Programs for the People: Uplifting Diverse Community Organizations Using Local Funds
| Staff from King County, Washington's Older Adults and Healthy Aging team will provide an overview of how we used funds from local property tax dollars and worked with our aging network partners to expand the County’s network of aging services, strengthen inclusive collaborations, prioritize diverse communities, and highlight innovative service models. We will also highlight how Equity and Social Justice (ESJ) values and principles guide the funding and procurement process to support community-centered strategies. |
Traci Adair
Community Engagement and Policy Lead
King County Department of Community and Human Services
| Traci Adair (she/her) is a self-proclaimed aging enthusiast who has worked for more than 30 years directly with or on behalf of older adults who participate in formal and informal systems of care. She spent many years as a systems liaison for Washington State’s Aging and Long-Term Support Administration, strengthening collaborations between aging and behavioral health networks and creating statewide programs to benefit people with challenging personal and behavioral health care needs. She now works more locally, as the Older Adults and Healthy Aging team’s community engagement and policy lead for King County’s Department of Community and Human Services. She is thrilled to work with an amazing team that is responsible for administering the seniors population of funding from the Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy. |
Nikki Nguyen
Program Specialist
King County Department of Community and Human Services
| Nikki Nguyen (she/her) is a Program Specialist with the Older Adults and Healthy Aging team within the King County Department of Community and Human Services in Washington State since 2019. She has an LICSW and MSW and over thirteen years of experience working with older adults, providing both direct service and creating programs supporting this population. Nikki has a deep commitment to serving the marginalized and diverse communities around King County, and has a strong equity lens. She currently supports a number of investments under King County’s Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy, including Connections to In-Home Care, Senior Virtual Villages, Kinship Care Supports, Geriatric Regional Assessment Team (GRAT), and Caregiver Community Building and Caregiver Respite. |
Virginia Weihs
Program Specialist
King County Department of Community and Human Services
| Virginia Weihs has been a Program Specialist for the Older Adults and Healthy Aging team with King County Department of Community and Human Services, Adult Services Division since 2019. Prior to her role with King County, she worked in local government supporting community outreach efforts focused on marginalized communities and in the non-profit social service sector, in a range of programs from early childhood education to senior meal programs. She is grateful for the opportunity to work with many amazing community-based organizations offering critical supports to seniors, and she is committed to always exploring and working to strengthen how local government shows up as an equitable and meaningful community partner. |
Esther Lee
Senior Hubs Program Manager
King County Department of Community and Human Services
| Esther Lee (she/her) is a program manager of the Older Adults and Healthy Aging Unit within the King County Department of Community and Human Services since 2020. Esther brings over ten years of experience in the nonprofit space and five years working in the human services field. Esther has a passion for the advancement of racial equity within the aging landscape and dismantling systems of oppression. In her role at King County, Esther supports senior centers funded under the Senior Hubs strategy of the Veterans, Seniors & Human Services Levy. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington and her Master’s in Public Administration from the American University. As a second-generation Korean American, Esther grew up within an intergenerational and immigrant community—an experience that informs much of her work today. Esther values community care and strives to live by the words of the late social activist, Grace Lee Boggs, “…the only way to survive is to take care of one another.” |
Ann Kayrish (Moderator)
Senior Program Manager for Medicare
National Council on Aging
Ann is the Senior Program Manager, for Medicare at NCOA where she helps local, state and regional organizations develop and implement strategies to find, counsel and assist Medicare beneficiaries apply and enroll in benefits for which they may be eligible.
Over the past 25 years Ann has had the opportunity to work in many parts of the health care industry including managed care, patient assistance programs, and provider and sales force relations. Prior to joining NCOA, Ann managed the operations for the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) in Montgomery County, Maryland helping the most vulnerable populations gain access to the health care benefits and services.
Ann received her B.S. in Health Care Management from Kings College in Wilke-Barre, PA and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN.
Complete
Next
Failed
Available
Locked