-Thank you, Doctor Hunt.
Thank you doctor.
And next you hear from Doctor Tarance Hart.
Of course, the principal here.
And he sort of epitomizes the kind of relationship
I think a mayor should have with a principal.
We talk frequently, and he always puts the kids first.
And so, Doctor Hart, please share a few words with us.
-Good morning.
As the mayor said, I'm Tarance Hart, the proud principal of Garfield
High School.
This is my fifth year head, Garfield.
And Garfield is a is a much different place than it was when I arrived here.
And much of that is, thanks to the commitment by the city.
To ensure that we have safety and supports for our students and families,
as well as some of the investments by our district
in the form of additional security specialists and adjustments to our fiscal
building to ensure safety in the building and to and to keep,
anyone who wants to do harm to our students out of the building.
So we're grateful for that.
This partnership is based on,
safety and learning are inseparable.
That's that's that's a fact.
In order to, create an environment where our students are able to learn,
to flourish, to grow, to become,
adults that are ready for college and career.
It is completely necessary that we keep them safe in order for them
to receive the education that they deserve here at Garfield.
I want to highlight some of the benefits of the partnership
with Human Services, with the Human Services Department.
And this partnership has always been about coordination and alignment
and not just funding, but how do we take these resources,
coordinate them in a way that best supports our students
and with an emphasis on once the one Seattle approach,
which is about schools, families, community and the city
working together to achieve these, these goals, here at Garfield, what?
We didn't have three years ago that we have now are, case management
that that was part of this sort of initial investment.
We have case managers who are, immediate, trusted adults
for our students and families.
They work with students on a daily basis to address the needs of our students.
In attendance in academic supports, mental health behavior.
So that case management is such a significant investment here at Garfield
and such a significant sort of, tool that we use here to support our students.
We are also fortunate to have safe passage with trusted adults.
You know, students have adults that they can trust outside of the building.
During passing
periods, but particularly during lunch and after school.
So there's adults there that students can see every day
that are there to keep them safe and to watch out for any,
any, any players that might not be here for the good of our students.
We're also fortunate to have the Family Resource Fund.
That fund, provides stabilization to families who are in moments of crisis,
who need, who have financial needs or have needs in the in the immediate.
And we, are fortunate to have the funds that we can.
So to support those families when they need that support.
I'm also grateful for the violence interruption.
We have violence interrupters
in our building, and the goal of these individuals is to be
relationships with students, but also prevent escalation,
and reconnect students when they return to school and, be present
in the hallways to be, additional trusted adults for our students.
And we're grateful
to have those individuals in the building sort of working along with,
our team, our staff and our security specialists to keep the hallway safe.
And we're fortunate to have, through our partnerships with DEEL
And thanks for, Doctor Dwane Chappelle, because we have expanded
mental health capacities in Odessa Brown Clinic, we have two,
two new, mental health specialists.
One is a black man and one is a Spanish speaking woman.
And we're grateful to have just that level of diversity in our,
in our teen health center to provide mental health supports to our students.
We're also fortunate to have a King County behavioral health coordinator
who takes our referrals,
has has, access to our community based organizations
that provide mental health supports for our students and connects
students with the mental health provider that meets their needs.
That's a significant sort of, resource that
three years ago, we're not was not here at Garfield.
So our students are in a better place because of these investments that's made,
by HSD and DEEL
And we are grateful for that.
We see already early progress.
Last year we had fewer.
We had no gun violence incidents on campus.
And I can attribute that. Absolutely.
And I can attribute that to the fact that we have more trusted adults
in the building. We have community.
We have, our our safe passage,
staff outside of the building and all of those,
along with our focus on restorative practices,
also our restored, our focus on building EMTs system
that sort of supports our students in a real way and, and progress monitor
our students so we can make sure students are receiving exactly the interventions
that help them to get better and to be, to be better
and be more prepared for the world that, that, that that's outside of Garfield.
I also want to take a, an opportunity to honor the students that we have lost.
Amarr Murphy.
Paine
Solomon Taylor, Salvador, aka Junior.
These are Garfield
family who we lost because of gun violence.
Their absence is deeply felt by their classmates, by our staff,
by, by our entire community.
Their lives matter.
And this sort of investment is just one example
of how we're trying to do things different so we can have different outcomes.
So I want to just re-emphasize safety and learning are inseparable.
They go hand in hand.
We can't have one without the other.
This $15 million investment we've seen the the the the the,
the results of that investment and how our, our, our school,
our students have been impacted with more resources because of those investments.
And I also want to always remember one,
Seattle is about schools, families and the city working together.
And that's what this I think this RFP is about is
how can we work together to continue to make this place better and to, provide
our students with every opportunity to be successful and safe?
And I want to end with this.
Every student, every the goal of Garfield is to have
every student safe, supported and able to thrive.
And investments like this,
along with some of the other work that we're trying to accomplish,
inside the building with our community based organizations
and with these investments that have been provided to, to us
at Garfield,
I think we're on the right track to really make some changes
and to really make Garfield
the place that we all know it has been and continue to be.
So, we're excited and and grateful for these investments.
Thank you so much.
-Thank you, Doctor Hart.
So our last speaker will be Laura Johnson, the clinical program
manager with Harborview Violence Intervention and Prevention Program.
And Laura, thank you for joining us.
And we look forward to hearing some words from you.
- Good morning.
My name is Laura Johnson.
I, as, Mayor said I am the program manager
for Harborview Intervention and Prevention program.
Our program supports patients and families after a firearm injury.
And we are the hospital based intervention
component of the community response to gun violence.
We are part of a continuum of intervention that must occur in order
to disrupt violence in our communities.
Our program relies on the support of our city city partners.
The strong support of the King County Regional Office of Gun
Violence Prevention, the Washington State Department of Commerce,
and our dedicated relationships with our community partners.
Our community based partners must have consistent
and sustainable funding so this vital work can be continued
with consistent, community based funding from the city, county and state.
Programs will be successful in building healthier and safer communities.
Thank you for so much. -Thank you Laura.
Just to wrap up our planned
speaking portion and be more than happy to answer a few questions.
I think what you're seeing from both the talent that spoke
and hopefully, in my words, this fully holistic approach
to not only saving our children,
but optimizing who they want to be in life.
And at the end of the day, that's what life is all about, is trying to pass
on whatever gifts we have, whatever advice and talent we have.
I'm really glad you're here too, by the way.
To the next generation.
And so that's what we try to do in our public safety investments.
And with that, I'd be more than happy to, take any questions that you may have.
Yes.
-You mentioned that mission of this partnership and funding
is in part to partner with community organizations
that law enforcement or the City may not be able to connect with
can you speak on how these partners will be tracking their success
and the City’s involvement?
-I'll repeat the question. The question is,
Thank you for coming.
Is how with these community based organizations, how do we measure success?
How do we track success?
How do we make sure that we're using our tax dollars while wisely?
And what are the outcomes we're trying to drive?
That's how I sort of interpret the, the, the
the question, can you address that, Tanya, if you'd like.
-Yeah. I'll give you one example. And so.
Well, we have, some core outcomes
that we expect to see.
I hear I'm sensing that
the the noise is, is not, is fighting against me.
Can you hear me? Okay. Okay. All.
So we're going to be tracking some basic outcomes.
We have Doctor Hart gave a really good example.
He he gave you some data already about, with our investments here at Garfield.
How there was, improve improvements in school safety.
There are regular reports and, that's gathered.
And so students, for example, or sample two, measure how safe they feel at school.
Those are the types of measurements that we're going to attribute to the work
that we do in the 11 schools that we're committed to.
The will have reporting metrics.
And so we'll track those that we serve. Of course.
We will also track the, dosage, if you will, the intensity of the services
that we're, providing to, those that are referred to our programs.
And we're going to be measuring all of the successes.
And so did that young person get into the sport?
And were we able to fund all of the, year?
So then that way they're after school.
They're participating in something that's really positive and building a family.
Outside of perhaps what was competing,
with their attention and pulling them in a different direction.
And so those are the measures that we're going to be tracking.
But that said, as a reminder, we are hiring an external evaluator.
And so with that subject matter expertise, we're going to refine, the metrics
and make sure that it's standard across all of our contracted providers.
Right now, what we have are really good investments, but it's not standardized.
And so you'll see in some, contracts, they're measuring,
their performance with
maybe they're 30 or 15 young people that we're working with.
But like the Mayor said, we need to move away from pilots and scale
programs, based on evidence based practices,
based on the trainings that we've developed,
and then have a dashboard where we could say uniformly throughout the city.
These are the, successes that we've received.
And so we're going to be fine tuning that development with the researcher on board.
-And thank you for that, Tanya
And and I think this is implicit in the answer.
But let me make something very clear.
How do you measure how someone feels sometimes?
I'm looking at a few young folks, few Bulldogs here.
How do they feel when we're making these investments?
They feel safer.
Do they feel more that they're heading in the right direction in life,
or they do, or do they fear?
Are they fearful or traumatized?
So we will talk to the students.
We will survey them.
We'll talk to them and get their feedback constant.
And that's part of the data base approach.
We do we talk much about how many guns
we retrieve and how many lives are hopefully trying to save.
But we also also have to
be vulnerable and
transparent with the teachers and the students to see how are we doing.
And we're never afraid to have those conversations.
So thank you for your question.
Any other questions?
Just one second.
I'll talk offline for, non press. Okay.
I'm not going anywhere.
And if no one asks a question, I'm
going to come right back to you and close it. Yes.
The question for Doctor Hart.
- You spoke about Garfield and many students
in the larger public school community are killed.
what is it like living with the trauma
of that gun violence
can you speak about what this funding will do for Garfield specificly
but I’m wondering if you can talk a little more about
what trust building looks like in a community
not just with students , but also with parents who still
actively dealing with trauma from gun violence.
-I mean, it's it's it's an ongoing process.
I mean, I don't know, I mean, when, when you have a school community
that over the course of several years has had to,
deal with, community violence that directly impacts
that school community and their student
and then the students and the staff and the families.
You know, it's a it's an ongoing process to heal.
And, and many, many of us in this building are still experiencing
some, you know, some, some residual strong
residual feelings, and, and PTSD and, and, and trauma
from what we've, what we've experienced as a community.
And that's why I think one of the things that we can do,
and one of the things that we're focusing on is building student community,
making the student community as strong as possible, and really allowing
students to sort of lead the work to rebuild the culture here.
And that takes, building trust with families
that take that takes ongoing family engagement, where the school
is being proactive to create those opportunities to engage families.
So I think that's what it looks like continue to build to
to gain trust by being transparent, by informing parents
about what's happening here at Garfield and some of the resources that we have.
And by slowly,
you getting their feedback and using their feedback
to really impact the work that we do here, and I think that's how you build trust
is to listen to families, listen to students, and,
have ongoing engagement opportunities where we listen to them
and we're responsive to what they say their needs are.
Thank you.
-Thank you, Doctor Hart.
So I'm going to thank all of you for being here.
And I'm going to talk to a few students, because if there's one takeaway,
one takeaway from this, this event in
in addition to it being an integrated, holistic approach
that we will always listen to the students and try to meet them where they are.
So I'm going to have some conversations with them, and I want to thank you.
And I want to thank the speakers for,
wrapping it all up for us in a very, holistic manner.
And we're moving forward to keep everyone safe
because that is our charter responsibility.
So thank you for being here
and look forward to seeing you throughout the rest of the week.
Thank you very much.
[applause]