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Local Services
Call for artists: Transform public spaces through the Utility Box Art Program
The King County Department of Local Services is seeking submissions from local artists for artwork to be showcased on public utility boxes in two urban unincorporated areas of King County:
► East Federal Way – 9 utility boxes
► Skyway/West Hill – 12 utility boxes
Community members chose these two areas to receive funding for this project through King County’s participatory budgeting program. In this program, members of historically underserved communities submit ideas for improvements, projects, programs, or services that would make a positive difference in their neighborhoods and then vote to choose which of these will be funded.
Selected artists will be paid a total of $550 for 1-3 designs once the artwork is print ready for the utility box wraps and the artist contract is signed.
Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, May 30.
Learn more and apply on the King County website, or read more on the King County Local blog.
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Public Health
Enrollment is open for Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program
Enrollment is now open for the 2025 Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program. This one-time benefit provides low-income seniors with an $80 card to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at participating farmers markets in King County.
Who's eligible
► Anyone who is age 60 or older (or age 55 or older for those who are American Indian or Alaska Native) by June 15, 2025, AND
► Has low income - no more than:
• $2,413 per month ($28,953 annual) for one person
• $3,261 per month ($39,128 annual) for two people
• For larger households, add $848 for each additional person, AND
► Is a King County resident
Learn more and apply
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Best Starts for Kids child care subsidy waitlist is open now
Join the waitlist for the Best Starts for Kids child care subsidy. Families can fill out a 5-minute form to be considered for child care funding. Later this year, some families on the waitlist will be chosen by lottery to complete a full application and to enroll in the program if they're eligible to receive a child care subsidy.
More than 2,000 children have been served by this program since it began in 2022. Families receiving the subsidy have reported reduced stress and improved quality of life, more freedom to pursue career goals or advancements, and increased ability to pay for basic needs.
Learn more and apply
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What to know about measles right now
Measles cases are going up around the country and there have been multiple cases in King County this year. People understandably have questions, since most of us didn't grow up at a time when measles was still common.
To help provide information about measles, Public Health - Seattle and King County has created a number of resource materials in multiple languages for schools, workplaces, organizations, and anyone else to share. Please check out these resources to learn about measles, how contagious it is, and what you can do to protect yourself and family.
► Measles resources for schools, workplaces, health care and organizations
► King County's measles website
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Correction - Rural Area news
Note: this item ran with an incorrect headline in the May 5 edition of Unincorporated Area News.
Proposed Segale Mine
On April 3,the Joint Rural Team sent a letter to the Tacoma Public Utilities Board regarding a request for water service to the proposed Segale Mine Project along the Green River Gorge in King County. The letter can be read on the Greater Maple Valley Unincorporated Area Council's website.
—Submitted by Peter Rimbos, Joint Rural Team Coordinator
Safety warning appears for Gmail users
Gmail attaches a warning to the May issue of this newsletter
Some of our readers who use Gmail received our May issue with the images turned off or broken, a warning symbol, and a red box at the top with the text "This message seems dangerous / It contains a suspicious link that was used to steal people's personal information. Avoid clicking links or replying with personal information."
We've been working to find out which of the 61 links in the issue could have triggered this warning and why. So far, we haven't been able to identify anything besides a couple of community groups listed in our "community organizations" section who still use "http://" at the start of their website addresses instead of the more-secure "https://". We have visited those websites at those addresses with no ill effects. We will continue to investigate the incident, and encourage any readers who receive a warning about one of our newsletters to contact us at the address and/or phone number listed below to let us know.
In the meantime we want to reassure you that we check the links in our newsletter carefully and that none of the links in that issue have presented any problems for us or, as far as we know, anyone else who has followed them.
Also, if you avoided reading or trying to view the newsletter because of a Google warning, you might be interested in reading the online version instead.
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