A region where everyone shares in economic prosperity.
That’s the future the Workforce Development Council of Seattle–King County is working toward. For more than 25 years we’ve been the backbone of the region’s workforce system—funding the organizations closest to the work, convening the partners who can move the system, and holding the region’s workforce strategy together.
The backbone of the region’s workforce system.
We know what it costs a family, a business, and a community when people and opportunity can’t find each other—because we’ve worked that divide from both sides for more than 25 years.
The WDC is a nonprofit and the local workforce development board for Seattle and King County, designated under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. We fund and support the organizations that do the work, convene the public, private, and community partners who set regional strategy, and put the region’s workforce dollars where they reach people who would otherwise be passed over.
We’ve weathered recessions, industry collapses, and technological change before, and helped this region come through each one.
- ConvenerBringing employers, labor, education, government, and community organizations to one table.
- InvestorDirecting federal, state, and philanthropic funding to the organizations closest to the work.
- StewardGoverned by a cross-sector board appointed by the King County Executive and the Mayor of Seattle.
Change the system, not just the odds.
A good program can change one person’s path. Our job is to change the conditions that decide who gets a fair shot—so the next person doesn’t have to beat the same odds. Five ideas shape how we do that.
Work on the system, not the symptoms
Shared strategy, aligned funding, and common measures across the region’s public, private, and community partners, so each investment strengthens the whole rather than one program.
Act before the crisis
We track the regional labor market month by month, so workers and employers can prepare for the next shift instead of scrambling after the layoffs.
Those closest to the work help lead it
Community organizations, workers, and employers shape the strategy, not just carry it out. The people who live with the problem know the most about solving it.
Built for this region
King County isn’t one economy. Our investments follow what each community and industry actually needs, and change when those needs do.
One goal, different routes
Everyone is working toward the same thing: a good job and a way to keep moving up. We design different routes based on where people start—and designing for those facing the most barriers makes the system work better for everyone.
connecting the region
job seekers connected to work1
employers connected to the talent they need1
in increased annual earnings since 20212
Not just income—the skills, savings, and financial footing that make it last, and that build resilience into the fabric of our families and communities.
1Unique job seekers and employers, program years 2000–2025, from state workforce data; job seeker figures are estimates, rounded down. 2Sum of each participant’s change in self-reported annual earned income from enrollment to exit, including those with no gain; all WDC-funded programs, program years 2021–2025 (6,387 enrollments with earnings recorded at both points); not adjusted for inflation; rounded down. How we count
Rebuilding how the region’s workforce system works.
In 2017, our board set out to change what kind of organization the WDC is: from administering federal workforce dollars to leading a regional system built on shared strategy, community leadership, and outcomes that matter in people’s lives. That work is still underway, and it’s what lets an investment here move a whole system rather than a single program.
- A compliance-focused agency administering federal funds
- Services fragmented across providers
- Success measured by activity
- A regional systems leader setting shared strategy
- Resources aligned across public, private, and community partners
- Success measured by earnings, retention, and self-sufficiency
The board commits to rebuilding the WDC as a regional systems leader rather than a grant administrator.
More than 40 stakeholders join the Community Design Session to redesign the regional workforce system together.
The 2024–2028 Local Plan sets the region’s four-year strategy, built on that redesign.
This region’s prosperity should belong to everyone who builds it.
No single organization can close the divide between people and opportunity. It takes funders, employers, community organizations, educators, and public partners pulling in the same direction. Whether you fund this work, hire through it, partner on it, or help lead it, there’s a place for you at the table.