Do this, Chair.

Let's do this.

Sorry, I have to get a pen.

All right.

Good morning, everyone.

The June 10th, 2026 meeting of the Select Committee on the Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy.

Six-year implementation and evaluation plan will come to order.

It's 9:32 a.m.

I'm Maritza Rivera, Chair of the Committee.

Will the clerk please call the role?

Councilmember Juarez.

Here.

Councilmember Kettle.

Councilmember Lynn.

Here.

Councilmember Rink.

Here.

Councilmember Saka.

Morning here.

Councilmember Strauss.

Here.

Councilmember Foster.

Here.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

Chair Rivera.

Present and council members Kettle and Hollingsworth are excused until they get here today.

Thank you, Clerk.

Today we'll be hearing an overview of the mayor's proposed FEP levy implementation and evaluation plan from the mayor's office and the Department of Early Education.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

We will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on this agenda or within the purview of this committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

Currently, we have two in-person speakers and two remote speakers.

Thank you, Clerk.

Given that, each speaker will have two minutes.

Clerk, will you please read the public comment instructions?

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

The public comment period is up to 60 minutes.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

We will start with in-person speakers first, then remote speakers until the public comment period has ended.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

The public comment period is now open.

We will begin with the first speaker on the list.

All right, Janet Boyett, followed by Remon Basha, and then we'll go to online.

Welcome.

Good morning.

Good morning, council members.

My name's Janet Boyette, and I'm a school member.

We don't see it up there.

One moment apologies.

There we go.

Okay.

Go ahead, Janet.

Thank you.

My name's Janet Boyette, and I'm a school nurse serving here in Seattle.

For more than a decade, I've screened thousands of children for vision problems, and I see every day how untreated vision is impacting learning.

Students struggle to read, focus, and fully participate in the classroom.

It's not a small issue.

It's significant and a persistent barrier to student access.

A recent survey revealed that 50% of students did not receive care when they were referred.

And those that are not reading by the fourth grade are 25% less likely to graduate.

Although state-funded vision coverage has improved access, major problems and gaps remain.

Many providers no longer accept state insurance due to the low reimbursement rates.

Students identified in the fall may not be seen until months later.

And even when they are seen, the care is limited, and the glasses provided break because they are not designed to withstand children's playing.

And when they are lost, they are not easily replaced.

Each year, school nurses screen tens of thousands of students in our district in just a few months, creating a bottleneck for follow-up care.

As a result, many children grow untreated.

Some families have barriers to access, misunderstanding vision needs, and fear of engaging in systems.

These delays lead to serious consequences, including permanent vision loss, and they result in lost instructional time and inequitable outcomes.

There's a proven solution to school-based vision services.

Like cities for Baltimore.

They've demonstrated that bringing care.

Welcome.

Hi, um, good morning, everybody.

My name is Ramon Bosha.

I work with an organization called Feast.

Feast helps promote uh mental health campaigns as well as food justice campaigns within high schools around Seattle public schools as well as the Highland School District, and we help students advocate and fight for the things that the changes that they want to see inside of their schools.

In 2019, the FEP Levy first passed, I'm sure as you all know, and similarly in 2019, Feast was fighting to organize students to help serve culturally relevant foods in schools like pho and curry, ensuring that students had healthy snacks throughout the day, especially fruits.

Attending meetings, oh sorry.

Students were able to attend meetings like this one, talking to decision makers, advocating for the things that they wanted and the things that they needed.

Something that Feast was still fighting for and unable to see was free lunches.

And for the past seven years, FES has continued to fight for free lunch.

And today coming and listening to the FEP levy and understanding that free lunch is something that will be passed is extremely monumental for us.

Um with this version of the FEP levy, free school lunch will become a reality for all students, and this is important regardless of age, regardless of financial status.

Making school lunch free for all students remove stigma around what it means to be a free lunch kid, right?

We understand that eating breakfast and lunch at school is for many kids the only time that they might have access to a meal.

When students don't have access to food, it affects everything in their lives, their mental, their physical health, performance in schools, and their attendance.

All of these issues can then ultimately snowball and lead to greater issues.

This is why we see such a large school-to-prison pipeline, right?

And something like school lunch being the solution to that is so awesome.

By removing the barrier of cost, we ease the access to food for our students to help them thrive.

However, we cannot stop here.

Free school lunch is a pixel of the issue when school lunches are continued to be undesirable, which we have heard time and time by students.

Just because it's free doesn't mean they'll take it, right?

If it's bad, the quality is not good.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rem.

Remind, did I say am I saying your name right?

I'm so sorry.

Yeah, you are.

It's like lemon but with an R, right?

Remind.

I got it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Remin.

All right, we'll go to our online speakers.

We have Lisa, uh Bonin, and Waylon Robert.

Please press star six, Lisa, and you may begin.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Lisa Bonine, and I work with United Way of King County.

My work addresses childhood hunger here in Seattle and across Washington State.

I'm here today to share my strong support for the inclusion of universal free school meals in the FEP Levy implementation plan and to thank the city of Seattle for making this investment.

This is a big deal.

We know that students learn better when they are fed.

Universal school meals are an effective way of addressing childhood hunger, reducing stigma, and relieving pressure on household grocery budget.

This is also an equity investment.

Many families in Seattle fall just outside of the traditional eligibility guidelines for free school meals or face barriers completing meal applications.

We are grateful to the mayor, city council, the Department of Education and Early Learning, and Seattle Public Schools for recognizing that school meals are a critical part of what students need to be healthy, successful, and ready to learn.

Thank you so much for your leadership.

Thank you, Lisa.

Weyland Robert, please press star six and you may begin.

Good morning.

My name is Waylon Robert.

I'm a merchant seaman and political director for the Seattle branch of the Sailors Union of the Pacific.

We've been on the Seattle waterfront since 1885.

Many of you know there's a national shortage of mariners.

Two years a study came out from United States Transcom that we have a 1800 mariner deficit nationally.

A few years ago, it would take a day for my boss Brendan Bohan and our branch agent to fill the crew of a ship.

Now it may take a week.

This puts our regional trade and our national security in jeopardy.

We are having the same issue on the Washington State Ferries on local tugs and barges.

On average, it costs somebody about $2,500 to enter the industry, whether it's working on a sound or in the deep sea.

I think that we believe that our next generation of mariners should come from here in Seattle.

These are living wage jobs on average 80 to 120,000 is what mariners make.

So we are extremely appreciative of the mayor, including uh this program of 200,000 to train the next generation of mariners.

This is modeling a program that we received 200,000 from the state of Washington.

So I hope that we can uh continue on the success and get 40 new mariners out of this program to work on uh our waterfront and around the world.

Um, you know, maritime is 20 percent of our uh city's tax base, and um I hope that uh yeah you'll further this opportunity for people.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Whalen.

All right, clerk.

Are there any other speakers?

Chair, that was the last registered speaker.

All right, there are no additional registered speakers.

The public comment period is now closed.

We'll proceed to our item of business.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Agenda item one families education preschool and promise levy implementation and evaluation plan executive presentation for briefing and discussion.

Thank you, clerk, and let the record reflect that Councilmember Kettle has joined us in chambers.

Colleagues, this is the first select committee meeting on the families education preschool promise implementation and evaluation plan, also known as FEP INE for short.

I want to ensure that we all have an equal opportunity to hear and give input on the FEP INE plan, which is why I requested, and I want to thank Council President for her support to create this select committee rather than work the INE plan through my regular libraries education and neighborhoods committee.

This was really important to me that we were all working on this at the same time.

Thank you all for making the time to join this select committee and engaging in this process.

And I know that we collectively care so much about this, all of the investments that are in our FEP levy.

As you know, the FEP INE is required by the FEP levy.

That is, it was specifically called out in the levy ordinance language, and it is the plan by which the levy work will be done.

The levy outlined for voters what the city would spend the levy funds on and how outcomes and performance will be measured for all six years.

As the levy language indicated, quote, the plan shall set forth the following priority criteria, including type of educational support, methodology, and process by which these levy funded strategies will be selected, and the procedure for regularly monitoring and evaluating overall impacts and outcomes of each of the individual investments, end quote.

The mayor's office and the Department of Education and Early Learning are here today to present and give details on the mayor's proposed IE plan.

Colleagues, I know that you had the opportunity to meet with the department and our central staff to hear about your priorities as Deal was working on this proposal.

Most of which I believe are reflected in the plan.

Of course, the department built the plan according to the specifications of the levy language to ensure we're doing what we told voters we were going to do.

My goal as part of this process is to provide the level of accountability and transparency that voters expected when they voted to tax themselves to provide these important and needed investments, which is why the evaluation is a big part of this plan.

I am so proud of the city's levy investments to date, and I am so proud that I've been able to be here working with Director Chappelle and Deal since the last levy was passed.

And I look forward to the continuation of the services provided to our kids from early childhood through college or trade programs.

We will have in total four select committees today's meeting to present the mayor's proposed INE plan.

On June 30th, we're going to hear from our central staffers, Jasmine Marwaha and Tracy Ratzcliffe, who will be presenting on policy considerations and potential amendments.

On July 8th, we will have a briefing discussion and possible vote on proposed amendments, and perhaps if we're ready, and it is my hope we will be a vote on the INE plan as amended.

But if we should need additional time, we have reserved July 22nd for final select committee vote if we should need it.

With that said, I want to invite Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt to the table and Director Chappelle and Marissa, so we can get started on today's meeting and hearing from them on the Mayor's proposal.

And colleagues, we're gonna let them complete their presentation and then I'll take questions.

We'll reserve questions for the end.

So thank you for your patience on that.

Please state your name for the record, and then you can start your presentation.

Thank you for being here today.

Good morning, Chair and Councilmembers Brian Surratt, Deputy Mayor.

Good morning, Chair and all council members.

Um Dwayne Chappelle, uh Director, Prior Director of Department of Education Early Learning.

Good morning, Council.

Marissa Roussel, director of impact and external affairs for Deal.

Great.

Let's go.

Let's let us go.

Let us go.

Good morning again.

Um, Brian Sarat, Deputy Mayor, and uh I'm gonna offer some brief uh remarks on a few of the opening slides, and then I'll turn it over to uh Director Chappelle and Marissa to go the balance of other presentation.

But I want to just um to share that you know today, um, as you noted, Chair, that we are outlining um the executive's vision for implementation and what good stewardship means uh for this levy.

Uh the FEP levy, as you know, is an incredible investment for our city, our young people.

Director Chappelle will speak to the investment details, and Marissa will support any in response to any questions that you may have at the conclusion of our formal presentation.

As you all know, this effort began in 2025, and many of you played key roles in bringing this ballot measure to the public.

Chair Rivera, President Honsworth, Council members Warez, Kettle, Rink, Saka, and Strauss, your leadership last year, and into this year have been critical and is felt and deeply appreciated.

Council members foster and Lynn, it's been great to learn of your priorities as you step into office, and we'll look forward to continue working with all of you in uh making sure that this levy is implemented, and we can probably all stand up together and say that we are investing in our people and in Seattle.

The vision for every child is ready is plain.

All Seattle children and youth, especially those who have been historically underserved, will attain the skills and the credentials that we need to make a living wage and thrive in this city.

The FEP levy investments are designed to benefit those furthest from opportunity and close raise-based opportunity gaps.

You'll see data in this presentation indicating the current citywide trends in child readiness for kindergarten, college, career, and what it takes to earn a college degree or certificate.

You'll see the opportunity gap data, which is what we're trying to address.

We seek to improve on both these measures by 2031 and demonstrate that focus investment that with focus investment in partnership with quality qualified partners, we can set our youth up for success in the future.

The presentation is going to be organized in three domains of investment ready to start, ready to learn, and ready to launch.

Ready to start in blue focuses on laying out a strong foundation for child learning and development through signature investments like child co-pair support and universal street uh preschool.

Ready to learn green supports arcade through 12 youth and ensures that they are safe, healthy, nourished, and ready to learn both in the classroom, after school, and in their communities, and ready to launch.

We'll accelerate career opportunities for young people by reducing economic barriers to higher education and continued learning.

This new levy presents an important opportunity to align youth serving departments around common grant making, reporting, and service quality standards.

This alignment and this quality implementation of services is an expectation of the mayor's office, and I know an expectation of each and every one of you.

Our goal is to reduce inefficiencies, improve outcomes for children and youth, and ultimately maximize this important investment to the benefit of all Seattle residents.

There are six tenets of good governance that will be leveraged as part of this levy.

I would like to highlight just a few of those and and um Dr.

Chappelle will go into the rest in the presentation.

But the two I wanted to highlight competitive funding.

This process gives organizations an opportunity to compete for limited resources and promotes awarding grants to the most qualified and highest impact providers.

We will be, though, offering limited direct awards that are permissible and will be used to ensure that the continuity of services, sole source expertise, and time critical gaps.

The other highlight I want to note is the oversight committee.

This will play an important function in monitoring and advising the FEP awards in partnership with this chair of the committee here.

This body will consult on investment design, performance monitoring, evaluation findings, and possible modifications to the levy funded services over time.

Mayor appointees have been identified, and we look forward to work engaging each and every one of you during the council appointment process.

On my final note, before I turn it over to Director Chappelle, I want to thank Chair Rivera for raising the bar and including quarterly reporting as a requirement of this levy.

When everyone knows that they'll be reporting publicly every 90 days, quality and commitment to delivering services will be signaled as a priority.

This is not just a compliance requirement, it is how we build a culture of continuous quality improvement across all departments.

And with that, I'd like to pass it on to my friends and the proud director of DEAL, Dr.

Dwayne Chappelle.

Thank you.

And this was even before April of 2025.

So as we prepare to conclude the FEP 2018 implementation this summer, I just just wanted to take a brief moment to thank all of our partners that have been serving our children and youth alongside us.

And we will continue to celebrate what worked.

Just and be honest about what didn't.

Our evaluation showed us where programs were thriving, where families or students were still not achieving.

We listened, we adjusted, and that learning is what shaped every investment decision you'll see today.

So in April of 2025, the Every Child Ready Initiative was announced and built on that foundation.

Two months later, this council unanimously placed the FEB levy on the ballot, and in November of 25, Seattle voters, what did they do?

They responded with 80% approval, the highest education levy vote in our city's history.

From November through March, we kept listening.

Over 1500 people with input gathered across multiple languages, and they shape what you'll see in the plan today.

So that brings us here to the transmitter and to the legislative process.

So your review, your attention and approval of the details will ensure that we get this right for what Seattle voters ask us to do.

And looking ahead from now through 2031, once approved by the council, this levy will enter six years of implementation with rigorous monitoring and accountability to ensure we're achieving the goals our community entrusted us to deliver with transparency and accountability.

So I want to also take a moment to reflect on what this vote represents.

The seventh consecutive levy since 1990.

More than a hundred thousand children and youth served annually.

The implementation and evaluation plan is how we honor that trust by translating voter intent into clear spending priorities, measurable outcomes, and public accountability through 2031.

So at its core, the FEP levy exists to invest in children and families from cradle to career with an intentional focus on advancing racial equity, closing opportunity gaps, and fostering student success.

Every decision in this plan flows from that purpose.

The engagement process that shaped this plan, like I said, it didn't begin last year.

It actually builds on a deep foundation of learning since the start of the 2018 levy.

We have conducted 26 formal evaluations, 53 survey projects with more than 10,000 responses.

We've had 88 focus groups and interviews and over 2,000 site visits.

Some of you may have participated as well.

That body of knowledge has been essential in understanding what is working, what needs to change, and where we can do more.

Beginning in January of 2024, we conducted a thorough landscape analysis of local needs, emerging trends, and national best practices, ensuring that this renewal is grounded in evidence and informed by what communities like ours are learning and uh like ours and our learnings across the country.

In July of 24, we formally began engagement with education and community partners, bringing in the people who deliver services and support families every day.

In April of 2025, we broadened that engagement even further to prioritize community voice because the people most impacted by this levy deserve to be at the center of the decisions being made on their behalf.

And the result you can see is a plan that's shaped by Seattle's communities and their aspirations for our children.

So as we listen to community, um six clear themes emerge that are now woven through this plan.

Families called for expanded child care access, telling us that without affordable options outside of school hours, many simply go without children be at home on screens.

Yes, on screens.

They asked us, they asked for stronger school and community partnerships, recognizing that no single institution can meet every need.

The community was united in the need for holistic student and family supports.

As one participant said, mental health and food security are not separate from the academic success, they are the foundation for it.

And we heard genuine concern about workforce recruitment and retention in child care and education and mental health because we cannot deliver for our children without investing in the people who serve them.

One community said one community member said it best: at the end of the day, we're all here for the same reason to make sure our kids thrive.

If we work together, we can build something truly transformational, and that is exactly the spirit driving this plan forward.

So the implementation and evaluation plan is the governing document that defines how this levy will be carried out, how it will be measured and reported on.

It is required by ordinance, and it establishes the spending priorities, the grant schedule, the contracting methodology, and outcomes that we will be held accountable to.

Importantly, it was it was informed by what we learned from prior implementation and shaped directly by the community feedback that we just described.

It is also worth being clear about what this plan is not.

It cannot reopen the ballot measure that council and voters have already approved.

The core commitments of this levy are set.

And it is not a list of pre-selected contractors, as Deputy Mayor Surratt just mentioned earlier, awards will be made through a competitive process with only the limit exceptions required by the levy itself.

So council members, you also approved a statement of legislation intent in the fall that outlined priorities that you wanted to see addressed in this plan.

And I'll be uh making reference to where we meet those requests throughout this presentation this morning.

So, in short, this plan is our roadmap.

It's transparent, it's accountable, and it's grounded in both the will of voters and the voices of our community.

So now we'll turn to the first of our three pillars, and the first is ready to start.

This section of the levy is about giving every Seattle child the strongest possible foundation before they ever walk through the doors of a kindergarten classroom because we know that what happens in those earliest years shapes everything that comes after.

Every Seattle child will enter kindergarten ready for school.

This is a goal that we will measure for all Seattle children as a benchmark for the city's success.

To measure progress towards this goal, we are focused on two core outcomes.

First, that parents have the financial resources, knowledge, and skills to support their child's development, because a child's readiness begins at home.

The second is that children themselves develop the academic and social emotional skills they need to thrive from day one in the classroom.

This work will reach 6,040 children and families annually, making a direct and measurable difference across our city.

Our data tells us both where we are and where we need to go.

So currently, 68% of children entering Seattle public schools are kindergarten ready.

As measured by WA Kids, that is our baseline from school year 24 to school years 24-25.

But the equity measure brings the real challenge into focus.

There is a 43%, there's a 43 percentage point gap between our highest and lowest performing demographic group.

That gap is not acceptable.

And closing it is at the heart of everything we are working toward in this pillar.

So council, what you see here are the funded strategies within the ready to start domain.

This table on this screen presents their six-year budget baseline service level, planned expansion if relevant, and the peak annual levy service target.

All service targets will be met in the first year of an implementation unless specified.

The baseline service level represents the number of individuals served before 2026 or the 26-27 school year.

You'll also note that preschool and child care are the largest investments in this domain, representing 70%, excuse me, 75% of all funding.

And that the Seattle preschool program expansion of 600 seats will be achieved by 2031.

So how are we investing in this pillar?

Our approach is organized around three strategic actions, sustaining what's working, expanding what we know makes a difference, and innovating where we see the opportunity to do more.

Programs that have demonstrated real results for our Seattle families.

Piloting an SPP extended day and full year model, and launching SPP weightless vouchers program to reach more families sooner.

So let me walk you through these innovations in a bit more detail.

So one of the most impactful and impactful innovations in this plan is our expansion of CCAP subsidies and increased copay support for children ages birth to five.

This change will take effect immediately upon adoption in the implementation and evaluation plan.

The need is clear.

Child care costs remain out of reach for many Seattle families, especially for infants and toddlers.

Comparable subsidies through Best Starts for Kids and Working Connections Childcare are approximately 40% higher than what CCAP currently provides.

As of this presentation, right now, CCAP has helped 741 children from 564 families since January of 2026.

That is a program record.

And we are on pace to meet our 2026 target of 1,300.

Last month alone, we serve 390 children ages birth to five.

That's 390 kids whose parents are going to receive an email shortly after this plan is adopted to inform them what they are getting more support from the city.

The average expected benefit to families is an additional $370 in support each month, bringing our average subsidy for kids ages birth to five to $1,300 monthly.

I also want to affirm that this plan sustains eligibility for CCAP up to 110% of state median income, which approximates the area median income.

This investment makes child care more affordable, it makes it more accessible and more equitable for Seattle families not served by state or county programs.

Full year expansion converts roughly 16% of the Seattle preschool program seats annually to a 10-hour day and 12-month model.

This approach aligns with ECAP early childhood education assistance program, the state-funded preschool program, which already offers a 10-hour, 12-month model.

Income eligible families enrolled in a classroom participating in the model will now receive 10 hours of care for free, y'all.

10 hours of care for free.

With roughly 70% of SPP families receiving free tuition, this new model is expected to provide 294 children with a four hour additional of free care savings, saving families roughly one thousand dollars a month.

Planned evaluations will assess if child development and academic outcomes differ across the three SPP models.

So now I'll move over to the SPP voucher pilot.

The SPP voucher pilot is in response to known wait lists occurring within the SPP model, and which we know has also been a policy priority.

There are also children on multiple wait lists, these families may be enrolled with one SPP classroom while they wait to move off the wait list at their preferred classroom.

Within SPP, Seattle Public Schools classrooms have the most children on wait lists, followed by centers who offer a 10-hour a day.

For our pilot year, we have budgeted to support 100 families a year with up to $10,000 per child if they are on a SPP wait list.

The voucher can be used only at participating CCAP providers for insurance and payment reasons.

And we plan for this to start this fall.

Okay, so for funding opportunities.

Now I want to speak to uh competitive funding processes in the start domain.

So we have two plan for this year, selecting the administrator of our child care worker payments for years two through six of implementation, as well as our annual SPP expansion process to identify providers, sites, and classrooms for expansion.

This expansion also includes program models and expansions and in dual language uh expansion as well.

And I just want to be clear that these funding processes are for two years.

All planned investments for year one are on schedule.

Again, all of the planned investments for year one, they are on schedule and will be implemented as intended, including the child care worker payments.

We are administering those payments in partnership with Bright Sparks, who are formally known, who are formally known as the child care resources, who has done so for the last five cycles of payments, and we anticipate that application to open in September and workers to receive payments in the October to November ish of this year.

So super excited about that.

So our evaluation schedule.

So as we said at the start, performance monitoring and evaluation is a high priority for the stewardship of this levy.

We have nine planned evaluations in the start domain.

I'll say it again, nine.

In the last levy, uh, the vast majority of the overall evaluation focus was really on the Seattle preschool program.

In this levy, you'll note that we have allocated resources to adequately evaluate all investments.

Um, there are three types of evaluations plan for this levy.

We have a formative evaluation plan, we have a process, and an outcome evaluation.

So the formative evaluation, what that does, it helps assess how we can improve ongoing investments.

It includes landscape analysis, need assessments, and generates timely um action learning that can strengthen investments in progress.

The process evaluation examines the uh quality and fidelity of implementation, so this really tells us how well are we implementing these services, and the third uh outcome evaluation tells us if anyone is better off, and you all know that's what we care about.

In other words, did the levy funded activities contribute in a measurable improvements to a child's youth to a child and youth outcomes.

So taking these three types of evaluations and applying it to ready uh to start.

Um, I just want I want to call a particular um attending the universal child care and preschool feasibility uh formative evaluation will actually begin this year.

Um, this work is necessary to plan for Seattle's future and be clear on the funding needed to achieve a vision of universal affordable child care.

This study will include a focus on child care workforce and business sustainability as well.

We know that child care workers who are predominantly women of color make historically low wages.

A vision of universal child care needs to address worker wages at the systemic level, as well as if there are a license seat for every child.

So I'm excited about that.

Lastly, I just want to note that there are no planned investments evaluations in year five.

This is so that we can focus on concluding prior evaluations and planning for, that's right, I'm already thinking about it, the next levy renewal.

So year six formative research will support the design of any new or expanding investments.

Okay, so now let's let's move on.

Now let's move on to ready to learn, or should I say kindergarten through twelfth grade, where I'll share how we are investing in the learning and growth of K 12 students and youth.

So for the learning domain, our universal our universal goal is that all Seattle youth graduate high school ready, excuse me, graduate high school ready for college and career.

Our outcome measures to track progress on this goal focuses on evidence-based inputs for how youth achieve college and career readiness.

They must develop social, emotional, and workplace skills, they must be healthy and well nourished, they must feel safe and be safe at school, and they must meet academic targets throughout their learning journey.

All contracts funded by this domain will be assessed for how they contribute to one or more of those outcome measures.

This work will reach more than 30,000 children and youth across a variety of interventions.

The data is clear that we have improved improvements to be made in this area too.

Across all student groups, only 58% of third, sixth, and ninth grade students were meeting a stat a standard of academic progress.

When we dig deeper to look at the opportunity gaps by race, we see percentage point margins ranging from 37 to 54 percent for our key indicators of college and career readiness.

The widest gap appearing on our academic indicators.

These persistent gaps are why we are narrowing our investment focus with planned competitive funding processes and introducing new investment models with this plan for the learned budget.

You'll know our largest investments are in health and expanded learning, representing 80% of the funding.

This level of investment is in direct response to community priorities and needs.

This is our current estimate, and we will be uh revisiting this projection as part of our uh RFP design.

This levy will also sustain many existing investments, including Seattle Parks and Recreation, environmental learning programs, investments in Seattle public schools, middle schools, uh sports coaching stipends, health, restorative practices, housing stabilization funds, out-of-school time transportation, and the HSD uh summer Food Program.

We will expand the school-based health centers as well as access to expanded learning opportunities, opportunities such as academic supports, enrichment like STEM arts, youth leadership, and mentoring through planned RFPs.

We are also introducing three new investments to the levy: the national best practice community schools model, opportunity-based mentoring, and free school meals.

Let's learn more.

So the community schools and supports.

This investment applies the evidence-based community schools model with important refinements from what we've learned in the prior levy.

So let me start by introducing the concept of community schools.

A community school is a place-based partnership between a school, a community-based organization, and community members with integrated focus on four pillars.

The first is expanded learning opportunities to increase access to academic supports as well as out of school time enrichment.

The second is integrated supports such as health care or social services.

The third, family and community engagement, and the fourth is collaborative leadership.

So DEL, our staff interviewed 10 cities implementing this model and did an extensive review of national research.

We found that schools and cities implementing this model have shown consistent, improved student attendance, academic outcomes, family and school trust, and youth social emotional skills development when implemented with fidelity.

We did this deep analysis work because our FEP 2018 investment approach garnered mixed results across funded schools.

Our evaluations found that not all students were receiving the same quality or types of services needed to achieve academic outcomes.

We also saw low alignment between schools and their CBO partners, which really undermined it, undermined the impact.

Our proposed investment in the community schools model and addition of increased curriculum standards and frequency of interventions across school and community-based grants seeks to bring Seattle into a better alignment with national evidence.

Those are now non-negotiable elements, not optional.

Again, those are non negotiable, non-negotiable elements, they're not optional.

We're also refining which academic interventions are allowable so dollars are focused on what works.

Full implementation launches in school year 27-28, following a competitive RFP, giving us time to get the right partners in place and continue working with Superintendent Ben and Seattle Public Schools to introduce this new model seamlessly.

Now to our youth safety investments.

When young people are disconnected from school and opportunity, the consequences are real.

This investment focuses on getting upstream of that before the crisis hits.

This proposal builds upon existing community safety investments managed by HSD.

For deal-led investments, we're expanding restorative practices and importantly, allowing those services to be delivered in community-based settings, not just schools.

That's a meaningful shift that meets young people where they are, particularly those students that are hardest to reach.

We're also introducing opportunity-based mentoring, where youth are economically incentivized for positive engagement in school and in career.

These students need opportunities to see a different path and a trusted mentor to help them walk in.

The evidence base is strong.

Relationship-driven interventions measurably reduce chronic absenteeism.

And justice system involvement for youth who are engaged as well.

These approaches are also aligned with the field, and the experts are telling us, just you know, just this past Monday, uh Councilmember Rivera hosted the uh Seattle Violence Prevention Symposium with the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College just a couple days ago, and that evidence based framework presented us presented there, street outreach, restorative practices, uh cognitive behavioral therapy, and life coaching, and those align directly with this proposed youth safety investment.

So we're not operating in isolation, we're building towards the same evidence base that the national experts are pointing to.

These investments add more intentional integrated approach to youth safety, one grounded in relationships, not just programming.

So full implementation follows a competitive RFP, and we'll begin in school year 27-28.

School meals.

This slide highlights the proposed investment in school meals, which is a key part of ensuring every student is truly ready to learn.

With this two-year investment, we can offer free breakfast and lunch to students at up to 53 schools, y'all, projected to close the food access gap for up to 6,800 Seattle public school students.

Yes, 6800 Seattle public schools students.

This investment will layer on top of existing federal and state funding and bridge the gap until long-term state funding becomes available for universal school meals.

Mayor Wilson added this investment to the levy in response to community voice.

No plan services were impacted with this addition, and as funding was carved out from the risk reserve.

If state funding does not become available, we will consult uh the FEP with the FEP Levy Oversight Committee and come back here, return to council as part of the annual uh budget process.

And just know that the rationale behind this investment is straightforward but powerful.

First, by supplementing existing federal and state meal programs, we can finally make free school meals district wide, not just in select schools.

Second, this will eliminate the stigma around school meals, which is a major benefit.

When meals are free for everyone, participation becomes normalized.

Third, this is fundamental fundamentally about food security.

Students spend at least seven hours at school each day.

When students have reliable access to nutritious meals, they're better able to concentrate, regulate their emotions, and most importantly, engage academically.

And the fourth, there is clear, there is a clear economic benefit for families as well.

Free meals reduces daily household costs.

By investing in school meals, we promote equity, remove barriers, support student well-being, and strengthen families, all while setting students up to be ready to learn every day.

Okay, so um now that we've covered um some funding opportunities.

So now that we're what um we've covered that where we're investing in, so let me let me just speak briefly how to how and when we're getting dollars out of the door, because we all know the reality is timing matters, right?

So most funds will be awarded by uh quarter one of 2027 for years two through six implementation, but several investments launched this year.

Um, environmental learning, mental health, uh, therapeutic services, and the summer food program competitive funding uh processes all started in quarter two of 2026.

We're not waiting to make an impact.

So the sequencing is intentional.

Um, expanded learning and health investments come first, followed by safety focused work like restorative practices and opportunity-based mentoring, with deeper behavioral health and violence prevention investments phasing in through 2029.

It's it's a layered upstream approach that builds on itself.

The HSD led grants are continuing contracts with planned rebids from 27 to 2029, excuse me, 2027 to 2029.

Um, I hope you know what I meant by 27, giving partners the stability to do this work well.

This timing also ensures that new grants will align with and complement awards made by deal to avoid duplication of services and create a robust ecosystem of student supports.

So we have a clear roadmap, and I just want you all to know that we are already moving.

A little bit about the evaluation schedule.

So there are 10 planned evaluations in the ready to learn domain.

External evaluations will be leveraged to assess utilization and impact for services delivered by community-based partners funded by Levy grants, as well as Seattle Parks and Rec teen programming, specifically the teen centers in late night.

These evaluations occurring in years one and two, such as for expanded learning, mental health, and safety.

Um just give us more information to make course corrections and adjust investments for later years of the levy to better achieve desired youth outcomes.

So I'm excited about that.

Similar to other domains, there are no planned evaluations in year five for us to prepare for the levy renewal.

Yes, we're already thinking about it.

I said it earlier.

Okay, we have arrived at the goalpost, which is the ready to launch.

So for the launch domain, our universal goal is that all Seattle youth have access to and utilize post-secondary opportunities that promote attainment of a certificate or credential or a degree.

Our outcome measures to track progress, and this goal focuses on enrollment in a college or career pathway, continued development of social emotional and work workplace skills, academic milestone achievement, and ultimately young adults attaining living wage careers.

This work is expected to benefit nearly 2,000 youth and young adults annually for the high school graduating class of 2016 in Seattle.

So again, we see both a charge to increase the degree attainment and program completion for all students, as well as a persistent opportunity gap, which requires us to be unapologetic about focusing investments on students in most need of support.

In the ready to launch bucket, um, we've included investment level details on this slide here for you today.

At this domain, has a lot of new investments that were council priorities.

This domain budgeted, this domain budget is 113 million over six years, with 60% of funding allocated to Seattle Promise, and 27% to youth development grants that are led by HSD.

New investments will expand access to college and career pathways with an emphasis on trades, technology, fire, and police careers.

I'll share more about those next.

So again, we continue to sustain, we continue our sustain, expand, and innovate framework.

We are keeping existing investments, we are keeping existing investments proven to meet service targets and benefit youth, including the Seattle Promise, the Path to UW Transfer Support Program, the Seattle Youth Employment Program, internships for promise scholars, and HSD youth uh development grants.

I'll share more in a moment about the trades and tech and public service investments next.

So after six years of promise implementation, we know that trade careers are often not pursued despite this being a hand a high demand field with living wage job opportunities.

Council named this investment as a priority in the early stages of the FEP planning, and our stakeholder engagement affirmed the workforce need as well as the need to increase trade careers awareness and exposure to among youth.

At our press conference with Mayor Wilson in late April, we had the pleasure of hearing from uh Devon Woods, a Cleveland High School graduate and seaman Masons and Plasters Union, Plasters Local 528 member who is finishing his journeymen training at South Seattle College.

And I remember he's he credits his trades career with providing stable wages, benefits, and retirement security for his family, and wishes Path to Trades had existed when he graduated so he could have gotten an early start.

Devon's story is what Path to Trades is designed to create for this next generation of our Seattle kids.

This 14 million six-year investment will do exactly that.

Implemented by the Seattle Colleges, leaders in trades education, as well as state-accredited partners, this investment is expected to do three things.

Engage students and raise awareness about trades and careers, remove barriers to starting and completing training programs, such as upfront front costs associated with required tools or supplies, and to increase the number of students pursuing a trades career.

In our engagement with youth, we heard that young people are interested in these career pathways and they want specialized training opportunities.

We will establish new short-term IT training opportunities led by industry experts and professors and provide students a $500 stipend for participation, and we expect to serve 65 scholars annually.

Pathways to public service careers.

And in consultation with uh Seattle Fire Department and Seattle Police Department, we recommended investing in existing cadet prep and explorers program by adding a stipend in additional life and workplace skills training.

They share that these programs currently have low participation among youth of color, primarily primarily due to time commitment and a lack of a stipend.

So this enhancement will address those financial barriers to participation, add training skills, and training and skills necessary for workplace success and stands to benefit 90 young adults annually.

Super excited about this one as well.

Thank you.

Okay.

So for the funding opportunities, there are limited funding opportunities in the ready to launch domain.

This year we will identify accredited partners to support the path to trades expansion.

And in 2027, HSD will have their competitive process for youth development grants.

As always, our evaluation schedule.

There are seven planned evaluations in this domain.

Of particular note is year one formative landscape on college and career pathways.

This evaluation will explore culturally responsive responsive pathways to college and provide insights on additional strategies to promote college access and success for youth of color.

Additional evaluation is in this domain will prioritize review of the new trades investments in year three to assess students' experience and understand what hinders or supports student successes or student success.

Okay.

So again, I just want to just thank you all for this opportunity for us to be here with you all.

And before we open up for questions, I would love to thank all council members for your commitment over these past few years.

Really starting with council member uh Rivera, you know, who I've known for quite some time.

Uh started with this, we started with the Seattle Promise, and now we get to continue to build uh with more opportunity with students in the trades and and careers.

Council member uh Hollinsworth, you know, dirty hands, clean money.

You know, honestly, that that should have been probably the official tagline uh for our investments.

Um, Councilmember Saka, Path to Tech, um the uh SPP uh voucher pilot, um, the universal preschool feasibility.

Um, so super excited about that.

Councilmember Rink, you've been clear and consistent with restorative practices, um, and that clarity really has shaped what we've designed this investment.

Councilmember Strauss, I think it's here, I saw somewhere, I believe, um, always been the loudest voice in the room for our or should I say our foster youth aren't always the loudest voice in the room, but but Councilmember Strauss's been pretty clear on that.

Council Member Kettle, thank you for your support, expanding access to fire and police careers, um, council member foster our conversations around mental health, late night programming, um, council member Lynn, your insistence that students who need more actually get more, just not just in the policy language but in the service design.

So, again, thank you all for error for what you've done, and um, we appreciate it, and I'm looking forward to our continued partnership.

And council member warez, I thought she was here as well.

Oh, yes, who have um always had bold ideas to support our black and brown and native students, and who has also been a champion since the 2018 um FEP Levy.

So, again, super excited about the partnership and looking for looking forward to our continued partnership as we move things forward.

Thank you, um, Director Chappelle and Deputy Mayor Surratt for being here and Marissa from Deal.

Um, I just want to say again, I have had such the great fortune and honor to work with Director Chappelle for the last eight or nine years.

Um, and we did, we implemented the original Seattle Promise, which is why I feel so proud to be here today talking about the expansion of Promise.

It is a program that very much has the outcomes beyond actually, I'll be honest what we intended, Director Chappelle.

And it's just a real source of pride.

So anyway, just wanted to say that and really acknowledge colleagues also the work that the department has done in not just implementing the last levy, but all the work that went into this plan.

I'm gonna make some other comments later, but I'm gonna turn it to you all for your questions.

Councilmember Kettle, you are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

First, I wanted to thank uh deputy mayor for being here and starting this off, really important.

Obviously, doctor director, director, doctor.

Um, your uh your leadership here is key, uh, and leadership is infectious too, and uh and it's ready to learn, and so it's fantastic.

And Ms.

Russell, thank you for being here as well.

Uh I just we've had a lot of conversations, so I just wanted to add um just a couple things.

What for me ready to start and ready to launch are the two main areas, you know, partly because the state has a lot of responsibilities and the ready to learn.

But I we do I do support those pieces.

Um, but the ready to um start is so key, um, because that's what the foundation is, and so I really appreciate uh those pieces that are there.

And as I was uh mentioned quickly to Councilmember Rink, it's it's fascinating to go through this process as someone you know my daughter's about to end fifth grade, and that zero to five, I was a stay-at-home dad.

I was stay-home dad until she was eight and a half until I came up here, and you know, just to walk through and see the challenges that different people have, even in a more quote unquote affluent neighborhoods like Queen Anne and so forth and district seven, the challenges that are faced, um, and then conversely, you know, how important it is to be ready to launch.

And what I like, and I think it was your slide, Deputy Mayor, is the interdepartmental piece, because we really need to highlight that.

Um, and again, from my experience, I know every park on Queen Anne, because I used to take my daughter to every park on Queen Anne and some other areas too.

And that is where you also learn, you know, with the other kids, the social emotional and everything else.

Um, but you have to have those facilities.

So that partnership, so this is not just the I guess the point I'm making is that this is not just a deal thing.

I want to foot stomp the interde uh departmental piece, it has to be an interdepartmental piece.

And that example parks, particularly for the uh ready to start piece is so crucial.

Um, so thank you for for having those pieces.

And and in a moving in, you know, in that same mindset with ready to learn, you know, with uh, you know, the sports piece, middle school sports, something that I'm learning already.

My daughters in Select, it is sad to me comparing where we are today to where we were yesterday.

Now, granted, life in 1977 was very different from 2026, but those middle school sports have just been dropped on the floor, and what's been replaced is the select system, which is very expensive, even in the more affluent areas, you know, people it is just so it basically takes away those opportunities unless something specifically happens for that one individual.

But for kids across the board, it is something that's lost.

Um, I will part to go to the department of the Parks and Rec League are a way to kind of square the circle, but it kind of is not fully in terms of what we had yesterday with middle school sports.

So I appreciate those pieces.

And of course, by highlighting middle school sports, and and I didn't mention this before, but I'm thinking about middle school music and how important music uh is in terms of developing the brain, you know, again, you know, those pieces and development, particularly for mathematics, girls' mathematics.

You know, those are such an important piece, and the music really really helped in that area.

Uh on ready to learn uh also thank you for the youth safety um investments.

I've had a couple conversations with um Superintendent Scholar, working with his team and you know, speaking to his team as my team has done as well.

You know, that partnership, it's so refreshing to see the difference between the relationship between the school district and the city.

Um something I I used to joke years ago that you we had to exchange ambassadors in order to be able to communicate with the school district somehow, but with you know, like on the school safety pieces, but also like Memorial Stadium.

I mean, there's so many things, and all the work that's going on now, like with this program, is such a different relationship between the city and the school district, which is fantastic.

And then uh the last piece, um, ready to launch.

Uh this is like maybe my one question.

Seattle promise.

I'm a little bit concerned.

I wanna know it's like the health of the of the colleges, the three colleges.

We have to ensure it's great to have a Seattle Promise program, and we should be s you know underlying and supporting you know our two-year schools, but if those schools, because there's different reporting on this front, you know, we have to be engaged and and understand where we are.

Um, how do you see the Seattle Promise Program and that front in terms of what we may need to do or how are we in good place right now?

Yeah, uh we are in a um uh great place with Seattle um colleges.

We have a great partnership with uh Chancellor Rosie.

We meet frequently and we have an opportunity, we as I mentioned earlier around looking, we we do continuous quality improvement within our department, and that's where we take an opportunity to look to see are there areas that we need to lean in more and um from our conversations that we typically have, uh we're in a good place with the Seattle colleges and and there's a lot of excitement now about the trades piece because at the end of the day, um the vision is clear when students graduate from Seattle public schools and they come to the colleges.

We want to make sure not only that they're gonna be there, but they leave with some type of degree, credential, or they persist and transfer, right?

And then those that are interested in the trades, we wanna make sure that they have uh opportunity to give living wage jobs.

So um the partnership is has been pretty solid and um the commitment is there, and there's I see a lot of alignment and synergy amongst the city and the colleges as well.

Thank you for that.

And I like to foot stomp your path to trades that is so important, and uh 110% uh support that have had discussions with members in in that community uh building and trades and so forth, and we really need to promote that, you know, in terms of having that that stability across the whole of our city, and uh I know um Chair has been working on this quite, you know, because of our shared links in this area um in terms of our childhood, but the that is so we have to develop that in terms of diversity, but it's also important because I I like to add path to maritime.

Uh the last caller was speaking to that, and the maritime trades, you know, there's nine, all eight are basically building and trades.

There's one that's really specific to maritime, and I just did a trip with the Port of Seattle, it was a Port of Seattle City of Seattle trip to DC last week, you know, talking about maritime, and we're talking about the trades.

And by the way, we were talking about the region.

We were advocating for the region because there's a lot of things going on with federal government and a lot of money is being declared and so forth.

So there could be in the Pacific Northwest is so key in the maritime space, but key to that discussion itself was the trades.

And so this program is something that we can point to and show that we are committed to this.

We're committed to the trades generally, you know, the carpenters, electricians, um, that also work into the you know the the maritime pieces as well.

Um, and we this resonates.

Like when you're doing a trip like that, and they see what we're doing, and then we and then you combine it with the tech pieces, like the announcements in the maritime recently in the in the cut, you know, in terms of Lake Union, uh development of the different smaller vessels, um, leveraging what we have, the combination of like Boeing and UW, you know, composites, the aerospace piece, bringing that combined into maritime.

It's an ex and of course you got space in the Kent Valley and so forth.

That combination is so important, and that's something that we need to um to to move forward.

And um, Dr.

Director, I just wanted to also one last thanks is for the uh um paths to public service because that's so important.

You know, we talk about developing reform and moving forward, like with our police department.

Well, if we can recruit from the communities in which they serve, that's powerful.

When the police officers look like you know, that and they came from that neighborhood.

Um that really bodes well for our future in terms of you know community policing and the like.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle, and I I will just add um to what Director uh Chappelle said, Dr.

Chappelle, Dr.

Director Dwayne Chappelle.

Um, we have such a great relationship with the colleges spanning back from when we started Seattle Promise in partnership with the colleges, because of course the colleges had the 13th year, and then we partnered them and expanded the 13th year into a full program, the Seattle Promise.

Um, but that's how far back we go, and that's and that's how far their commitment goes.

We partnered with them on they had the 13th year, so I I really want to acknowledge that, and then I want to also say South Seattle College has an amazing array of it's a full trades program at South Seattle College, and Chancellor Rosie was the president at South Seattle College, so the trades are near and dear to her her heart the way it is to ours.

And now we have she's moved on to be Chancellor, and we have um uh President Monica Brown, who is just amazing.

Um, and I went to visit, so if you want to see the amazing trades program that the colleges have, colleagues, honestly, I encourage you to reach out um to uh a Chancellor Rosie and and uh President Brown and get a tour because there are so many trades programs down there, and there's so many trades partners that they're working with.

It really was amazing to see and of course they had a welding program so near and dear to my heart because of my dad.

Um it was really it is great.

And Council Member Kettle, what you will love about this path to trades piece and this focused way that we're doing in the in this iteration of the levy, is that this will these investments will now give the opportunity for the colleges to go into the middle schools, because they already go into the high schools, but they'll be able to go into the middle schools and start talking to kids at the middle school level about trades opportunities, and that's they haven't been able to do that, but with now these investments and partnering with Deal, um they will be able to.

So, this was all part of the conversation when we were working on this trades piece, and I am just so excited about it.

So really wanted to give some more details on that.

Councilmember Saka, you've been waiting very patiently.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Chair, and first off, want to thank Deputy Mayor Surratt Director, Dr.

Chappelle.

I always like to lead with director because you are here uh in your capacity as a department head.

Um absolutely you are uh uh an esteemed, distinguished PhD, but I prefer to call you director, Dr.

Chappelle.

So uh, and so I want to thank you all and your amazing team for being here at the department deal, many of which or a few of which are are represented here in council chambers.

Um I appreciate so many things about what I just heard over the last hour plus.

Um we'll talk a little bit about that in in just a moment, but uh starting first can't can't emphasize enough how profoundly helpful and important it is of your explicit acknowledgement of the council sly.

And you know, your your attempts to comply with that as part of this proposal.

Now we now we have a package, we have a proposal that we're considering here today.

Uh your acknowledgement of that at the outset.

Um I have some more questions about that in a moment, but it but it indicates a certain sense of uh being very wise, savvy, and prudent.

Very prudent approach because slides are you don't really have to technically coequal branches of government.

But when you do acknowledge it and try your best to harmonize executive priorities with council priorities, that's always a good practice, best practice.

So I really appreciate your acknowledgement of that and your efforts.

More importantly, your efforts to undertake that very difficult and delicate at times work.

So the specific slide that you reference is the 2026 slide deal-001 S-A.

Uh in there.

There is a non-exhaustive list of council priorities that we set forth that we would like you guys to consider for the proposed INE plan.

Humbling for me personally to take a look at this non-exhaustive list because my office work closely with community to essentially be the prime architect of many of these things, some of which you called out the feasibility study to explore universal citywide preschool, the pilot uh program for working family subsidies for families in neighborhoods without access to uh the Seattle preschool program, the uh food assistance, uh support for foster youth or former foster youth transitioning to adulthood, uh the IT digital skilling initiative, so much.

Um I worked hard with community and my council colleagues uh to get that done.

Uh and I want to thank the sponsors of this legislation of the of the budget sly, council members rink uh Strauss and former council member Solomon who built upon that work and made it even better and up leveled it to make sure it you know remained important and remained prominent and remained top of mind for you all when you were thinking about putting together this package.

Um how did you how did the executive and and the department specifically comply with this slide and incorporate the feedback into the proposed uh INE plan for this levy?

Thank you for the question.

Um, so in the executive's uh plan, there is a summary in the appendix that uh references a non-exhaustive list and points counseled directly to the sections of the plan where those priorities are addressed.

So, some quick quick highlights.

Um, quarterly reporting, uh, which was a priority of the committee chair, um, is stated up front in the introduction.

Uh, that was mentioned by the deputy mayor earlier in the presentation.

We have already moved um to establish a framework to address that request.

We will be publishing quarterly dashboards for each domain, bringing together access and output data for investments managed by multiple city departments.

So that will be a new practice for the city.

Um, a companion memo to that dashboard will be sent quarterly to the levy oversight committee and the council as part of that commitment to reporting.

The uh priority of universal preschool feasibility study, Director Chappelle spoke to that one.

We're initiating that this year, um, so that we can have better estimates on costs, scaling, um, and uh worker and business needs in order to achieve that vision.

I think we're all paying attention to what New York City has announced and eager to develop a work plan for Seattle.

Um, the preschool voucher pilot program we spoke to.

We have allocated um resources to that annually to pilot.

We plan to evaluate the impact of that, not only on uh access to preschool affordability for family, but also child outcomes.

Um, and the other major theme you'll know is that those evaluations occurring early in the levy will allow us to make decisions about later in the levy.

So, do we change policies about how we start that pilot program?

Do we expand it later in the levy?

Those are questions that we'll be able to answer, both based on starting early in year one with these new investments, and also uh dedicated study and focus on what it's achieving.

Um let me know if this is the level of detail you're looking for, but we hit restorative practices, which was council member rank, so there's an emphasis on uh preventative approaches, strategies that are not perpetuating a school to prison pipeline.

So that that was a key priority for the department in our design.

It's what we found worked when we did our data analysis, um, the overall theme in terms of tech career access, public sector career access.

We spoke to industry leaders, our stakeholders, our partners that all informed the design and uh additionally attached to the fiscal note is an extensive stakeholder engagement report.

Um we also included three racial equity toolkits um with two additional on the way, and all of those that body of work details our approach, um, the conversations we've had and the literature reviews that our team conducted to inform the design of these proposals.

Thank you for that.

Uh can you help me better understand?

So those are the specific council priorities that you were able to accommodate and and make sure are reflected in the current INE plan.

Can you help me better understand?

And we'll learn more about this probably during you know our next uh meeting from our central staff uh experts.

But with respect to those specific council priorities that you that you considered, but but for whatever reason declined to incorporate into this.

Can you can you call out a few of those examples?

Um, I don't think anything was declined.

And if something was missed, please let us know, and we'll work with council central staff to address it.

A plus, thank you.

Um, and also I'll just share.

Look, I I as I mentioned earlier, I really do appreciate this department.

Um, you have engaged closely with me in my office throughout this whole process.

I don't even sit on the main committee.

I have committee envy, uh, and this is one of the the committees that is the source of that.

Um, but you know I care deeply about this issue.

You know, my office's fingerprints, DNA are all over this thing, and a few examples we called out earlier.

Um, but you thoughtfully and proactively engaged and deeply engaged with my office the whole time, and it wasn't it was very clear from my perspective.

Your engagement with council wasn't just a perfunctory check the box.

Here's what we're gonna do, thanks.

Um you were genuinely interested in hearing our priorities, my the priorities of my office, and not just telling me what you were gonna do anyway because you know you because of of the constituents you represent.

We all got constituents too.

We represent people too.

So kudos to you.

Uh, I think this department just put on a master class uh for all 40 or something executive departments, and I appreciate something, they're all great in different ways, especially the the ones in my portfolio, but I think in this regard, you guys just put on a master class, and it's in large part directly to your related to your leadership, Director Dr.

Chappelle, for thoughtful council engagement and collaboration.

Exhibit Z Z was the the closing thing.

You just called out every single council member, how what's important to them and their constituents, and how you tried your best to bringing us along, not telling us what you're gonna do anyway, bringing us along, and I really do appreciate that thoughtful collaborative approach a plus.

Um moving on to slide 28 school meals, another important topic and and priority of mine and and colleagues, you know.

I've I've talked many times about this.

Uh help advocate in Olympia for um, you know, state state changes to enable this.

Uh appreciate Mayor Wilson for being able to bring this to life in this vehicle, um, via the FEP levy, but I can't speak highly enough about the impact of bringing to life universal free school meals for all in terms of addressing food insecurity, empowering communities, reducing, frankly, eliminating the social stigma associated with a differential you know payment plan and meal structure.

Look, I I've had free and grew up on fruit free and reduced lunch, and I know what it's like to wait till everybody goes to the lunch line, and and there's no one in the lunch line, so I can pay my 75 cents, so the people behind me can't see I didn't pay the full 175 rate or whatever it is for the full I've missed lunches before because I was too late and the line was too long.

So the social stigma eliminating the social stigma associated with that is a game changer in terms of making sure people are ready to learn and showing up their best and their healthiest.

And now, you know, coming tracing the arc of my journey from then to now, you know, I'm very fortunate and privileged, and I practice an attitude of gratitude, and I'm grateful to be at this dais because now I represent thousands of more similarly situated families and kids.

That's why I'm really proud um uh of this particular investment, and I want to uh I want to congratulate and and say thanks to the mayor for helping to bring this to life here.

I didn't think we could potentially do it, but um the state also, as you know, I think as part of the new millionaires tax, one of those authorized spending uh expenditures was to create and expand a program statewide for this.

My position is that these kind of things should ideally come from the feds first because of fiscal monetary policy uh justifications, they can literally print their own new money if there's sufficient political will.

So it's a lot easier uh than us here at the local level.

We have to live within the balanced budget and then the state because deeper pockets, and then and then um the city.

So how is this intended to be implemented with the against the new sort of state uh expenditure and and spending plan?

Would we even need to spend any money if now the states come in on top?

Great question.

So the funding commitment in the plan is for two years of local investment to ensure that FEP resources remain supplemental to state and federal funds.

So we are anticipating that state funding um to occur and for the commitment to universal school meals at the state level to happen in the event that it does not, um, we would consult the levy oversight committee.

We would review the performance of the investment over the prior two years, and then we would return to this council as part of a budget process to determine if local investment beyond the first two years is is warranted and a good investment.

Awesome.

Thank you again, really appreciate your thoughtful engagement and the uh the update here today.

And again, A plus, thank you, kudos.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka.

And I just want to underscore on the school meals.

I see it as just providing the service during this gap time between the state passing um the millionaires tax and the universal meals and it's starting, which is sometime in 29, I believe.

So it really was meant to bridge the gap.

Um, and I appreciate uh the mayor doing that, and then deal deal being flexible, and we can do it because we do school meals as part of the levy.

We do those um summer meals and some after school meals and things of that nature.

So it's not incongruous with what we told voters we would do, though we may not have specifically said lunches.

We do pay for meals, and they knew that when they voted for the levy, so I think we're okay there.

Um, and then I just want to underscore, thank you for um the acknowledgement, council member, about the department did work with all the council offices, not just yours, um, because they very much cared about all the ads that were made and ensuring that they were partnering, as did the mayor's office to make sure that as they were building the plan, all of that was taken into consideration.

And I know central our central staff joined those meetings as well.

So everyone was connected, um, at least on the council side.

I did not have insight into that as chair.

Um, I was not included in those conversations, but I know that they happened, and I know it was because the department and the council members wanted to make sure that they were having a conversation, and I support that, and I'm glad that that happened.

So thank you for acknowledging that, Councilmember Sock.

I wanted to say it happened with all the council offices.

Um, Councilmember Lynn, you are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh, and thank you to our wonderful presenters.

Um, also want to thank school board uh member song for uh joining us here today.

Um so just wondering from a big picture um perspective.

Obviously, we have a new superintendent.

Um could you just talk a little bit about um the partnership with um with SPS um and or uh with Seattle colleges and and how kind of their decisions and and some of the difficulties they face in terms of uh you know their own budget uh struggles um and sort of how we align our investments or how we might have to pivot uh depending upon sort of the decisions they might make.

How do we coordinate our investments with with their sort of um their theories of change?

Could you just sort of speak a little bit big picture about how our investments align?

Um, yeah, thank you, uh Councilmember Lynn.

So one, we uh as I mentioned earlier, we do have a uh from our perspective and a collective perspective, a fantastic relationship with the colleges with Seattle public schools recently.

Um Superintendent Ben has invited uh myself and a couple of members from my team to his cabinet, and what we typically do is we overall um look at the investments that that's happening within from the city to um SPS, and we just engage in conversations about whether um we need to make pivots or we need to lean in more on um as far as how uh we've worked with the colleges and SPS on these specific investments.

Um, more so what we typically do, we we let data um drive the decisions.

We understand that we're all committed to making sure that in SPS that students like where we're closing this gap that I shared that I shared earlier with the um colleges were committed to making sure more students are gonna complete a degree um persist or transfer or attain some type of credential.

And what we've done as we continue to hold these conversations is like we ground ourselves in not only the data but the research, and then for to be honest, um, there's pretty much almost um alignment um on almost everything, and then if there are things that we have that we feel like we would want to go a different way on, we just engage and continue the conversation and let the data really determine what's best.

One thing the superintendent has been clear on with us is like as we're partnering with Seattle Public Schools, he understands that the resources aren't to be supplementary.

He understands that the resources are complementary, and he want to make sure that um that we're investing in things that make uh uh that's gonna make a difference in the schools and the communities, right?

And so there's clear alignment right there, and he's also willing to say, hey, let's let's let's take a step back to see like what are some lessons learned, and if we need to um increase more dosage on certain things, as I mentioned in my presentation from the past levy, we learned that you know uh there's a shorter number of um um interventions that we need to focus on that are clearly measurable um in the seeing outcomes for the district.

So we also engage in the same conversations with the colleges with Chancellor Rosie and her team, and it's been a great partnership.

And you know, it's interesting because you know, there's always shortfalls coming, but one thing that we've done is make sure that outcomes and students and families are gonna be at the center of of the decisions, um, and and being clear, make sure we're following the rules within the limits.

And Marissa, I'll ask to see if you want to speak a little bit more to that.

Yeah, I would just add our our intentional implementation timelines are a reflection of how we're coordinating with our partners.

So the competitive funding processes for those K 12 ready to learn investments are happening later this calendar year so that they intentionally sync with the following school district budget year.

This ensures that awards from the city are made before the district starts its budgeting process.

I think council members um and community are aware that we made some commitments to continue existing investments in Seattle Public Schools for one additional year so that we did not disrupt that district budgeting process, we did not uh disrupt services to students without sufficient planning timeline.

Um and this gives our new leadership and our new partners time to not only build relationship but intentionally plan to ensure the new levies investments are going to achieve results, and that those improvements to how we're investing funds are done with alignment across all partners.

Thank thank you.

Um one other question uh in terms of um sort of our our theory of change and/or our investments, just wondering um in your kind of research, how much is um concentrated poverty um in uh in our community and our schools something that we should be looking at?

And part of my you know sort of question here is um, you know, we continue to be a deeply segregated city based on uh both race and class.

Um, and uh, you know, in terms of our planning, um, you know, should we be thoughtful in sort of our our land use planning?

Um there's calls for us to do kind of uh school oriented development.

So as we think about sort of um uh where we're gonna invest in housing and affordable housing, um, how much should we be sort of aligning some of our our planning around um where we are investing in housing or um our um big city kind of comprehensive planning to to align with sort of your your theory of change and I know that's sort of a big question, so we we can take this offline later, but I just wondering, you know, want to make sure that as we talk about sort of collaboration across departments, how can we support your work in other areas that maybe not be you know a sort of a direct investment, but in our in our sort of planning or thinking around um how to support our students and families.

I'll um speak a little bit to that.

Then I'm happy to uh take it offline or deputy mayor um lean in.

Um a couple things.

I'll start from like a uh uh weedsy piece.

One thing the superintendent and I have had a conversation on is that how um do we um create an opportunity to say what are all of the things that touch Seattle public schools and kids that are happening at the city that we might need support on, and so we've actually identified he's identified Ted Howard, assistant superintendent Howard as the one that's gonna be convening, and then we'll look to see what city issues air quote, right?

Um, that we need to work with SPS on, and it could be whether it's land use, it could be something in fire, and figure out like how do we address it and then bring it back to the necessary folks to solve that issue.

But then I'll um also bubble up and say, and I'm gonna turn over to you to deputy mayors that um every we we definitely need to be intentional in alignment with all of our um investments here at the city, not just deal.

I'll tell you that when we did what I remember when the innovation and performance team did a landscape analysis on like mental health.

One thing we've learned is that we saw there's a need for support around mental health throughout this whole city, right?

When we do these landscape analysis, Dr.

Fajardo is always looking at like academic data.

He's looking at um several metrics, and one thing we've learned is that we have seen there is a need throughout the city, right?

So we definitely I'm sharing that to say is that we definitely want to be grounded in what the data is telling us and also be intentional on our collaborations to make sure that we're not overlooking um areas that are uh um maybe perceived historically um where there isn't a need.

And I'll tell you when we did this engagement for the levy, I know council member uh Rivera, Councilmember Lynn, you were at some of those um engagements.

Um we did hear a need throughout this whole city where families were either needing the light before programming, after school programming, um, and so forth.

Well, Deputy Mayor, I'll turn it over to you to share some more.

Yeah, thank you, uh uh director.

And Councilmember Lynn, I thought that was actually a great, great question because um it speaks to uh one, there's a there's a beauty in the FEP levy in the sense that it is continuously look at a comprehensive approach of of how to make sure that every youth has an opportunity to thrive, right?

You know, we talk about everything from um pre-K to uh free lunch um to path to trades and new opportunities.

That's a totality, and it recognizes that education just doesn't happen within the four walls of a public school, right?

So that's a fundamental uh recognition there.

But when you really start taking several steps back to extend that uh sense of taking care of and providing education for our youth and our community is is total community, right?

It's a whole community.

And so your question about um how do healthy neighborhoods contribute to the education and the flourishing of our youth?

How do we make sure that every uh student, every parent has access to good housing, has access to a grocery store that's walkable, has access to transit to get them to where they need to be.

It's that total ecosystem.

And what I love about the FEP levy, it it set it sets that foundation that it is a dynamic holistic view of community.

And I know, you know, I know we're talking about FEP Levy, but you know the the work that you all are doing at council, whether it's comprehensive plan um visioning, whether it's uh taking up um transit measures, like all those things feed into what is healthy and and contribute to um some really ambitious goals that the Fed levy has identified to accomplish, but the Fed levy cannot do that alone.

We know that, and all these things contribute to that.

So I really appreciate your your question and and for all of us to kind of keep you know the the eyes on on that large prize of of a of a healthy city and and and all the component parts of what it what that means.

Thank thank you so much.

And I'll just make one last uh sort of question comment.

I I would really love to sort of hone in on whether uh concentrated poverty is something that we should be keeping our eyes on, especially as we do our planning around uh affordable housing.

Uh I know that you know a significant uh portion of our uh Seattle public schools, you know, families live in affordable housing, live uh in SHA housing, um, and um as we think about sort of where to plan for you know those investments, um, where you know SHA plans to do its investments, our social housing provider uh are is are those investments in alignment or are they working again against sort of um you know Seattle Public Schools um plans um around sort of school enrollment um and are they sort of um uh working against sort of our investments?

Um so I just want to pin that um and then just finally just want to say huge uh super excited about the path to trades, all the path to public service programs, and I just would love for us to be mindful of the significant investment that we will be making in um, so for example, uh, you know, yesterday we heard a lot about uh a lot of support for Seattle Center levy.

Uh uh and so that's gonna be a significant investment.

How do we make sure that we are thinking ahead and aligning um sort of our investments in in making sure that we are putting a path for our Seattle Public Schools kids to get those jobs as we you know look at our Seattle City light investments or Seattle Public Utilities or SDOT investments, those are huge capital programs that I would love to make sure that we are somehow aligning and we have a priority higher program.

I would love to look at whether we can uh sort of do a priority hire for uh our kids that are going through these Path to Trades programs, work with our unions to to give a priority for for these kids so that they know uh there's a job at the end of this uh program.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Lynn.

And I do know that the Seattle Colleges, and maybe um Director Chappelle, were you gonna say something about that?

Okay, um, they work on um on those partnerships.

So when the kids graduate with their trade certificate, they can go into an apprenticeship program and they've built relationships.

So there is a lot there, which is why I'm encouraging you to reach out also to the colleges because I think you know, I don't expect everybody to know everything, and I've had the benefit of being here for almost nine consecutive straight years and and working on many of these issues per in particular to the levy.

So I've learned a lot, but um certainly, you know, even in the context of this particular levy, I learned a lot about the trades, and when I had envisioned the Path to Trades program, it was because I I um had this um I just do that that trades is such an important um alternative to a traditional college degree for kids, and there's so much at the colleges that are being done that we want to foster that and grow it.

Um, and so I think we're all aligned that way, and also we need to be mindful that this levy is not gonna be all things to all people and solve all the problems.

Um I'm gonna say this at this juncture.

We need to be mindful.

I think the department has done a great job of working with all the council offices addressing all our ads that were made when we put the levy on the on the ballot.

And I think, you know, I wanna also acknowledge that the mayor's office wasn't here when we um put this levy on the ballot, and they've worked so um uh they've they've worked, they've partnered is what I'm trying to say with the department and and me as chair and and all of us as council to make sure that we're being true to what we told voters we would do with this levy, and I want to I want to thank you for that and acknowledge that.

Um, and want to make sure that if as we all are thinking about passage of this INE, I'm gonna caution us.

If you make if you are considering amendments sooner rather than later, is great to know this is the plan.

Um, I will remind us that any changes you made will have an impact to a change somewhere else because the money's not growing.

This is the amount of money we have 1.3 billion dollars.

That is a significant amount of money.

Um, and based on data and based on you on most of your interests, if you were here last year, the department is trying to address all those interests.

So I do want to level set us that if you are intending on making any fiscal changes, it will have an impact on something else.

Um, and um that is not that's something you should really take to heart and be mindful of, colleagues.

Um okay, council member rink, you are recognized and mindful that it's eleven thirty, but I do want to get to you, Councilmember Rink and Foster as well, obviously, and and Council Member Juarez, you don't have your hand up, but if you wanted to say something, obviously we'll take time.

Go ahead, Councilmember Rink.

Thank you, Chair Rivera.

And want to reflect just some of the points that uh my colleagues have made in expressing their gratitude to Deal and your steadfast work in preparing this implementation and evaluation plan before us.

I also really want to lift up the robust uh community engagement that your office engaged in to help inform this plan.

I know Kenny from my team participated in most, if not all of those sessions and reflected back just how thoughtfully those were put together.

And so I want to express my appreciation for that work and for your robust presentation today and extend gratitude as well to the mayor's office uh for being at the table today and for your work in preparing this before us.

I have just a couple of clarifying questions, just to kick off the discussion, and I'll start from a little bit more granular and then I'll take us a little bit farther out and more holistic.

Um starting with just some of the grenular piece.

Under the ready to launch section of the levy through the career pathway strategy, there's an investment in youth development through the human services department.

Now it's my understanding that supportive services and job preparation programs includes working with organizations like YMCA of Greater Seattle, Seattle Goodwill, aging counseling referral services, geeking out kids of color, El Centro, and World Mind Creation Academy and others.

So I'd really love to hear how these programs tie into our city's overarching strategy for achieving the outcome of ensuring our youth get access to living wage careers and develop workplace skills.

So with the addition of these long-standing investments to the levy, one of the things we're doing with adherence to the new reporting requirements is we're ensuring that those contracts are going to have outcome measures that tie into the overall goal of the levy.

So these are not new investments to the city, they are new to the levy.

And so the early work over the first two years, particularly before these investments are put out for rebid, is to look closely at how the focus on career pathways, particularly opportunity youth, and older youth, which HSD has a priority on, can uh create pathways into the other ready-to-launch investments and help us achieve that universal goal.

Fantastic to hear.

And as a quick follow-up on this point, I know this has been primarily done through the human services department, and there's just a notable shift in terms of where this is going up to, but I want to recognize that these programs, at least from our office's understanding, have been very culturally responsive and have uh resonated with a number of our communities that have been historically underinvested in.

Do we have a sense of a level of community interest or if there are wait lists associated with these programs?

That's a great question.

I would have to follow up with HSD to learn more about that.

I do believe that they have historically been meeting their service targets, and we anticipate them to continue to do so.

Thank you, Marissa.

And taking move uh changing topics a little bit, just noting that one of our council priorities was restorative practices and non-punitive safety investments, and that is roughly around 11 million over the lifespan of the levy.

Just uh for the purposes of clarification, is this sustaining the same level of investment in this program, or does this reflect an increase in services to restorative practices?

Thank you.

Um, this is an increase in investment.

So, one of the things that's currently happening with investment in restorative practices is it's funded through two mechanisms.

The first is a part of the school-based investments as part of the 2018 levy, as well as a direct award for restorative practices that was started by former council member Morales.

So, what we're doing in this new levy is we are creating one pot of funding with a focus on restorative practices.

We are establishing new uh implementation standards to ensure those services are quality and rooted in the evidence base, and so that pot has grown because we have also sustained the investment in community schools for those school community place-based grants.

So, overall, it's a net ad for both of those funding streams.

Fabulous.

Thank you.

And my last question for today, it actually uh builds on uh Councilmember Lynn's question, which I really appreciated, just drawing together those threads around all of our separate city strategies, really trying to service and create more equitable outcomes across our communities.

But I wanted to speak to equity specifically in this levy because I'm wondering if we can expand on how we are trying to expand and ensure equitable educational outcomes for youth through the work our city is doing with this levy.

You can start with one.

Yeah, so yes, the answer to their answer is yes, there's an opportunity for us to uh lean in and speak and figure out how we can do that.

Um, Rissa, I know we're doing it in certain places.

Would you mind speaking to those?

Sure.

So one of the key areas when we run a competitive process is we're specifically asking applicants which communities they intend to serve.

And so we know our team has done robust data analysis, needs assessment of which schools, for example, have the greatest needs.

Uh, what is the income level at these school communities?

What are the academic outcomes for students?

Um, what is the depth of need, right?

Is there a pocket of need among 50 students, or is it truly saturated as you were talking about concentrated poverty, um, where we're seeing more than 50% of the school is not achieving academic standard.

We then scale our investment based on that level of need, and we specifically look to our grant applicants to not only understand the data in the communities that they're intending to serve, but to have evidence-based proposals about how they're gonna meet that need.

Um, the community school's framework is going to go a bit further than that and actually ensure that all the partners across those four different pillars are at the same table, that they know what each other is doing, that someone running an after-school program knows who the school nurses, knows who the school based health center provider is, knows who the HSD grantee providing community safety supports is, and they are truly implementing that ecosystem vision to support students who need the most support.

Thank you so much, Marissa, and thank you, Director Chappelle, Deputy Mayor Sarran, and Mirsa again for uh your work and for being before committee today.

I'm really excited to be working alongside you in this next stage on the on the INE plan.

Thank you, Chair Rivera.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Councilmember Foster, you're recognized.

Thank you so much, Chair, and thank you so much, presenters.

Um, as a pleasure to hear from you today, and thank you for all of the work that you did.

I know um it was a lot during the community meetings that we're going through last year and this year.

Um I want to start off with a question, actually, about the um the lunch program and the um the expansion there.

And I'm gonna preface my question with a few things.

One is that I was a pleasure to hear from some of our public commenters today from Feast, which is an organization that I've supported in previous roles, and the second is that I've been a big supporter of progressive taxation, such as the Millionaires Tax.

And it is also hard for me uh as a public servant to look at this and to see, you know, this is a two-year investment that we are making with the um with the belief that the millionaires tax and the funding from the state will then pick up at the end of that term.

And I heard a question from one of my colleagues today that sort of said, hey, what happens if for some reason that funding from the state does not come through as expected?

And I believe the response that I heard was at that point in time we would be going back to the levy oversight committee and coming back to council.

And while I appreciate that and I appreciate that it's hard to predict the future, I do want to express concern around this because the future that I that seems possible, and I don't want to say it's probable because I believe that the state law will be upheld, and I hope that it will be, but there is a possible future where we are coming back and we are being faced with a difficult decision about whether we would stop that funding, which would be experienced as a cut to students who benefit from it over the next two years, or whether we would reduce services from somewhere else, because that's my understanding of when I hear we'll come back to you with options.

Is that correct, or is there a third option that I'm unaware of?

Um I'll take a quick stab, and Marissa, you could lean in.

So I wouldn't go as far as saying reducing services anywhere else, but um, as we know, like we do continuous quality improvement and we look at all of our investments, and when that time comes, we're gonna be where we're at where we will closely monitor this situation, and then if we start to see that we're gonna need some additional resources, that's what we're saying is that we'll keep the levy oversight committee informed, and then if there's a need to uh come back um to or when there's a need to come back to council, we'll either report out on how we'll solve in the problem or come with some some options.

I wouldn't just jump to uh thinking that we're gonna be reducing services.

Um, but I do feel confident that with this levy oversight committee body, we'll um if that happens, you know, we'll have a way to figure something out.

Did you want to add something to it?

Um, I was just gonna state again um your recap of the prior answer was correct.

And I know that council central staff is is well poised and looking to see if there are cost efficiencies in other areas um of the levy to respond to that concern.

Thank you, and again, please take that for what it is, which is to make sure that this is a sustainable approach because I understand how how meaningful this could be for many of our students, and I appreciate my colleague Councilman Bersaka speaking to his personal experience with that today as well.

So thank you so much for that.

Um, I want to move on to another question about the um SPP voucher pilot.

Um, and I'm apologize, I don't have a slide number here.

I'm I think um, but this was uh early on in the presentation.

Um I believe what I heard was an approach that the department is working on to serve additional families, but it sounded like you were thinking about um incorporating council districts into the decision making of how that uh pilot would be approached, and I'm wondering if we can hear more around the structure and the prioritization in that pilot.

Sure.

Um, so again, this is brand new to us, so how we operationalize it is an active development by the department.

Um our early thinking is that for the first year we would prioritize based on geographic need.

So for the last school year, um there were two council districts that had more than 10 providers operating a wait list.

That was council district one and council district five.

Um so that is where we are uh predicting we will start for this first year.

Enrollment is happening now.

So by September, we'll have a new uh batch of data about where there are wait lists in the city and those council districts may change.

The intent behind that is to um be able to implement this new program well.

So our concern if we started citywide is that deal staff wouldn't have capacity to process vouchers with CCAP providers around the region.

Um so we're gonna continue to look at the data closely.

If the pilot vouchers are not being used in those council districts of highest need, uh we have the operational authority to expand it immediately without council action, and we would do that to ensure that our service target is met and that families needs are being met.

That's really helpful.

Thank you.

And I look forward to hearing more about that, and particularly as I know that the department is working to prioritize geographic equity, um, income equity and income inequality, as well as racial and other dynamics of inequality.

I'm very curious to hear how those things line up in this planned pilot program.

Um and then I want to turn to um just consideration for investments and um in homelessness and for homeless youth that we have through the FAP levy.

As we know, we have thousands of children in our school district who are McKenney Vento students who are unfortunately sleeping outside every night.

Um it's my understanding, and I and I'm happy to follow up uh with you uh on this uh doctor director.

I won't I won't miss out on the opportunity.

Uh Chappelle, but um it's my understanding that there are about 90 kids annually intended to be served through this plan, and I wasn't sure if that is consistent or if that represents an increase in our investments.

I recognize that's a very specific question, so I'm happy to do a follow-up.

Okay, you're ready.

I'd love to hear more about that, and just more around the emergency stabilization that is provided through these investments.

Certainly, yeah.

So this is a uh continuing investment from the 2018 levy uh sponsored by former council member Gonzalez.

So this is a 4.2 million dollar investment over six years.

The current service provider is neighborhood house.

The service target you mentioned of 90 students is accurate, and this provider has been meeting or exceeding that standard uh for the duration of their work with this levy.

Uh the design is focused on students who are unstably housed.

So the intent is to uh reach families before they become technically homeless.

So that's why the service target is a little bit lower.

There are other city investments already allocated to support uh families who are literally experiencing homelessness.

So this design is a referral network, both from neighborhood house to Seattle Public School Social Workers.

It's available to school uh SPS students citywide.

The social worker refers a family to the service provider.

They provide emergency assistance so that families don't default on rent payments, so that if they are living with a family member or doubled up with another friend, they have additional resources to be able to protect the housing that their child is experiencing because we know housing displacement impacts school attendance, impacts access to those school meals, and uh can severely disrupt learning.

Thank you so much for that clarification.

I really appreciate that, and and I um I share the interest of particular in making those investments before folks are experiencing homelessness.

So I really appreciate that clarification, and I'll just indicate that I'll follow up uh with a little bit more uh questions in detail, but I'm uh really excited to learn more about that particular aspect of the funding program.

And I know that there is so much need, and that our public dollars are often very well spent in that prevention area.

So thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Foster.

All right, um, then colleagues, we are at the end of our meeting.

Um, just broadly speaking.

Again, I just want to thank the department for their hard work.

There's a lot that they did, they've taken a data-driven um and focused approach to the work, and I really appreciate that because a director, director Dr.

Chappelle, you spoke about this.

Um the fact that that in the K through 12 space, for instance, we the we weren't meeting goals, and so really being transparent and honest, and then looking at the data and looking at um how we could make some tweaks to our investments to make sure that kids are meeting grade level uh milestones is really important because we know if kids aren't meeting their academic milestones, they're not gonna be successful as they continue in their school career, and then that impacts school attendance and mental health, and many um of the things that our young people are experiencing.

So, you know, one thing I noted I attended all of the sessions except for one, and my office attended on my behalf, but just to hear from families directly about what they want.

And it was interesting because in our conversations, we were really thinking about the tutoring, the mentoring, and we heard that from parents.

We didn't talk about it, they raised it with us, and and I thought that that was great because there was alignment there, and then of course, we have a new superintendent who's visited all the schools um out of the gate, which I very much appreciate, and he wants to be and has been thus far a really great partner.

There's a lot of collaboration, a lot of conversation with Superintendent Um Schuldener, and I really appreciate that.

And he's really focused on serving our all of our kids, but but kids who are, you know, struggling and not meeting milestones, and that's really important.

And so I also appreciate Director Shippel that you've given focus to, you know, the demographics of the city has changed, have changed, and there are a lot of folks, um, a lot of kids throughout this city that also um have a need.

Um I know, for instance, there are a lot of immigrant families in the D5, and those kids um a lot are um, you know, uh uh English as a second language learners, um, and there's a lot of need there as well.

So you're looking at where the kids are that need the most that have the most need and trying to focus investments to those kids so that all our kids are meeting our universal goal if they're all prepared and ready to work and ready to have successful careers, and I really appreciate that.

And one last thing I wanted to say, and I'll wrap us up, colleagues, is um director Chappelle raised the gun violence um symposium yesterday.

It was not focused on youth specifically, it really was focused on this um approach coming out of the National Network for Safe Um Communities out of John Jay College, whereby they're doing a focused deterrence approach, and it is about in any given city, it's a small, small, small percentage of folks involved with guns and gun violence in the city, and it is identifying those individuals, telling those individuals what do you need to stop.

We have resources for you, but if you do not stop, then there will be consequences.

And what just like we've been transparent and open in our conversation about education today, we also need to be transparent and open about what is not currently working on in our city and what we're not doing in our city, and so I'm very interested in this approach.

I really appreciate Deputy Mayor Sarat being there yesterday, and so many uh or two days ago, so many folks across the city were there, and we heard from folks in Philly and Baltimore who have seen significant reductions in gun violence in Philly, 40% reduction when they instituted this approach, and they've been doing for it for such a long time that now they're starting this juvenile um program, working with the kids and doing the restorative justice with the with the youth in Philly.

And so the restorative practices came up in the context of their expanding now that they have the base and they've been doing this focus deterrence approach for some time and it's working well, they're expanding to do this juvenile component.

That's not necessarily part of the original approach, but one that they care about as much as we do.

So wanted to give context to that since you raised it.

Um Director Chappelle and thank you for being there and participating.

And colleagues, I'll talk more about the symposium from Monday at a later time.

All right, thank you.

Oh, Councilmember Juarez, you have your hand up.

I'm gonna be very, very brief.

Two things.

First of all, thank you, Councilmember Foster.

You caught what I caught on page 19, and I was just going to follow up with um Dr.

Chappelle offline on the high demand in council district.

And I'm hoping we're gonna track that from pre from pre-K to ready to launch.

So thank you for that.

Um, so going from ready to launch, ready to learn, or ready to start, ready to learn, ready to launch.

Um, Dr.

Chappelle, I'm really glad that you um have rebranded and used the word domain.

Um, and I don't recall you using that before when you're talking about these three stages in our children's lives and as a city and as a community and our babies, how we want to see them go from pre-K to high school and then launch into the real world because that whole area of domain says that there's some agency and responsibility on this city to make sure our kids from pre-K to high school to college make it there alive, which is kind of a sad state of affairs if that's where we're at and lowering the bar in in regards to violence, but also um our kids, particularly our African American and our Native American kids not graduating from high school, so that whole area of domain, which you know bestows upon us and upon them the control, the knowledge and the agency.

So when they do launch and we get them in college that they go into the world um with not only the knowledge and the agency, but also um the dignity and what they deserve, um, what we all deserve in the pursuit of happiness here, and I got getting a little philosophical here.

But um I just want to thank you and also thank chair uh Rivera for um we've had a couple really good long meetings about going through the Fed plan and the Fed spending and the mayor's office because this is so key, and it's I know that we're it's a we went from um in 2018 from 637,000 to 1.3 billion.

But these are all good spaces.

This is exactly where things should be landing.

So with that, I want to thank you.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Juarez.

All right, colleagues, any other questions or comments?

Seeing no further questions, this concludes the June 10th Select Committee on the Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy 6 year implementation and evaluation plan.

Our next select meeting committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 30th at 9 30 a.m.

If there's no further business, this meeting will adjourn.

Thank you again to Deal and to Deputy Mayor Sarat for being here, hearing no further business.

It is 11 50 a.m.

This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Duane.

Thank you, Dr.

Chappelle.