What happens when you give the people doing this work — the case managers, employment specialists, navigators, and vocational counselors who show up every day for job seekers rebuilding their lives — the tools, language, and community to do it even better?

The Workforce Practitioners Academy, a professional development initiative run in partnership with WorkSource Seattle–King County, celebrated this cohort’s program graduation to strengthen the skills and professional practice of frontline workforce staff across the region.

A $500 monthly boost led to significant employment growth, enhanced savings, improved debt management, and better quality of life for diverse King County residents facing poverty. The Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) Pilot, designed by the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC) and independently evaluated by Applied Inference, showed promising outcomes over its 10-month course.

The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC) is awarding five organizations a total of $1.825 million to serve individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. This system creates disparate racial impacts on low-income communities, especially individuals of Black, Indigenous and Latinx origin, making it an important priority toward advancing the WDC’s commitment to equitable economic recovery.