Good morning.

The Human Services Labor and Economic Development Committee meeting of the Seattle City Council will now come to order.

It is 9 33 a.m.

Friday, April 17th, 2026.

I'm Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rink, Chair of the Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll and let the record reflect that Council President Hollingsworth is excused.

Chair Rank.

Present.

Vice Chair Foster.

Here.

Councilmember Warez.

Here.

Councilmember Saka.

Chair, there are four members present.

Thank you.

We will now move to approval of today's agenda.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Hello and welcome everyone.

We have a packed agenda today.

We will begin this morning with a briefing from the Seattle Music Commission, followed by votes on several appointments to the commission.

Then we will have a briefing from the Labor Advisory Standards Commission on their body of work and end with a briefing from the Office of Economic Development on workforce development.

For my colleagues in the viewing public, similar to our last meeting of uh this committee.

Um, during the Labor Standards Advisory Commission briefing, we will have Spanish language interpretation for one of our panelists so they can fully join the discussion.

But with that, we will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda or within the purview of the committee.

Clerk, how many speakers do we have signed up for today?

Currently we have zero in-person speakers and zero remote speakers.

All right, going once, going twice.

Hearing that uh we have no registered speakers for today, we will now proceed to our items of business.

So moving on to our first item of business.

Um, will the clerk please read items one through seven into the record?

Um, colleagues, the clerk will read items one through seven into the record so we may discuss uh these items at one time.

I will move the appointments as a package after we have discussed both the overview and the appointment to the Seattle Music Commission.

Item one, Seattle Music Commission overview, briefing discussion, possible votes.

Item two, appointment 03474, appointment of Ryan Patrick Devlin as member of Seattle Music Commission for a term to August 31st, 2028.

Briefing discussion and possible votes.

Item three, appointment 03475, appointment of Janice Jimenez as member of Seattle Music Commission for a term to August 31st, 2028.

Briefing discussion and possible votes.

Item four, appointment 03476.

Appointment of Marshal Hugh Massingale as member Seattle Music Commission for a term to August 31st, 2028.

Briefing discussion and possible votes.

Item five, appointment 03477.

Appointment of Seven Sky Speedos as member of Seattle Music Commission for a term of August 31st, 2028.

Briefing discussion and possible votes.

Briefing discussion and possible votes.

Thank you so much.

I see we have our presenters who have joined us at the table, and I know we have some folks who have joined us online.

So before we get started, if you can take a moment and introduce yourself by stating your name into the microphone for the record, that would be great.

Hello, my name is Marshall Hugh Masingale.

If we can take one moment, I think uh can you make sure the mics are turned on by pressing that button, and I think we might need you to check, mic check.

Oh, there we go.

There we go.

There we go.

If we can have Scott reintroduce himself.

Sure.

Scott Blues Gallick.

Thank you.

Marshal Hugh Masigo.

Tina Marie Tyler.

Okay Van Petten.

Seven Sky Sabelios.

Wonderful and our folks online.

Thank you.

I believe that's everyone we have here.

Please proceed with the presentation.

Thank you, Chair, and good morning, um, committee members.

Um, thank you for having us here again.

My name is Scott Plusgalek.

I'm the nightlife business advocate for the city and the Office of Economic Development, as well as the Administrative Liaison for the Seattle Music Commission.

Do you want to be going?

Great.

I'm gonna give a little background on the music commission for folks.

Um the music commission was established in 2010 by a council resolution and fully ratified by into city ordinance in 2014.

Um the commission uh uh is a group of industry and community volunteer stakeholders assembled to advise the Office of Economic Development in its advocacy for and policy related to the City of Seattle's support and growth of the local music industry and community.

The commission strives to enhance the growth and development of Seattle's music sector and convey the city's commitment to the industry, musicians, and live music audience that comprise the city's local music economy.

Um there are 21 members on the committee representing this cross uh industry sectors.

Eleven are appointed by the mayor, and 10 are appointed by the council.

They each serve three-year terms uh and have the ability to be reappointed to a second three-year term.

The commission is comprised of four committees.

One is the full commission, which meets every other month.

Um, so our next meeting will be in May on the third Wednesday uh at noon downstairs in the boards and commissions uh room.

We have an executive committee, which is comprised of the chairs and co-chairs of the commit of the each subcommittee, and the advocacy and economic development and youth and community uh committees, um, each focusing on policy outreach um and development of the industry.

We have a budget of $10,000 established by council in 2024 for the purposes of engagement and outreach.

Just some quick uh highlights of previous achievements from the music commission.

Um we uh launched in 2024, thanks to the council uh and signed by the mayor Harrell, um the musician parking and loading zones.

Very pleased to announce that we now have 21 venues that have had these installed to date with more coming online, extremely successful and very popular with all of our musicians and venues in town.

Uh we have the music career days and creative economy career days, which bring um over 500 high school youth to uh to meet with industry insiders, her hear from experts on panels and learn about the um pathways to creative economy careers.

Um we have uh mixers meet the commissioner events, industry events, um, the creative advantage is a program that was um started with the music commission, the arts commission, the um Office of Arts and Culture, and uh partnership with Seattle Public Schools to provide um equitable access to creative uh programming and um teaching uh in public schools.

Um we've all heard the music uh out at the airport program that was started by this uh music commission.

Um recently last year, we completed the Jackson Street Jazz Heritage Trail, um, which you can do a guided trail through uh Jackson Street of all of our old um uh jazz uh venues and the pianos in the parks program as well.

Currently, the musician the commission is um focused on quarterly meetups for community engagement.

We're going out into community, um inviting folks in, um, meeting at uh different venues around the city um to support the industry, um, finding alignment with the mayor's uh recent transition uh report that came out um uh after the the election, continuing work uh aligning with the downtown activation plan, obviously uh working to see that local musicians are represented during the FIFA 2026 celebrations and also on workforce development.

So today we have um openings for seven commissioners.

We currently have six who will be appointed.

Three of these are appointed by the mayor, and three will be appointed by the council.

So um these are all first term uh um appointments, so they have the opportunity to be back in front of you in three years uh to reappoint.

Um for with that, if it's okay, I will go ahead and allow each of them to give a brief statement.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Yeah, hello.

Uh my name is Marshall Hugh, and I am an artist and founder of Fremont Fridays here in Seattle.

Uh Fremont Fridays is an event that brings together thousands of people who like me and all of us here love the local music scene.

I've seen with Fremont Fridays how music is able to bring people together and impact a community uh not only through music but economic development.

And so excited to bring my expertise in my small borough to a larger group and learn from people that are experts in the system and hopefully people that are open to developing new systems that put our musicians and our music lovers at the forefront of any musical experience because I know that music is universal and it's a language we all speak, and so hopefully it can be used as the tool that it is to uplift our entire city and see us where we want to be.

I think that we can be like an Austin, like a New Orleans and uh see that right here on the boots or on the ground.

So excited to be here, and thank you for having me and pumped to join these fine people.

New Orleans, dang.

Come on, we got the song right here.

I know, I love it.

I love it.

Um good morning.

My name is Tina Marie Tyler.

Uh I am the founder of Hip Hop Institute for Peace.

I um a music lover and fan, and I come from a little bit of a different background.

I started off as a broadcast journalist covering entertainment, and so I cover the Grammys and all of that.

But now I have a nonprofit organization, and we're in formal partnership with the United Nations Permanent Forum of people of African descent.

Uh, and my role is really to use music and and specifically hip hop to promote uh diplomacy.

And we provide uh large-scale events uh all over the world uh and we produce them, and so we put a lot of musicians to work.

We are able to use music as a way to bring people together in peace and harmony.

And so I'm very excited to uh join the uh Seattle Music Commission and bring some of this love and joy here to the folks in Seattle.

Thank you.

Good morning, y'all.

My name's Kay Van Petten, and I am a musician and music ecosystem builder.

I've been playing music in countless bands um for the past decade here in Seattle, and I am now the marketing director for Sonic Guild, which is a local nonprofit that supports local musicians through grants and live events, and we are proving that there is a better future possible through deep music patronage here in Seattle.

Since 2020, we've distributed over half a million dollars to the Seattle music community.

And we believe that more is possible.

And what we're experiencing is a renaissance of support for local music, where Seattle is building a model to show other cities what's possible as the evolving role of the label and streaming services and AI moves forward, that we as a community need to step up and support musicians, and that's exactly what we're doing with organizations like the Vera Project and KEXP and all these folks from the 90s grunge scene that's stuck around to see that a better future for music is possible, and that if we believe that future is possible, we have to turn music supporters into music lovers and make sure that musicians are at the core of everything that we do.

So I'm excited to be here.

Thanks for having us.

My name's Seven.

I'm the president of the Seattle Composers Alliance, a 27-year-old organization connecting music creators to community education and opportunity.

We currently have about a hundred active members of all disciplines, and we're looking forward to re-engaging the 500 or so community members that were a part of SCA five, 10 and 15 years ago.

I used to think that the end of our mission statement was the most important part of what we do, but as I deepen my connections to the area as a voting member of the local chapter of the Grammys, representative of SCA to the Creative Economy Coalition and Creative Economy Workforce Coalition, and genuinely those are two completely distinct groups.

The more I realize that the word connecting is the most important part of what we do.

We can't begin to tackle youth unemployment if uh if young music creators don't know where their local venues, studios, and peers are.

Even our most talented artists are unable to advance in their careers when they are not able to find industry support, and that industry is unable to activate within Seattle's ecosystem of businesses and join forces with one another.

The broader creative economy has so many silos, and I'm sure you see it yourself with the city's 70 or so active boards and commissions.

The through line with all of this is that the lack of connection, especially at the local level, I think is the issue.

And this is what excites me about joining the music commission in an era where we are theoretically the most connected, we're missing those bridges.

They cannot be built alone, but I'm here to help and to find allies who are excited about connecting Seattle's music creators to community education and opportunity.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And now we'll move online to Janice.

Hi, uh, I am Janice Jimenez, Senior Director of Marketing at Climate Pledge Arena.

I've been there since 2021.

Um, and since I've been there and living in the city for over 17 years, um I've seen and experienced programs that SMC has executed executed in the last few years, and it's super inspiring to see them put these programs together, whether I'm at the airport or walk into the crock or in front of NUMO's.

Seeing artists get excited about these benefits that they have is amazing.

Um, it gives people a sense of belonging, it creates a warm environment, and with that sense, I'm hoping to be a part of these programs of where uh our city becomes uh a city of music like New Orleans um or Nashville, and we're known for our bands now, not from the ones of sorry, the 90s.

Um they're amazing and they're awesome, but let's uh you want to be part of making them bigger and better of what's now.

Thank you for inviting me.

And then I do have a statement from Ryan, if it be amazing.

And my computer just went away.

Thank you.

Uh Ryan Devlin, uh, our sixth appointee, um, had a previously scheduled trip to Japan and was not able to join today, but he did ask me to read this um message.

Um, esteemed council members.

My name is Ryan Devlin, and I would like to join the City of Seattle Music Commission.

My sincere apologies for not being able to attend this meeting in person.

I am a working musician, music educator, and producer living in North Seattle.

I was born and raised in Seattle and have been performing in clubs, making records, and working various music-related jobs here for over 20 years.

I presently have two bands with my wife and collaborator Kim West, the Smokey Brights, and Mega Cat.

I have had a really unique run of music industry positions here in Seattle, including singer, songwriter, instructor at Cornish College of the Arts, producing events and concerts, managing arts organization partnerships, managing distribution for City Arts magazine, and talent buyer at Columbia City Theater.

This collage of music industry jobs in Seattle is precisely why I want to join the music commission.

This is an increasingly tough city for musicians.

We are up against some of the highest rents in the nation, largest corporations in the world, an exodus of industry resources from the city, and a loss of opportunity to make a living solely as an artist.

In spite of all that, our music community is a brilliant beacon known across the world.

I want to join the commission in order to advocate for my community of artists and music industry workers, and I think I am very what uniquely positioned to do so.

I look forward to the opportunity to help Seattle fulfill its promise of being a true music city.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you so much, and thank you all for being before us today.

Uh colleagues, I'd like to open it up for questions you have, and I am recognizing Councilmember Juarez first.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

First of all, Janice, big shout out to you.

It's good to see you again at Climate Pledge.

Um, and your work with OVG and all that work.

So I I know that we've met before, but not formally.

So it's good to see you.

I won't take the dig on the 90s.

I'll let that go.

But I'm just saying that was the best time for music.

I don't know what y'all listen to now.

It don't make no sense to me.

I'm gonna let up leave it at that.

Um, but um, Madam Chair, uh I just want to also thank you for um highlighting also we found it in our in your guys' um confirmation packets uh to Ryan and to Marshall, D5.

Thank you.

We always try to strive as Councilmember Sokka knows this when we went to a district system for district parity and representation all across the city.

So thank you for those appointments that are coming from all over the city.

Um and I do like the reference to New Orleans.

I think that's amazing, and I love that.

And the other thing is I know this is picky, but I just want to make sure that I'm not wrong here.

And you knew I was gonna bring this up.

On the on your PowerPoint, my page numbers start at page seven.

And then they go to 12.

So was I missing the first six, or did it just start at seven?

Just I apologize.

I'm not sure why it did that, but no, you did not miss anything.

Okay, good.

I thought maybe we didn't print out the first six, and then I started at page seven, and it because they're numbered on mine.

But they start at seven.

That's all.

That's all I was just I was just wanting to make sure I had everything.

So thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, folks who were.

I know it's hard.

You're volunteering, but it's something you love.

Uh having two musicians in my family.

So um thank you so much for all your work.

And again, Janice, it's good to see you again.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Juarez, and good reminder.

We'll be sure to spot check for those page numbers.

I know it's certainly important.

Thank you.

And now recognizing Councilmember Saka.

Thank you, Chair, and I first want to thank uh all the proposed nominees for stepping up to serve your city, our community, and the broader industry um in such an impactful and profound manner.

So thank you, thank you, thank you.

Our city is grateful for your service, and um, you know, excited to learn more about how we can best support you from a city perspective and uh and and see all the great work that you're gonna accomplish together.

So thank you again for serving and excited to be able to support everyone today.

As an aside, I'll say that from my perspective at least, I agree with Councilmember Warz.

The 90s era music across the board, doesn't matter which genre, whether it's rock or hip hop, it's the best music, boy bands, pop, best music.

Uh best music era.

And I don't maybe I'm just old um saying, you know, get off my ports, but but it is it is the the the best uh music era in my humble opinion.

Perhaps debate here in committee this morning.

Do we get a chance to defend that?

Or you don't want Fridays, man.

We got some new fire out there for you this summer.

Come check us out.

Gotta get out the crib.

It is.

Okay, well, I'm gonna listen to that crazy rap stuff that I don't understand.

So I'm sorry, I'm all school.

I'm not doing that.

Don't worry about it.

We got it all for you.

I'm recognizing it is also a Friday.

Is it happening today?

Oh, it's today.

Oh no, it starts in uh it starts in the summer, June 26th kicks off.

Yeah, yeah.

You got some time.

We'll we'll send you some links.

Okay.

Thank you.

Some good follow-ups from today's committee meeting.

It's member Foster.

All right.

Well, I'm going to pivot us.

Well, well, first I want to just take a moment to recognize and kind of add my voice to the chorus, so to speak, um, of appreciation for all of your work.

Um, just cultivating our creative economy, um, adding your creativity uh to our city.

Um, and this feels also personal, some may know.

Um, I almost went to school for music.

Uh uh playing in symphonic band um was a lifeline for me growing up, and I almost pursued a career in music and wanted to become a working artist, working musician, um, and a teacher.

And so um, but that wasn't quite in the cards for for me, so maybe I'll have to live vicariously through y'all, y'all.

Um, but it's something that just added a lot to to my own upbringing.

So really excited to see again, like the incredible work you all have done around creative advantage and bringing that program into Seattle Public Schools so young people can be able to cultivate their own creativity is really amazing and excited to see what's coming next as well.

And so I did have one question for you all.

Um, just an open question to each of our appointees before us today.

What can the city do to ensure sustainable music industry careers are growing in Seattle?

And um, how would you like your advocacy on the commission to advance that which way do you want to go?

Yeah, there you go.

Apparently we're going in reverse order.

Um well, I I will say uh spoilers, the advocacy and economics uh development subcommittee of the music commission is currently going through uh a massive list of about 20 priorities to try to narrow it down.

So I feel uh that it would be best for me personally to wait until we have consensus as a as a team before coming forward.

Uh, because I just think strategically that's the best thing for me to do.

But thank you for the question.

Thank you.

Thank you for asking.

That's such a beautiful question.

And I think at the center of it is support for musicians, of course, not just support for music.

You know, we talk a lot about being the city of music, but we need to be the city of musicians in order for that music to get made in the first place.

And I want to bring up one idea that I brought on that big list, what which was to bring forward a music laureate.

No city has ever had a musician laureate.

There have been composer laureates, but as popular music grows, and that we're trying to build the support like we had around the symphony or opera or ballet, we're trying to bring that to popular music.

And so I believe programs like that and recognition, in addition to support and affordable housing and grants for musicians, opportunities for musicians, um, recognition is a huge part of that too.

And and having those rungs on the career ladder for an artist to know what the next step for them is a just as big a deal as the next paycheck.

And so creating those steps in the ladder is really important.

And I believe that having a city musician laureate could be an interesting way to build another.

But of course, so many other ideas and that beautiful document you mentioned that we're working on.

Thank you for the question.

So I have a little bit of a different perspective because I deal with the business of music, uh, and not and that's everything.

The artist, you know, the vendors, the the crew.

So for me, um, and and the folks that I deal with and my contemporaries around the country and around the world, funding is is major, right?

And being able to support funding and have funding, I should say, that supports different types of programming within our city, I think would be very helpful.

It's also very expensive to you know to produce things in Seattle.

And so we should start looking at the costs, and maybe there can be some waivers or or things like that for some of the larger, you know, type of productions here.

And I also, you know, as a long time, I mean, I'm a resident, but I'm also a Seattle native.

I remember Bumper Chute and I remember the folk life festival, and I remember you know the Black Festival at the time and seafair.

I always look forward to those things as a child.

Um, now that I'm 58 um and and still trying to enjoy uh those things, the programming is different, you know, and I think we really need to take a look at the major festivals that we have here in Seattle and reexamine them.

We really do.

It needs to have a broader appeal, not only for the people that are going, but also the artists.

Um I think we have to be sensitive to the uh our cultural diversity here in Seattle and make sure that if the C if the city is going to give a large portion of the budget to one individual festival, that that those promoters and those producers are open to working with other uh individuals that may not have the same background or the same ideas that they do.

So I am looking forward to working with the city.

Uh I'm looking forward to um having more conversations because there are cities that have wonderful and very vibrant creative economies.

We do not have to reinvent the world.

Uh a wheel, excuse me.

Uh, all we have to do is take some of the best practices and apply them here and really look at the creative economy as a thriving revenue producer for the city of Seattle, not just an afterthought.

Thank you.

Uh for me, what I'm most excited about is getting a chance to even be in these rooms.

I think people often uh in my realm, whether it just be people of color or musicians, we feel a disconnect between the systems that are in place and uh the government and what we do creating experiences for people to enjoy the Seattle music scene.

So I'm most excited to learn and find ways to not only work the current systems but find new systems to see artists and the venues thrive.

Uh, from my experience, I've seen uh a lot of representation from the venue side of things because those are the people that have uh mastery of the business, and then you have the artists who sometimes feel like they're just the hired help.

And I believe that through me and uh everyone else joining the council, we're gonna be able to bridge those gaps and make uh a larger impact together.

So I'm really excited about that.

We got a ton of ideas like uh minimum wage for musicians, but uh we're gonna tackle it uh as a unified front, and hopefully with all y'all's help, uh we can make some uh great headway in these next three years.

Thank you.

And moving to Janice, is there anything you'd like to add on here too?

Yeah, just to add here, you know, client pledgerina being obviously the largest venue here.

Uh, we have a lot of opportunities that uh we artists asked us to involve them on a local level.

I think this gives us gives me the opportunity to see what the community is looking for, what is needed, um, and how we can use the leverage uh that we have uh to support those artists in any way possible.

And for the record, it's 90s grunge.

I love 90s RD and hip hop and all of the other genres.

We need to be known for more than that.

It was just Seattle 90s music.

So, Councilmember Quarris, just letting you know that.

Nice save, love it.

I got you.

Beautiful.

Well, thank you all um for those responses.

There were a lot of ideas that were named in your responses too, which is which just makes me really excited about uh each of your participation on the music commission and the work that lies ahead.

So um thank you for being here today, and I'm gonna move us along, colleagues, on this.

And so um I'm gonna be moving the appointments.

And so seeing no further comments, I move that the committee move forward with voting to pass appointments.

Zero three four pardon me.

03474, 03075, 03076, 0347, 03478, 03479.

Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded to move forward with these appointments.

Any final comments hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to move forward to the appointments.

Chair Rink.

Yes.

Vice Chair Foster.

Yes.

Councilmember Warez.

Hi.

Councilmember Saka.

Councilmember Saker, could you repeat your vote?

All right.

Yes, yes.

Thank you.

Thumbs up.

Thank you.

There are four in favor and zero opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries the committee recommendation that the appointments will be confirmed, will be sent to the April 28th City Council meeting.

Thank you all again for being here.

Happy Friday.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, colleagues.

Maybe we'll have to look ahead for our committee schedule and figure out when we can all go to a Fremont Friday together.

Field trip.

Wonderful.

With that, we're going to move on to our next item of business.

Will the clerk please read item eight into the record?

Item eight, labor standards advisory commission, LSAC overview, briefing and discussion.

Thank you, colleagues.

As our presenters are coming to the table, I'll just give a note that I know during our last meeting of this committee we heard from the Domestic Workers Standards Board.

Today we're going to be hearing from the other commission that are over OLS oversees.

Sorry, can we pause for one second if I can have you reintroduce yourself, Mr.

Me, Samuel Hilbert here.

Thank you, Samuel.

Yes.

Okay.

Wonderful.

Yes.

Silvia Gonzalez.

Norma Garcia Soro, Spanish interpreter.

Wonderful.

Wonderful.

If you would like to move forward with the presentation, that would be great.

All right.

Well, welcome.

We are the Labor Standards Advisory Committee.

She's a small business owner.

She wasn't able to join us today.

Just a quick story about Amanda.

Her brother, when I was out in the construction industry, her brother ran the yard for the company that I work for.

So small world.

I just want to throw that out there.

It was kind of fun to learn that.

So the next slide.

Do you want a chance to each individual introduce itself or do we want to introduce?

Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, yeah, we can introduce each individual again.

Oh, okay.

Well, uh, yeah, go ahead.

Okay, I could do a part of my thing.

Okay.

Um, background, Patrice Tisdale.

Um, when I first joined the commission, I was general counsel for drivers union.

Um, I currently assist and still help with them, but I am now with the Washington Nurses Association as their director of legal affairs.

Um Sabian Hilbert here.

I have been on the commission, I think for two and a half years now.

Um I uh own a Lule Cellars, so we have three uh locations here in Seattle as well.

Uh the nuevo.

Uh my number is Silvia Gonzalez.

Hello, my name is Sylvia Gonzalez.

Uh proximamente el SAC.

I've been with the commission approximately a year with ALSA.

And I have a chair representing the workers.

And I uh occupy another chair with the domestic workers of Sandaro.

In again, Billy Heatherington, co-chair.

I am the political director for Labor's Local 242.

So we're gonna split it up and tackle the presentation.

All of us here have our own little piece of it.

We're gonna go over the overview and history and the composition and recruitment of the committee, the priorities we have, and and 2026.

So next slide.

So kind of an overview.

Next slide.

So some of the first cohorts that were our uh commissions that were were stood up in 2016 were really worked on issues like secured scheduling, um, the first minimum wage that was established, um, the raise of the minimum wage that was established here in Seattle, um, wage chef wage theft um issues and concerns that's really really near and dear to my heart, establishing things like paid sick and safe time.

Um and since then, the following cohorts I've been on the commission since uh I think 2021, four or five years now, um, in light of things like uh COVID 19.

We work with OLS to do business outreach, um, you know, keeping our business, our uh consumers safe and ways that we can do that to try to keep businesses open.

Um we worked on establishing the independent contractor protection ordinance that just got put in place here recently and establishing uh the fund source there to help um OLS um you know regulate that and um you know and thrive in that area.

Um we've done things recently as know your rights training.

We put one on as um in partnership with with OLS and the community and and and Sylvia's uh domestic worker standards board and there's some other um know your rights trainings that we're sponsoring that are coming up in the near future too as well.

I think that's about it.

Um so as Billy kind of alluded to there, we have 15 positions um uh uh with within our commission here, uh representing all business, labor, and community.

Right now, we have worked really hard to make sure we have a diverse uh diversity of perspective and consensus building within our commission.

We do have 11 current commissioners.

Uh three of those are business owners, one being myself and he talked about Amanda as well.

One is a researcher, we have two community organizations and five labor organizations represented.

Uh, we do still have four positions that we would love to fill.

We love to um continue to make sure that we uh are keeping that diversity of voices um brought to this commission.

Um one of those is a council appointment, two mayoral appointments, and a commissioner appointment.

Um keeping in mind that we want to keep that diversity, we would love your help if you guys can ever think of somebody along the way here uh that would be a great fit here.

Specifically, we've kind of identified that we love to have actually a worker on our commission, um, somebody who can represent that side.

We also notice we have a hole in the business side and kind of that medium-sized businesses, and especially like restaurant and hospitality industries.

Um finally, obviously uh it's always great to have the diversity of voices in the immigrant community, especially when it comes to labor standards, and we would love we we would love to find some uh more voices on that side as well.

Okay.

I am encouraged that El SAC is promoting language justice, the know your rights.

Training was simultaneously interpreting to Spanish.

And I want to mention that it's very very important to have this type of education and conscious since we are living in times where the community the immigrant community rather stayed in silence.

Preguntas que aun not respuestas, pero nos gustaria tener less.

These are questions that we still don't have answers, but we would like to have them.

Thank you.

Just to follow up on that personal, you know, um background with myself.

I came to Seattle in September of 2021 specifically to work at drivers union because the city had passed the deactivation rights ordinance that provided protections for workers like Sylvia just talked about.

It is not something that I was aware of in any other space.

I'm an immigrant myself to this country.

I've had family members that have had to work, you know, in drive-throughs, right?

Because while they were waiting for their status, I've had family members abused when they've been here on the H1B visa and in their corporate setting have had to deal with certain stresses and um pressures, you know, wondering what are they going to do because their daughter, their child is dependent on them maintaining this job.

And so it's something I don't want to get lost, you know, the impact to that the city has had with OLS, you know, with the advice of LSAT of the various policies and ordinance and how to implement working with their community partners.

Um driver's union, you know, was was part of that.

The gig um gig worker rights is something that is still being paid attention to.

Other cities are looking at the City of Seattle and OLS and asking how they were able to be able to get ordinance like that passed and and moved.

So I don't want it to get lost, although I'm here to kind of talk about the data, you know, portion and seeing the actual impact um of what OLS is doing with the advice of in this commission, and part of why I joined this commission was through the work that I was doing with drivers union.

So when we talk about that impact, you know, looking at 2025 of what was done with OLS, the over 21 million dollars assessed in investigations.

More than 33,000 workers were impacted.

Those are workers that wouldn't normally come, you know, may not necessarily step out where these protections in these agencies, um, and this, you know, commission being around and knowing that they have this first path um to come, you know, to seek advice from.

Um, and over 4,000 workers trained and over 7,400 businesses engaged.

And that's one of the things that we do want to, especially in a labor setting.

I'm from the labor side, the uniqueness about this commission is we do have labor and business working together to advance one particular, you know, the priorities of making sure that workers are in a safe environment.

Nobody starts from the mindset that the business are trying to do wrong.

We know that they're trying to do right, and a lot of them just may not be aware of how to do so.

And so some of OLS's work is done through the community partnerships and two main tools is the COEF, which is a community outreach and education fund, and the business outreach and education fund.

The COEF are partners, sorry, trusted community-based partners that they meet with workers where they are, they provide language, culture language capacity, they have the same culture, the same lived experiences, and they help workers understand their rights, um, navigate and workplace issues and then connecting those workers with OLS when something goes wrong.

And BOEF does the same thing, but on the business side, um, because as I said, the starting point is that businesses are trying to get it right.

They're not purposely doing things to try and get it wrong, um, and they don't always know what compliance actually looks like in practice, especially some small business owners, they're not necessarily at the stage where they can have a general counsel or lawyer and retainer to figure out how do I comply with what this looks like.

And so those funds um are partners that step in to educate, guide, and help try to prevent the violations before they happen.

Um so these programs with OLS, it's what um turns the policy and the ordinances of the city into real world impact.

And I'm here to encourage um, you know, well, we as LSACs here to encourage the council to provide stable funding for OLS to continue to have this type of impact in the city.

Recently, the mayor's transition team recognized that OLS needs that stable funding structure to meet its enforcement um possibilities, um and this requires increased capacity.

So that's gonna look like more staffing, more resources, and more discretion.

policy and the ordinances of the city into real world impact and I'm here to encourage um you know well we as LSACs here to encourage a council to provide stable funding for OLS to continue to have this type of impact in the city recently the mayor's transition team recognized that OLS needs that stable funding structure to meet its enforcement um possibilities um and this requires increased capacity so that's gonna look like more staffing more resources and more discretion um but at the same time the city departments have been asked to propose how they could possibly cut five to ten percent from their budget and for a department like OLS that's tension right they're already operating below their full capacity there's 43 allotted positions and currently they're only staffed with 38 funded positions um so the the two recognition from the mayor's transition team but then the ask of the city's department um they're fundamentally in in conflict um and for OLS because it's a smaller department and they don't have the discretion um their their funds are earmarked right for specific things there's not a lot of discretion and the ability to shift um resources in response to increased funding um or increased demand so for example and we heard it mentioned I think in the previous um presentation there's conversations about World Cup 2026 and that is coming and that's gonna bring an influx of workers and businesses into Seattle and OLS doesn't necessarily have the discretion to shift funding to say hey this is happening let's reallocate funds to more outreach or education and so it creates that you know creates um have detrimental impacts right it means fewer workers are going to be reached fewer businesses are going to be supported and more violations that could have been prevented um you know will will happen so as you all know Seattle has led um the nation in advance in labor to labor protections for gig workers right we have not just what happened with the TNC drivers we now have for the um at base um drivers of delivery drivers the independent contractors so these are things that are not seen in other cities um and not taken into consideration that those that fill those spaces do not have the power to truly negotiate the contracts that they may be entering into and that impacts the small businesses that need that rely on those services as well so we're asking you know that this leadership that we have set the path forward that we continue funding um you know this this process and providing the the discretion other there's a couple other jurisdictions that are trying different things so um Oregon California Illinois have recognized and created stable funding um for um for a similar office like I've been in conversations with some of them like how did OLS you know uh have the impact and what they're looking to do and they've created these other states have looked at creating fundings for their offices through payroll taxes or using some of the civil penalties that are tied to their enforcement so you know we Seattle has the the opportunity to do the same and do it in a way that aligns with the leadership that we've already demonstrated.

It's not just about enforcement it's about making sure that a worker understands their rights before they're violated and making sure that businesses get it right the first time instead of having to learn through penalties and it's ensuring that the entire system that we've built isn't just existing on papers and words in black and white but in actual function consistency and equitability.

So we believe in these laws and we're asking you to you know provide the funding and the discretion that OLS can continue doing the work and LSAC can continue having the impact that we've had with the various um advice that we've given through through our process.

Thank you.

So and as I mentioned before um we meet on an annual basis and we um we talk about priorities and things we want to look at moving forward so um you know here's some of the things that we're we're looking at moving forward that came out of our last um our last conference or whatever you want to call it but one of the big things is the impacts on AI to the workforce that we're gonna be trying to look um dedicated revenue sources that might help uh OLS with their funding stream um and and more things um you know we meet on a um every other month basis and and we take a look at these things and how you know and and try to bring in guest speakers um you know hear from OLS from the director of how these different things are impacting and and to craft policy and suggestions uh moving forward so here is a picture of one of our uh annual retreats um this one here was from 2024 so we're big happy family so in conclusion um we just wanted to say obviously thank you and applaud the city of Seattle for you know standing up the Office of Labor Standards and and this group um you know you're on the cutting edge of you know of cities that are that are looking at taking you know looking at workers and and making them a priority in your policy but also in that you know the business folks especially the ones that sit here at LSAC recognize that they're competing with businesses in and around Seattle and

So in conclusion, um, we just wanted to say obviously thank you and applaud the city of Seattle for you know standing up the Office of Labor Standards and and this group.

Um, you know, you're on the cutting edge of you know, of cities that are that are looking at taking, you know, looking at workers and and making them a priority in your policy, but also in that, you know, the business folks, especially the ones that sit here at LSAC recognize that they're competing with businesses in and around Seattle, and with a lot of a lot of costs that are associated with businesses are set costs.

And the first thing that goes is the it drives the impacts on labor, whether it's through wages, benefits, anything like that.

And so when they're out there competing in good businesses competing, they want to compete, they don't want to compete against bad actors, right?

And so OLS is here to to call out those bad actors and make sure that our our good friends in the business community, like we have here at LSAC could compete at the highest level and you know, and and do good by the workers on that.

Um, I wanted to invite everybody.

So, as far as the business outreach, um, two weeks from today on May 1st, um, the OLS does their um annual um business outreach.

Um, this year they're gonna be they're gonna be down in the Pioneer Square area and around the stadium districts and being really proactive and talking to those businesses as we're gonna welcome the world to Seattle for FIFA.

So that's a great it's a great thing they do every year.

A lot of us participate in those efforts too as well.

Um you know, and in the future, we've met with some of the council members um as members of LSAC and we invite any of the council members that haven't met with us to please reach out or or let us know if you're interested, we can reach out to your staff to set up set up a meeting, um, any uh priority legislation or anything that you're working on at council, we welcome them to to look over them as a committee of business and labor folks and give you any feedback.

Um and we're just we're here to serve you.

So thank you again.

Thank you all so much for being in committee today talking about your work.

I know one of the things that really excites me about the work of LSAC is again the diverse table that is set, including business, labor, and workers sitting together and really talking about the issues before before us.

Um colleagues, I want to open it up for questions that you have for our LSAC members.

Vice Chair Foster.

Thank you so much, Chair, and thank you so much to everyone for being here today and for your service on the committee.

I really appreciate it.

Um I wanted to go to I didn't get the slide number, but there was a slide that you had about the recommendations, and I saw a note that said, um, that's not it.

It was sort of it was later, it was um Billy when you were speaking.

There we go.

This first one around um restraining predatory commercial leasing practices.

I wonder if you can share more about that one.

You want to jump in on so part of the conversation that came up, um my involvement with others in um just being out in the community.

You hear about some of the leases that small businesses are signing.

And one example of a business window got broken and the lease how it is written, although that should be something from my standpoint as an attorney, that should have been something that the landlord would have been um required to fix.

It was not.

And they engage in it was multiple times that the that it had happened, it was something within the within that area.

And they weren't aware that they could actually push for that.

The landlord had certain terms in there about how they could increase the le increase their um what their rents would be based on certain improvements that they've done in a plaza space, but it wasn't they increased it beyond that, and more than what the landlord more than the actual fixes that the landlord has done.

Um so it is having some of those predatory type lease terms that are present that as a small business owner, you're not necessarily going to have the wherewithal or the resources to have someone that um can review this commercial, you know, 20-page commercial lease to say yes, you should or no, negotiate this part, you know you have your business, you're looking to get started, and it seems fair enough to you in terms of the length and what the amount that you're paying.

So they you know sign that lease, and then as they get into it, the details of it start coming out, and it's too late for them.

So it is one of those that you know, we I've seen too much where I'm like, we can't really do anything because you've already signed this contract, and you're you're stuck with the terms of the contract, but similar to what we've seen with the gig economy, right?

That if there are um city laws or ordinances that require certain, like whether it's caps on how much you can increase, you know, um in a commercial lease, um, and certain things that we know the landlord has to be held responsible for.

I think that would ease the concerns and ease the burdens that are then placed on the small business owners.

Because once that increases, it's now I have to think, oh, I I have to come out of pocket to fix these things, which means I may need to let a worker go or cut one of my workers' time, you know, the amount of time, and now someone else is, you know, they are taking on more or put in on more responsibilities on other employees that are there.

So it's just kind of looking at some of these issues that we've seen and we've heard and I've heard um, you know, people coming to me with.

Thank you so much.

And um I wondered, I know the uh OED director is here with us today, and I wonder if there's a formal relationship between the committee.

I know obviously you're uh uh tied to Office of Labor standards, but I'm also thinking about work that Office of Economic Development is doing.

And so curious if there's already sort of a direct connection as I'm listening to that recommendation with OED and knowing that there's work happening there on that um that lease and commercial side.

And if not, we can we can take that offline and we can make sure that happens because I just hear a real opportunity there.

And I see the director nodding um his head from the audience, and we'll follow up on that.

And uh just one more question, if I may, Chair.

Um at the beginning, you um talked about the desire to have a medium-sized business, and I heard you sort of talk about you know, uh potential partnership from council.

Can you just define that for us?

What would be medium-sized, knowing that um you know, are you thinking like 25 to 100 folks, two locations, if there's any more information so that we can be good partners and helping maybe identify folks to um partner with the commission.

Yeah, I think you're kind of right in that right line of where we're thinking there, um 25 to 100.

I we have currently two small businesses.

I'm definitely I know I have three locations, but we run very tight ship and we're very small.

Um, and then we also have um the the GSBA on there, which is really great because they represent they kind of are voice of many, many um sizes of business, but it'd be really nice to get those people in the room that have a perspective that I don't have um that are small business owners like myself and Amanda just don't have um where they're having maybe bigger footprints, um a lot bigger labor force, but maybe not to that size where we're to the the big tech, the the big big tech companies here as well, um which obviously are a whole different array of um of mindset.

But yeah, I feel I feel like they're just underrepresented there, and that's kind of where we'd like to see that side come in on the business side.

Thank you so much, and chair final question.

Um I really appreciated the comments uh and the context around your your work and the um the need that's there compared to the staffing.

I also wonder if you can talk a little bit more.

What one of my concerns has been seeing some of the dismantling at the federal level of um of labor standards and of uh the you know the existing governing bodies.

I wonder if you can speak just a little bit to how that may be um impacting work locally.

So and that's one of the the pieces I know, for example, on the state level, they just passed the trigger bill.

Um so if NLRB kicks out or you know doesn't take um jurisdiction, the PER could, you know, could do so.

Um so but in terms of locally, it's something that I that is a conversation that we have been having as a commission in terms of what can the city um do or what can we recommend that wouldn't necessarily step on the you know in the jurisdiction of of other organizations.

Um and it's still an ongoing conversation.

Um part of the reason why we're like we'd like to have you know workers on the board as well, because as someone in labor, we can give that perspective of here's what we're seeing, and yes, it's you know, we are directly connected to um workers, but that for example, the nurses association, that's hospital and facilities.

That is, you know, bigger um workforce drivers union.

We've done our, you know, they've done our own kind of protecting um employees like we have a rapid response, like what does that look like?

And it's through litigation, but it is a little bit disheartening because that can take long.

Um so some of the ideas is is there a way that we can quickly respond?

Is it something that put having a space to implement more fee, you know, heftier fines on employers where there's a quicker investigation process that goes into goes into play.

So it's still some of the ideas that we're working through, but some of it could be that is implements in heftier fines.

I know when we're there and some of the arguments that we've used, we did, you know, use what the investigations at OLS did and the multimillion dollar, you know, payments settlement agreements that the Uber and Lyft entered into because they were stealing wages, and they're aware of that.

But they also are aware that the workers don't necessarily have time to look at every single chart, you know, on their pay statements to realize hold on, there was you know five cents taken here, ten cents taken there, but that adds up to millions over time.

So having more, and that's part of why we talked about you know, morph in enforcement, having more of more staff that can do the investigations in a shorter time period and having heftier penalties as you know associated to that, um, I think is what would encourage um workers to step up and look into enforce them because I've heard when I bring in cases from the TNC drivers, there's a fear of well, can they retaliate or how long is this going to take?

Um, and the companies, you know, the bigger companies take their time and drag out the litigation.

Um and so it's two, three years later, and the drivers are you know moved on to something else, or and or now that the federal you know landscapes changing, they're free to continue to pursue it.

So thinking of ideas, you know, along along those those lines, and same with businesses.

Like we've had those conversations on the panel where it's like I don't want to get those fines, but you know, we need to understand where it is.

So the community funds um and the business partnership funds are two funds that I think are very valuable, um, but it is also the dis having more discretion and having a little bit more outreach.

So locally with the dismantling of what's going on, you know, federally, it is promoting the idea of like, yes, we lean into the space of we are, you know, um a safe city and workers, businesses shouldn't fare speaking up and and stepping up um to it.

But I think it from an immigrant standpoint is having that um that's safe space for lack of better phrase, and having the confidence to know that if I come to the city, that one, my information isn't being shared, two, it's going to be responsive to the concerns that we're we're bringing up.

And you know, I have that that support.

Can I add real quick uh council member foster on on that?

I think that's why those know your rights trainings that we do are so important.

Um and uh as Patrice mentioned the business and and commu the community and the business outreach that we do, because we we work with represented workers, but there's a there's a majority of the workers in the city of Seattle that aren't represented, uh, large groups of immigrant immigrant communities, and so these know your rights trainings.

I mean, for example, the first one that we did, we were gonna do an in-person one, but we at the last minute switched it to online for safety of the people that wanted to attend.

So those are those are huge in any way that we can continue to partner to do those.

And it and it lifts up the work that OLS does.

I mean, and it's at at this time no more than any other, the work they do is so great in protecting the workers.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for those questions, Vice Chair Foster.

And just building on this point, it's it's my recollection.

I believe there was a state bill passed this year around allowing for uh paid leave to be used uh for immigration during immigration proceedings.

Is that correct?

I might be recalling that in the case.

I believe so, yes.

And thinking about that is just one step forward um to try and approach the myriad of challenges that immigrant workers are facing, and you all spoke to again the dynamics between we have a number of workers that are part of a represented union, um, but many of whom are are not.

And so I want to recognize and honor the points that Sylvia was raising in this, and thank you for being so clear on the questions that we don't have answers to at this time.

And um, I think I want to also open it up to this end around what are the other things that we're seeing in this space and opportunities, understanding that we the state took a step forward on allowing for um paid leave to be used for um time time for immigration proceedings, but I'm thinking specifically about the fact that we know a lot of people are are not coming to work on some days um when there's uh substantive fear of uh deportation and we continue to see challenges, and I'm hearing about challenges around just retaliation, um, wage theft and weaponizing someone's um documentation against them.

And so other ideas or or concepts that have been percolating or things that you're hearing would be helpful to hear on this front as well.

Haven't discussed this, but as you were talking, one of the things, you know, thoughts or ideas, and I don't I don't know if this is already happening, so I'll say it with that caveat.

But um, I know for example, I used to work with the NLRB, and there was a process in a memo that was in place at one point that before ICE um or USIS went into do any kind of workplace investigation, it's the deconflict and memo, they would also check with the NLRB to see if there was any complaint because those bigger companies, workers started unionizing or started talking about it, they would then call, you know, like, oh, we need to do an I-9 check.

Um, or they would call ICEN, you know, to sh to quelch that that movement.

So there was that deconflicting memo that was in place and was being adhered to.

So here in the city, I don't know if the city is alerted um or you know, police um force, you know, the police is informed if there's going to be any kind of ice coming into the city.

So if there is something like that, or um, you know, maybe the city police reaching out, informing OLS, informing OED, like letting some of the agencies that work with workers in businesses be aware that this is going to happen, assuming you're provided, you know, um knowledge ahead of time.

That could be one way to start that process.

Thank you for naming that.

I think with our existing laws in place, the cooperation between federal government SPD, we don't necessarily get a heads up, but I think it's worthwhile talking to the executive that when the city understands there might be something coming our way, ensuring that we are talking communicating with departments so we can do appropriate outreach when when possible.

Yeah.

No, thank you for raising that.

Um and I do want to pivot us to just uh another point on this slide, maybe to close this out, just because AI is moving quickly.

Um it feels like we're playing catch-up in many ways.

And so I'm wondering what issues related to AI in the workplace that you all are attracting at at this time.

And I think this is gonna be a continuing conversation as we continue to see the rise of AI in workplaces across our city.

Um, what are some of the uh issues and challenges around AI in the workplace that you all are tracking at this time?

I mean, I I know at the state level, um, Dustin Lambert is part of uh LSAC, he's not here to speak on it, but they're looking at the um the consumer price fixing type stuff through like AI and the technology there.

So we're kind of monitoring that type of stuff.

Uh obviously any type of reduction in force, that type of stuff, you know, trying to look trying to look at those things.

Um I wanted to go back real quick to what Patrice said was saying.

I know it it it sparked something in my head.

I know Governor Ferguson just did something um at the end of last month around I-9 and having to give notice to employers and stuff to do an I-9 audit.

Um, and so that's around um kind of the the federal ICE conversation too, there.

But um, but yeah, there's there's several of us on here that are f in in different different realms working on different things, and so when we come together, we do have I think that's gonna be an ongoing conversation around what we're seeing in the AI space.

I'd also add to that with yeah, one of the concerns is discipline uh decisions within AI because there's and we've seen it in the gig economy in the in the gig space, right?

If you get X amount of things on your background check, doesn't matter what it is that and the importance of the laws that we have, that would be beforehand it's just a count, right?

You get three things, you're off the platform, you've now lost your job.

Doesn't matter what whether you are at fault, not at fault.

So those are you know, like we've actually addressed that, and we know that in that space, it's their algorithm that is just scanning, seeing these three things and making a decision, and they block the app.

Um, so it's not someone a human eye actually looking at it.

Um I believe at one point there was a conversation on the state level.

I'm not sure where that went, so we'd have to like look into that to get back.

But that was part of the conversation is having um an individual, a human actually making the decision when it comes to discipline and not leaving that to AI algorithmic, you know, algorithms.

Uh so that's another you know thing we've seen in the in the labor spaces as well, where AI is more efficient, uh, but it doesn't consider cont you know enough context.

And I think along that line in the small business space, I mean sometimes we're probably all guilty of using AI too much at times and maybe getting false information at times, and it goes back to where OLS needs to be educating the businesses, not AI.

Um, as a small business, there's many times that I I mean I'm trying to sort through the rules, and yes, the quickest way might be to plug it into a machine machine and ask them to read these rules for me.

But if OLS can be clear on their business education um to other small businesses, it would help us um better make sure we're following the rules and doing things correctly.

And I think that kind of it actually shows the importance of OLS and their education side for um for businesses too.

Um, verdad.

And I believe that we were talking about education y la intelligence artificial viene affecting vulnerables que quizás nothing ese conocimiento.

And I think AI uh comes in a time uh to affect vulnerable uh people that that doesn't have that knowledge.

Uh personas mayores can travel in restaurantes, janitors.

And we should reinforce that education to promote people like people working and restaurants, older people.

But because there could be a lot of fraud uh in regards to those type of workers.

So I think there's a lot of work that we have to do in this AI area.

Thank you all for those responses and again for being here today, hearing a very clear call out from the chairs uh to council to please engage with LSAC um any policy ideas and to regularly check in, especially as things are moving quickly with AI and on the immigration front, and frankly on all things.

And so um wanna uplift, I know uh Billy, you mentioned the OLS event um happening um in honor of May Day.

I did find out it's on April 30th, so I want to make sure we got that.

It's not quite on May Day, um, and I will be there, and I think some of our council colleagues will be there as well, and really excited about that education opportunity um to do that outreach work.

And so it'll be on April 30th at the Chinese Information Service Center, and there will be outreach to a variety of council districts and businesses within those council districts.

Um with that, um colleagues, I'm gonna move us along and thank again our LSAC partners for being in committee today.

Thank you for your work.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

And with that, we're gonna move to our final item of business.

Will the clerk please read item nine into the record?

Item nine, Office of Economic Development, Workforce Development Strategic Plan, briefing and discussion.

Wonderful.

And as we go through our transition, I'm going to welcome our partners with uh Office of Economic Development to the table.

And also note for the record this is the first time we have our new OED acting director, uh Vero Yarce in committee this year.

We're very excited to be working with you.

And as you get settled in, if you can take a moment to please introduce yourself by stating your full name into the microphone for the record, that would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi, good morning, everyone.

My name is Brina McKay.

I'm the interim manager for the key industries and workforce development team at OED.

Hi, everyone.

I am Anita Chandra Mohan.

I'm the workforce development policy advisor within the Office of Economic Development.

Uh Thank you, Madame Chair Rink uh for the opportunity, and thank you for uh it's a pleasure working with you directly.

And good morning, everybody, uh Council members and community.

Uh Beto Yarse, Acting Director for the Office of Economic Development.

Wonderful.

Thank you all for being here.

Please proceed with the presentation.

Uh well, I'm gonna start with a high level of the work that we are doing at the Workforce Development Strategy and our office of OED.

Uh so I will just start with from from fragmentation to implementation.

When this work is starting 2025, the city workforce investment and program were in coordinating and connecting the people graduating from our programs and trainings to the next step in their skills or career path within around the city or the region.

Uh so that's something that I really feel very proud of how we're changing strategy and how we are measuring by doing it with the smart goals and really evaluating on how we are moving forward with this fragmentation and our implementation.

Uh so OED is the leader on the face of the city workforce development implementation, which I'm very proud of that work.

Uh, someone who is uh previous small business owner, someone who worked in hospitality as a worker, on documented worker.

I know how important is workforce development for our community and the investments that we do.

OED represents the mayor position as the chief locally elected official on the city workforce development council of Seattle and King County, and also OED close contacts with industry and education partners and plays and key role of anticipating and responding to cross-department coordination.

The collaboration is so important when we do uh cross-department coordination over the last seven months, 10 departments have been working together to identify and allow opportunities that serve our local residents, students, families, and job seekers who want to learn and advance in skilling and financial security.

As someone who has been graduate organizer, working in multiple capacities in my career from nonprofit, federal government now with the city, uh, I feel like a coordination is key to advance these complexities of workforce development.

Uh, so I'm very proud of my team leading with that vision of coordination and utilizing the resources that the city has, especially in these times, uh, and really empowering our total city workforce in this capacity.

Uh, we are seeing many of our regional public partners prioritizing workforce, which is very exciting, and their strategies are very closely with evolving industry needs.

The city needs to be on the front lines of these conversations.

We have a unique opportunity to align, blend, and strengthen finding opportunities, public investments, and community partnerships while advancing local talent development.

With that, I will just pass it with my team, which they are the ones who have all the knowledge.

I always very, very grateful for their smartness and their commitment and their passion for their work.

Uh so while that pass pass it to Anita and Brina and I will be here to support Anita and answer any questions.

So, Anita, please uh share your knowledge with the console and thank you for being here.

Thanks, Vincent, and thanks, Brina.

Good morning, council members.

Again, my name is Anita Chandurmohan.

I'm the workforce development policy advisor within OED.

And thank you all so much for the opportunity to share more about the workforce portfolio and the really wonderful and exciting strategic work that we are doing within and across the city.

So today's briefing will follow this arc.

I'm gonna give a quick snapshot of the city's historical workforce development efforts.

I will kind of give the last 14 months of catch-up and thinking about um the strategy development, current priorities, and focus areas.

I'll talk a little bit more about key partnerships within the work that we're doing, uh, touch on some early wins and again very cool things that we're doing in progress, and then close with where we're headed and really thinking about some opportunities within clean energy, youth workforce investment, and thinking about how best to anchor the work that we're doing in robust impact metrics, and so we're able to clarify what is actually driving change, how we can inform opportunities to scale, innovate, and also respond to very rapidly evolving employer and industry needs to maybe just keep talking there's a second there should be a timeline on the slide.

But I can go over that in person if that's okay.

One second, colleagues, we'll be at ease for one second.

Thank you.

Okay.

So on this slide, you would see a timeline of the workforce development history at the city.

But before we get into the history, I want to take just a second to define what we mean when we're talking about workforce development.

And when we say workforce development, we are talking about the coordinated effort to prepare job seekers for careers across sectors, how to think about business and industry attraction, and also working with employers to ensure that they have access to a skill diverse talent pipeline.

And so it includes investments around partnership solutions and thinking about how, of course, um across sectors, different things can be prioritized, but there is still an incredible amount of overlap in thinking about the audience needs, challenges, and many of the things that our employers are looking for that are not technical and specialized training.

You guys have just uh heard several presentations talking about the impact or disruption of AI in workforce, and so we'll definitely touch on that a little bit.

But the reality is that we're hearing from employers across every sector at every level, that the ability to be adaptable, to communicate, to problem solve, those are the things that make somebody more competitive.

And so, in thinking about how the city can be investing in those, um, that's also something that we're really thinking about in addition to like the traditional training and employer development.

There we go.

I think we have the right slides up, just confirming.

Yes, that's the right slide.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, as you can see here, before 2025, the city roughly invested about 15 million dollars across departments within 65 plus workforce programs.

But there wasn't a lot of coordination and shared outcomes.

Departments were doing great work, but unfortunately, they were operating relatively independently, oftentimes in silos and just not talking as well to each other as they could.

And the other part of that is that job seekers and graduates from training programs weren't effectively connected to the next opportunity or possible next steps in their career journeys.

And so in early 2025, OED convened a city workforce group, and they brought together 11 plus departments, thinking about how they can or how we can really think about workforce development strategically within the city, across the city um borders, but also within the region, because we know that anything that happens uh within Seattle is really impacting the uh outside borders and vice versa.

And especially when we think about workforce, people who live in Seattle don't necessarily work in Seattle, and people who work in Seattle don't necessarily live in Seattle.

And so that's why the really cross-sector and regional ecosystem is incredibly important to this conversation.

In early 2025, I mentioned OED had convened this workforce group, and the phase one was identifying pillars that ground the city's approach in how we are thinking about the city, aiming to be a model employer, how we can prioritize outcomes and impact across our workforce investments, and also, as I just mentioned, strengthening the regional workforce ecosystem.

The second phase, which really um kind of restarted in December 2025, began as the City Wade Workforce Group was identifying two urgent priorities utilities and uh youth pathways.

And so utilities includes clean energy and green economy workforce demands, and also thinking about on the youth workforce priority, how are we exposing and giving hands-on skill experience and exposure to young people about the key and thriving career pathways that exist locally.

So, as I just mentioned, the 2026 strategy really thinks about youth and utilities using those three pillars, the city as a model employer, strategic partnerships, and data and impact as the underpinning for the way that we're doing work within those focus areas.

And as we're thinking about stronger, more cohesive and connected workforce systems, we are thinking about how we can bring those pillars into each of those areas.

And it is 100% about how we can work together more effectively and having accountability to the folks that we're serving and to each other as well.

And so part of this is really trying to have us understand what is the information or partnership gaps that remain, and we want to make sure we're not leaning back into that fragmentation and continue being able to share learnings, talk to each other, um, and make sure that we are connected internally and then also with the partners that we find very key to moving this work forward.

And I'll just maybe pause um for a second here and say that across all of this or throughout all of this, we get asked often what is OED's role.

And OED is really serving as a convener, as a system integrator, but also as a relationship holder for employers, for skills trainers, and for public workforce institutions, and it's um OED's role to also bring that knowledge to the city and help departments kind of learn from those other partnerships and elevate them more appropriate for other departments to develop their own relationships as well.

I keep talking about partnerships and relationship development, so I want to take just a moment and highlight a few examples of partners that are very critical to our work and the regional economic development.

You've heard me say that workforce development is fundamentally partnership work, and really at OED, our role is to align the partners, including industry and employers.

And really at OED, our role is to align the partners, including industry and employers.

So job seekers can access and complete training that leads to real job opportunities.

You know, my colleagues and partners have heard me say that training programs are great, but if there's no job at the end of it, that's really doing a disservice to the job seeker.

And so, you know, it's really, I think a responsibility of the city and the investments in the partners that we have to offer training with which has next steps to placement, and thinking about the employer priorities and uh making sure that trainings are not leaving people kind of uncompetitive or not as competitive because the trainings aren't responsive to industry needs.

And so aligning that with industry demand in real time is incredibly important.

And I'll just maybe say also here we often hear from employers in industry that by the time a training program kind of gets to them, or by the time a graduate gets to them, that's at the end of the pipeline where the employer wishes they had been brought along at the beginning because then they would have been able to be more of a co-designer or a partner and say, yep, these are the skills that we need, and we have those jobs kind of waiting at the end of this program to have the graduates be able to enter into or to upskill.

And so leaning more into those public-private partnerships or those uh co-design type of solutions is definitely something that we're trying to explore.

And so we partner uh across four main groups higher education, thinking about um certifications, bridge programs, and identifying again the offerings that we have in our local atmosphere for higher education and connecting them with the job opportunities.

Internally, DEAL is a huge partner in this work.

They participate in the citywide workforce group and hold critical relationships with the district, uh, Seattle Promise, the colleges, et cetera.

And so just kind of naming that when we talk about workforce development, people often think about it, you know, is it are you talking about adults?

Are you talking about youth?

Really, it's the whole pipeline, and that's the responsibility also of some where someone like OED to think about what are we doing from in the K through 12 or even K through eight, what's happening in the high school space and then post-secondary, et cetera.

We also work closely to understand the needs and the inputs of labor and industry.

You've heard me talk a lot about having um industry at the table or just having at least their priorities represented, especially because things are evolving so quickly, and so understanding how we can really partner with um union groups, with apprenticeship programs, and with employers to strengthen training and direct placement in those jobs.

Part of this is also having employers um come and talk to students and young people about what it is like for certain pathways as AI is changing the nature of that work.

You heard me talk earlier about what I'm gonna call power skills, sometimes called soft skills.

Those are across the board the number one thing we hear from employers that they still can't find, even if somebody has the technical or kind of skilled expertise.

Um the two other big groups that we work with public workforce partners, and so these are folks like the port, the workforce development council, King County, and uh community organizations.

And so understanding where appropriate braided or blending funding opportunities can be provided, where we can strengthen wraparound supports, but because we know that that's the biggest reason that people can enter or drop out of programs, and also just in terms of the shared municipal works, shared municipal workforce systems, having people understand, you know, what are some best practices that are being elevated within the city.

We'd love to learn about the county as well, and being able to share those, and so understanding again, going back to how can the city be a model employer for a lot of the solutions that we will be championing or have been championing, championing.

Next slide, please.

So the next two slides are a few examples of some early wins and progress that we've made working together within the citywide workforce group.

Um, I'm not gonna read the ones that are on the slides, but I'm going to give you two additional highlights to share that you're not gonna see there.

So one is a soft launch of next move Seattle.

Some of you may be familiar with um this funding and kind of approach.

So innovation and performance a couple of years ago received some funding to understand what young people need to help with mental health support and how can the city be responsive to that.

And so IP spoke with young people to identify some tools that they needed to feel better supported by the community, and in response, a digital platform was created to help youth navigate opportunities in their neighborhood, their schools, their cities, particularly thinking about a citywide career and well-being navigation tool.

And we are working to support outreach for that, having a complementary web app prototype as well.

It's not funded for its full launch, but I did want to share that one other highlight.

And so it's been great to have IP share their learnings directly from young people with our group and have that respond and incorporate a lot of the career tools that we've been talking about.

We are also working on regional coordination with the port of Seattle and the workforce development council.

We've had wonderful touch points around some maritime strategy and workforce demand alignment.

We also have been talking about clean energy priorities, including thinking about what we really need to know about clean energy workforce opportunities here, and thinking about the coordinated support for dislocated workers, immigrant and refugee job seekers, and small business support.

And this is the uh second set of progress on the city coordination.

Just elevating here.

Um, I'm sure you are all familiar with the FEP levy passed last year.

There was a path to trades component within this.

And uh the citywide workforce group worked together to develop recommendations on how that path to trades funding could be used to align and support other city workforce investments, getting folks into the trades, getting youth exposed to skill pathways as well.

And also highlighting here on the previous one, you saw an award.

I'm sorry, the previous slide you saw an award that the city was awarded.

One of our early wins is that the citywide workforce group applied for and City Light and uh Seattle Public Utilities received training or are in the process of receiving training and coaching to improve their internal workforce uh development.

And so this was really great because it's training that City Light and Public Utilities were going to have to pay for regardless.

And so we kind of saved that expense and were able to have them go through this process.

We will be having a site visit from the National League of Cities and American Institute for Research coming in May 11th and 12th.

And we'll also be able to showcase some of the really great work that the city is doing internally to help support incumbent and uh incoming workers.

So in our closing moments, I just want to give a quick snapshot about uh what we are looking at coming ahead.

And so a lot of this work is ongoing, it's going to continue through the end of the year and hopefully into the next several years, just understanding that workforce is changing and we really are seeing, I'd say, across sectors, a lot of different types of workers who are being impacted in various ways.

And so, how can we support them within the city is something we're thinking very intentionally about.

We also understand that the locus of control we have is only so wide.

And so understanding where those partnership leave partnership levers are that we can really lean into is extremely critical for us, and I think it's the work smarter, not harder model, um, and certainly also that we can do much more together than individually.

And so I know that's been a theme.

There's even been um a couple of speakers that have been here today that I've uh realized like I want to go back and talk to, and so that's been wonderful on my end, but really thinking about um, you know, how we are how Seattle has been a place for innovation for so long, and I think part of innovation in the workforce area is thinking about new ways that people can work together or can uh kind of partner that we haven't already, and leaning into some uh pilots and thinking about what's working and what's not and how to scale that, right?

And so I again I think we have a lot of uh clean energy, kind of green economy priorities in our state and our area, and how can we though really be intentional about some of the industry and employer and business partners we have there to also then develop a local talent pipeline that makes folks want to come and stay in the region and um you know really boost the economic development for our neighbors and for us.

So, with that, thank you so much to all of you.

We are very grateful for your support and your partnership and uh happy to take questions here with Brina and Beto.

Wonderful, thank you so much and apologies for the hijinks there on the slides.

I ended up just sharing my own screen.

So glad that we got that sorted, and thank you again for the presentation.

Um, colleagues, what questions do you have on workforce development?

I'm happy to kick us off while we are just uh perhaps uh marinating on some of these details.

Um thank you for walking us through all of these elements and all of the work that you're doing, particularly connecting different departments um efforts with the work of OED.

Um I'm wondering the FEP levy is front of mind for a lot of us.

Um I know I'm particularly excited about the Path to Trades um component.

And so I'm wondering if you can um just provide a little bit more uh detail on some of the work with regional partners.

Um we've been seeing a lot of reports and hearing directly from students about their path the interest in path to trades.

Um and so I'm wondering if you can speak to just a little bit more um some of the partnership with DEAL and maybe partnership with Seattle Public Schools too.

I think something that I've certainly heard from a lot of parents is just uh a real desire to further reach and and uh find kiddos and be able to explain these opportunities to young people.

And so I'm wondering if you could expand a little bit more on some of the thinking and outreach opportunities.

Sure.

I'm happy to kick us off.

Um great question.

And yeah, certainly top of mind.

I think what was really great or what is really great in our current strategy is we have this emphasis on um utilities and kind of skilled trades within that, and then also a youth emphasis.

And so FEP kind of bing brings those two worlds together in the best way.

We are definitely working with DEAL as they are the relationship holder, and we kind of look to them to lead the strategy and like have us advocate in terms of the work with the colleges.

We have a person from DEAL who kind of works on the promise portion and kind of that post-secondary intro into the colleges and where it's kind of baton handed off to OED is when the workforce component comes in.

And I do think though, um where the baton is kind of handed off is a very gray area.

And something that we're trying to be very intentional about is how we can get more skills hands-on training to young people.

I think something that used to exist, and by used to I say, like, you know, 20, 15 to 30 years ago now, is that there used to be a lot more trade exposure in high schools, right?

There's not really, and so how can we be a bit more intentional with partnering with places like Ajax with the Machinist Institute, where um even having maybe like a mobile trades uh kind of counselor who goes between the different uh schools and different um on different days to have young people be exposed to this.

One of the really cool events I think that we have, and I encourage um council members to attend is the Creative Economy Career Day.

There is an interesting skills to trade components of this because I think um one of the unions that they work very closely with is the IATSI labor union, which houses um a lot of different folks who work in the creative pathways, but folks who, for example, maybe carpenters, maybe uh woodworkers are working even in electrical, they then can have these jobs, for example, on a production set or building a set or even doing AV, et cetera.

And I think they're part of what is really great about the investments that we're looking at is how can we talk to young people about learning skill sets that can be stackable and flexible, right?

With the nature of AI, we don't know how jobs will completely transform or where what aspects of them will transform.

That I think goes back to the fact that like with a technical skill set that you have, you still have to be able to pivot it and apply it in different scenarios.

And so again, I think that goes back to partnerships, which is also to bring in alumni or folks like who are from the schools, even or the backgrounds that they are to talk about, like, yep, I was a young person, I had this interest, I decided to go to school for this.

Turns out I use that skill set, perhaps not at all, or in a completely different fashion.

We have found that young people really resonate with hearing from folks that have like gone through a lot of the pathways or the communities that they have as well, but also honestly hearing from people about how they've had to pivot or how they've pursued something and it's failed, but that's been okay in what they've learned from it.

I think for a lot of young people, they are hesitant for a number of reasons, like money, time, and all the other pieces to like invest a ton in a particular area and be like, well, that job isn't gonna exist even if I do decide to pursue it.

And so I think it's also about helping a young person be set up for success and thinking about those pieces, especially when it comes to paths to trade.

We know that the city's had a great um program in priority higher.

One of the things we're also trying to understand though is um, and this kind of goes back to the partnership piece, is over the course of the last 10 years, it has, I think there's maybe been like one person from the priority hire program who's graduated who's gotten a job at the city of Seattle.

City Light and utilities have notoriously hard hiring processes, and one of the things we're trying to understand is why there's been a drop-off in uh women applicants over the last few years, but then also what are those like very hard aspects or kind of um points of the hiring process within the city that we can look at, right?

That we could make more equitable, that we can make clearer and easier for job seekers to navigate.

And again, I think some of that is like bound by labor and other uh kind of more industry pieces, but there are places that we can be flexible, and so to understand what those are is also about um I think just digging a bit deeper and getting data on things that we have anecdotal information about, but not necessarily uh quantitative.

Thank you for for breaking that down.

And I know also at this time, as from our previous discussions in this committee meeting, just the matters related to immigration have been really front of mind for many of us.

I wanted to take a moment to send my appreciation uh for the ready to work program.

Um I'm wondering if OED has incorporated any other recommendations or findings from the regional partnerships for immigration integration and the workforce development report um to or incorporating those recommendations or thinking about strategies to address underemployment for immigrant communities.

Do you want to talk about O'Ira?

Yeah, I will get us uh started.

So, yes, the Ready to Work Program, and so um, just in case anybody isn't familiar, previously or historically the ready to work program has served folks who are kind of level zero or one to level three or so of English, right?

It's folks, it's helping people kind of do English training, but also very basics around creating resumes, doing job applications, interviewing, et cetera, particularly setting that in a US cultural context.

And the refined 2.0 version of ready to work that's about to be launched, and um just to clarify the 1.0 is still staying, so that uh we're still serving that population.

But the second level is really thinking about okay, great, we have these folks, maybe like they've done some skilled trades back home, maybe they're trying to um they're at a level four uh plus English, but they don't have the vocational or technical English to pass an apprenticeship exam to qualify for a training program or whatever that might look like.

And so that's really where the ready-to-work refinement comes in.

And so it's a ready-to-work career pathway program.

And so that's been really exciting there.

Um, another piece is um we've been bringing in the OIRA workforce lead to a lot of conversations on entry-level positions with um Seattle Public Utilities and with SDOT and CityLite.

So understanding that is there a way we could maybe have a um, you know, an idea that's kind of been thrown around is like there are applicants who are very talented who apply for city roles.

And I'll say I'll speak to city roles here just because um I have more data on that, but they apply to city roles and they have all the technical qualifications, but their English is just not at the level that they would need to be hired at, particularly for like safety and other communication um pieces.

So one of the things that we have tried to understand is like is there a way we could have like a city referral service for an applicant who applies who might benefit then from some additional English training and um could be referred to Owira for that purpose.

The other thing I want to also highlight is um we have also had OIRA been contracted and also with the citywide workforce group by a few different departments who have had challenges with immigrant and English language learning populations around public safety and communication pieces, right?

And so having the citywide workforce group and OIRA also really partner on how can we develop in language trainings for more departments to effectively communicate with English multilingual populations, right?

And so, like again, creating some of the resources where we make it easier for the employer to hire and communicate and navigate different challenges or opportunities with immigrant populations.

Is there anything you wanted to add?

I will just add as part of my role as director is like as we're hearing cultivation and partnership uh with the multiple stakeholders.

Uh it's been several conversations in just these six weeks with OIRA and OLS and my role working with Director Murchess and Director Boo on how do we elevate more of this work and how we can make those investments uh more strategically on terms of immigrant workers.

Uh it was very convening that I have I was sitting here in the previous presentation because a lot of the conversations that we hear, it's conversations that we already have in, and how do we kind of implement it into policy?

How do we kind of figure it out?

What is the funding that is needed, and also what are the resources that are already here that we just need to connect it and meet people where they are.

So the my team is doing a phenomenal job on doing the strategy working, and also my job is how do I hear from my team and how do I connect it with the older stakeholders that collaborate with us in this work.

Thank you for that.

And and you mentioned um just in your point about city employment, you know, that being more readily accessible information.

Is there information you wish you had to better support your work in workforce development?

Because this there's so many different pathways in workforce development.

There's so much happening in our region, and I'm wondering what would be supportive for your work, whether it'd be better connections across the region, or what would just further amplify and support your work.

You want to speak to that?

Um sure.

I think that some of the information we wish we had.

I'll start first with the relationship with King County.

Um, obviously, we're all going still going through the uh transition process, and um we are about to have a meeting with uh some of our colleagues over at King County, but trying to get more information and points of contact there on how we can really continue to move some of the work forward would be very helpful.

Um, I also think on the um the data side, maybe not within the count the city specifically, but uh to the extent that we're able to get more updated information on uh labor and demographics across industries and sectors to be able to really understand what the impact, the economic impact is of certain sectors on our economy.

Of course, at OED we have some of that information, um, but to be able to have that across sectors would be really helpful in terms of how we would be able to prioritize our investments or looking forward towards the future of uh of jobs, what types of investments we could prioritize in a more strategic long-term way is is how I would respond.

Anita, do you have anything to add on that?

Yeah, I think I wanted to just maybe call out that part of part of I think my my hesitant to jump in right away to that question is thinking about we have a lot of data in front of us, and part of it is I think right now trying to figure out how do we figure how do we identify the opportunities where we can pilot something where something is working and how long we need to see it working for and then scale that, right?

And so I think some of the pieces where the unknown is there is around like the testing now, right?

We've got this data, we want to be able to test it, but frankly, like testing something also requires quite a big investment.

And so recognizing that part of this process is we've got some of the data, and unfortunately or fortunately, in economic development and workforce development, you never have all of the data until you're at the end of the cycle.

And so, as you are planning, I think something we would like to understand, or we're trying to figure out more, and that's internally, but also with partners, is how can we best identify those opportunities for innovation, right?

And so, where is it that the port might be doing something, the city is doing something similar?

Let's get together and see if this collaboration can really result in something fruitful.

Sometimes it's not going to be as successful as others, but I think that's part of this learning opportunity, and especially given that so many things are kind of unpredictable when it comes to workforce right now.

I think testing is very important because if you wait until we have all the information, then we're almost like just playing catch up all the time.

I really appreciate that point, just on testing and piloting concepts.

I think that's fantastic to hear.

Colleagues, any additional questions for our presenters today.

Hearing none, I am going to thank you three again for being here on a Friday morning to share a little bit more about this work and highlight again the complexities and the importance of partnership working across the city and our region.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks.

I appreciate you.

And with that, we have reached the end of today's agenda.

Is there any further business to come before the committee before we adjourn?

Hearing no further business, we are adjourned.

The next Human Services Labor Economic Development Committee meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 1st at 9 30 a.m.

And that is May Day.

So looking forward to seeing you all there.

Thank you, colleagues again, and have a good weekend.

Thank you.