Add these to the statistics we know nationwide from the latest annual data: 12,179 people murdered. 18,223 people committed suicide. 592 people killed accidentally. 326 killed by police intervention. 273 died but intent was not known. Nearly 70,000 more were shot but survived.  That’s nearly 100,000 Americans shot in one year.

The faces of Sandy Hook Elementary. Photo credit Boston Globe

I worry about becoming numb to numbers. It’s easy to do.  To make any progress at all, I know we must stay focused on the people who were killed, the soft faces we won’t touch again, and the families and friends who are mourning this morning.

Based upon the widespread national conversations, we couldn’t have a better time to step forward to honor those who have died, while respecting the Second Amendment as well.  I’ve written about this before, in a blog entry about Newtown and another one about  steps we could take for public safety. Please don’t let your eyes glaze over; stay with me here.

There are some important new heavyweights joining this conversation. Our public health leaders are weighing in, big time.

The people we pay to keep us healthy and to save our lives in an emergency are saying loudly that  we have a full blown public health crisis on our hands.  100,000 people  were shot in our country last year alone; yes, this constitutes an epidemic.  Doctors and emergency response personnel have been saying this for years, and many of  us are at last growing ears to hear.

A new nation-wide poll just released from Johns Hopkins University Public Health today summarized their findings this way:

“The majority of Americans support a broad array of policies to reduce gun violence, according to a new national public opinion survey conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

These policies include requiring universal background checks for all gun sales (supported by 89 percent); banning the sale of military-style semiautomatic assault weapons (69 percent); banning the sale of large-capacity ammunition magazines (68 percent); and prohibiting high-risk individuals from having guns, including those convicted of a serious crime as a juvenile (83 percent) and those convicted of violating a domestic-violence restraining order (81 percent).”

You can access the full information from Johns Hopkins University. 

Want to help?  We can.

Our  legislators need to hear from us that a significant majority of us support them in passing new laws to address our latest public health crisis.  Universal background checks; ban on military-assault rifles; regulations on the size of magazine clips and the type of ammunition sold for starters, and perhaps some legislation to allow local control in urban areas.  And yes, additional funding for mental health programs and support for families whose loved ones need mental health services for starters.

We can help our legislators look the gun lobby in the eye when thousands of us moms, dads, clergy, doctors, teachers, first responders — all of us — talk to them about what’s important to us. Healthy kids and safe neighborhoods top the list.

Want more information about the public health part of the conversation?  Join me on Monday evening, February 4, 2013 at Town Hall, 7:00 p.m.  Your public health experts, Dr. Howard Frumkin, Dean of the UW’s School of Public Health, Dr. David Fleming, Director of Seattle-King County Public Health, Dr. Frederick Rivara, Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at UW and Seattle Children’s Hospital, Amnon Schoenfeld, Director of Mental Health, Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services for King County, Dr. Beth Ebel, Director of Harboreview Injury Prevention and Research Center will address the public health impacts of gun violence.  The event will be moderated by Steve Boyd.

Now’s the time.  Please be part of this historic effort.

I was surprised to learn that King County’s services for caregivers—available through the King County Caregiver Support Network—are underused.

Here are some of the support services offered for unpaid caregivers:

• Training for specific scenarios, such as caring for someone with Alzheimer’s, or for a long-distant parent, or getting yourself support.
• Fact sheets on day-to-day care, such as managing medications, dealing with incontinence, or finding assistive technologies that might help your loved ones.
• Information about support for kinship care, if you’re raising a grandchild or child of another relation.
• Referrals for respite care, a service where another trained person or staff at a facility provide planned, short-term care (a few hours to a few days) for your loved one so you have some time away from caregiving.
• Referrals to local resources, such as legal services, financial assistance services, support groups, and specialists in navigating health care systems who can meet your specific needs.
• Crisis counseling for people in immediate emotional distress.
• Services specific for caregivers for those with developmental disabilities.

Most services are free to the caregiver. Respite care is available for a fee.

If you know anyone who might benefit from these services, please, let them know. As I said, the services are underused—ADS-funded services reach about 2,300 caregivers per year—less than 5% of the County’s primary caregivers. There is support out there. Please help get the word out.

For me, the forum was quite informative, but it was also very moving. I listened to the stories of the 12 caregivers around the table, including some of my colleagues. It was touching to see some familiar faces in a different light.

Councilmember Licata watched his father, who was in his 80s, take care of his mother after she was stricken with Parkinson’s disease and bedridden for the final years of her life. Nick’s wife was the primary caregiver for her son, who suffered a brain injury in a car accident when she was just out of law school. All their lives were overturned as Nick’s wife postponed a new career and the family adjusted to the idea that the boy would have a different kind of life than they’d envisioned.

Councilmember Rasmussen shared that he cared for his partner during the last year of his life. He didn’t say a lot, but reading between the lines I know that was extremely difficult – emotionally, physically, and financially stressful and exhausting.

I was honored and grateful to share my own story of trying to convince my father to come and live with us, and finally, when he was 90, succeeding. How while that was a difficult year, it was also one of the most cherished years of my life, having that time with him. Afterward, I got physical therapy for shoulder injuries I got lifting him in and out of cars. A small price to pay for helping my dad. I’m so grateful I had the chance to do those things for him.

As I listened to caregiver after caregiver tell their own stories, I thought of a letter Rosalynn Carter wrote recently, in which she said that caregiving is a universal subject. One of her colleagues said, “There are only four kinds of people in this world:

• Those who have been caregivers;
• Those who currently are caregivers.
• Those who will be caregivers; and
• Those who will need caregivers.”

And that’s true.

To learn more about these crucial services and the resources available, you can watch the brown bag itself on Seattle Channel.

With police officers and a mental health professional inside the Center.

Now I want to thank and congratulate the great team who last week launched another new program designed to help, rather than simply incarcerate or briefly hospitalize, people who suffer from mental illness or addictions.

The Crisis Solution Center (CSC), like LEAD, is another step toward treating people who are in crisis in a comprehensive, compassionate and holistic manner.  The Crisis Solution Center gives police officers and mental health professionals another alternative to taking people to the King County Jail or Harborview. 

Starting today, police officers can take those who are struggling or can’t take care of themselves to the CSC located less than a mile south of Harborview. The CSC is a humane and effective alternative to jail or the emergency room—already overburdened facilities that can be terrifying for the individuals taken there, and very expensive for taxpayers.

The goal of the CSC is to reduce chronic homelessness and unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice and emergency medical systems. Services provided on-site will include mental health and chemical dependency assessment and treatment such as individual and group counseling and medication therapy.

At the Crisis Solutions Center opening with former King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, who now leads the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC) Executive Director Bill Hobson, and King County Department of Community and Human Services Director Jackie MacLean. (Sue’s T-shirt means “Crisis Intervention Training happens.”)

The Crisis Solution Center has 16 beds and will serve up to 3,600 people a year. Those taken to the facility will have access to a bed, a shower, washers/dryers, and medical help.  The program includes two mental-health professionals who will work out of the building 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These professionals will aid first-responders with people in the middle of a mental-health or substance-abuse crisis. 

Staying in the facility is voluntary, although mentally ill low-level offenders are likely to be arrested and taken to jail or Harborview if they choose not to participate in the Crisis Solutions Center program.  (At no time will participants be unattended by staff in the neighborhood surrounding the Crisis Solutions Center.)

After being evaluated, prescribed medications and linked with appropriate services at the Crisis Solution Center, men and women will “graduate” to Crisis Diversion Interim Services. This secondary program has 23 beds and is located in the same building.

While in the secondary program, clients will meet with a case manager and work on finding permanent housing. They can also receive visitors in the secondary program.

Here’s how the admissions process will work:

Referrals: The program will receive referrals from any police officer in King County, Medic One Units, County Designated Mental Health Professionals, and hospital emergency room staff. Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) will have signed agreements with these first responders regarding referral expectations, including eligibility, drop-offs and pick-ups.

Arrival: All participants will arrive under the escort of a police officer, DESC Mobile Crisis Team staff, Medic One or ambulance staff, or King County Designated Mental Health Professionals. Arriving vehicles will not use sirens or flashing lights. Referred participants will be received by intake staff of the Crisis Diversion Facility (16 bed, 72 hour program).

Screening: Prior to referral, all potential participants will be screened for violence potential and criminal conviction history in order to rule out individuals with current criminal charges.  Those with assaultive backgrounds and other violent behaviors will not be eligible to stay at the CSC.

Medical conditions exceeding the service capacity of the Crisis Solutions Center will be directed to an emergency room.

I am delighted to see the project at last come to fruition. 

I started working on crisis diversion alternatives nine years ago when I was in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. As Chief of the King County’s Civil Division, I advised and worked closely with the director of the jails, Mental Health professionals as well as the judges who presided over the Mental Health and Drug Courts.

Working with Superior Court judges, and King County Councilmembers Kathy Lambert and Larry Gossett, I served on the committee that created the proposed Crisis Solutions Clinic.  We learned about diversion options from Portland and similar facilities in Washington State, in locations including Pierce, Spokane, Whatcom, Yakima, Skagit, and Thurston counties.

I am truly proud that DESC and its partners have created this safe place for people who need help. Our idea, our hope, is now a reality.

With JoEllen Watson, King County Crisis and Commitment Coordinator. As you can see, low walls afford clients privacy, but also allow staff to glance through the room to ensure that all is well.

Congratulations and thanks to Bill Hobson from Downtown Emergency Services Center and to Jackie McLean, Amnon Schoenfeld, Ian Goodhew, Dan Satterberg, and the King County Councilmembers, members of our own Seattle Police Department and so many other service providers who have made smart and humane decisions to fund this program.

Carvan volunteer Jaeden Ovenell shows off the custom van skate ramp.

Out of his 1986 Chevy van, Jeremy runs the Caravan mobile skate shop, a volunteer endeavor that serves Seattle-area  skateboarders. Jeremy – who has a paying job elsewhere  – drives to skate parks and other places where skateboarders gather and fixes their skateboards.  Free.  He also teaches them how to fix their own equipment, teaches newcomers how to skate, and accepts donated shoes and gently used skate equipment that he redistributes to those who need them.  He works with kids of any age, but most of them fall between age 10 and 16.

I peeked inside his customized van, complete with a counter to grip and assemble boards, a work and display space, and a couple of teenagers who were also volunteering their time.  Jeremy told me loves doing what he does as a volunteer; he has no plans to make this into a money maker. He’s loved skateboarding for 14 years, and wants to give back to the skateboarding community.

“Basically I just came up with the idea for a mobile skate shop, and then I realized it was more rewarding and fun to make it something I gave away,” Jeremy said. “I’ve said from the beginning, as long as I get to work with skateboarding, I don’t care if I make money.”

 Jeremy is working now with local companies Bandwagon Clothing and The Foundry, skate clothing and supply shops, who have donated products that Jeremy can add to competition raffles.

He has big dreams for Skate Caravan. He wants to connect with Youth Employment Skateboarding and Skate Like a Girl and Skate for Change to see if Caravan can partner with those organizations, which are dedicated to fostering leadership and employment training, and helping low income people and the homeless, respectively.

Other organizations he’s interested in include Stronghold Society and Skateboardia (Skatebordia is a Skateboard Instructor’s Association, which provides professional certification, and Stronghold’s mission is “to inspire confidence, creativity, hope, and ambition for the youth of native and non-native communities. We want to encourage youth to take action to live a healthy life in mind, body, and spirit through the diverse means of skateboarding, arts, and creative movements.”

Meeting generous and optimistic young people like Jeremy at Parks events makes my day. It makes me happy that yes, the kids really are all right.  They have the spirit of service and volunteerism, they’re helping each other out and thinking about how to make a better world, in ways I applaud and greatly appreciate. 

Thanks to our Seattle Parks which allowed that kind of creativity to happen at Jefferson Park last weekend.

Here’s to you, Jeremy.

LEAD diverts low-level offenders from prison.

LEAD is a pre-booking program, which means that individuals enter the LEAD program rather than being processed through the criminal justice system.

Evidence has shown us for decades that processing low-level drug offenders through the criminal justice system – including arrest, booking, court hearings, and jail – does  not result in a positive behavior change. 

People who are addicted to and sell drugs live in a never-ending nightmare cycle. They use, they sell, are arrested, go to jail, do their time, get out, don’t find steady work, use, sell, get arrested, and on it goes.

If low-level drug dealers and users don’t get help with their addictions and other challenges, they can’t change their lives. Rarely do good things happen for the drug dealer, and taxpayers pay increasingly high costs to incarcerate the same people.

Here’s where LEAD comes in to break the cycle.  Rather than continuing to bang our collective heads against the same wall, the City, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Public Defenders and more joined forces last year to try something different.  With help from private funders including the RiverStyx Foundation, the Massena Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, the Social Justice Fund Northwest, and others, the LEAD program started in 2011 in Belltown.

Treatment and other forms of support are provided.

Here’s how it works:  Under LEAD, police officers identify individuals on the street who are dealing or using illegal drugs.  Police in Belltown watch for users and dealers who might benefit from this pre-booking program:  supportive services that will stabilize a user’s life–before he or she is arrested again.   

Take Ralph for instance.  Ralph is a 50-year old with a troubled past.

Ralph has been in and out of state and county jails for over 30 years.  Between stints in the jail, he has been homeless.  Living on the streets.  Dealing drugs to make a few dollars.

Why does he keep bouncing between jail and the streets?  Ralph is illiterate, and he suffers from cognitive disorders.  He was raised in this country by drug-addicted parents.  He has not been able to apply for services because he doesn’t read, and his addictions complicate his abilities to cope.

A few months ago, Ralph – a frequent user of heroin and crack cocaine – was picked up in Belltown with a loaded syringe aimed at his arm. A West Precinct officer and Department of Corrections officer who recognized him thought Ralph could be a candidate for LEAD; so, rather than incarcerating Ralph, the officers called a trained outreach worker from our LEAD program. Ralph was taken to the night sobering center, where he met Tim, a case manager.

Tim explained to Ralph that he would be given a choice:  He could go to jail and expect another round of court appearances and likely jail time, or he could elect to participate in the LEAD program where he would be given inpatient and then extensive outpatient treatment for his drug addictions.  He would also be given a place to live and more.

Thanks to savvy police officers, experienced Department of Corrections outreach workers, and Tim – our very dedicated case manager – Ralph has been provided the treatment he needs.  He’s now steady on methadone, and for the first time has his own place and he is improving.

Tim told me that Ralph is learning to reading and write.  For one of his first writing projects, Ralph wanted to write a thank you note to the guy from Department of Corrections who led him to LEAD.  How’s that for progress?

So far, so good.  Ralph is making progress.  But how much does this cost?

Here’s the beauty. Tim tells me that so far this year Ralph has received services and housing valued at $9000—and that funding has come entirely from private philanthropy. Contrast that with jail time, which is estimated at a $30,000 cost to taxpayers per year when court costs and jail administrative costs are included.

So we have a double benefit.  One human being has been given a new chance, and the dollar cost is a third what it would be if Ralph were back in jail.  And there’s more.  To make this story even better, Ralph has reconnected with some of his family members, people he didn’t want to see while he was wrestling with shame and addiction.

What’s next?  We will collect more data, hear more stories, and learn more about the people involved in LEAD.  For my money, this pre-booking program is showing signs of success. And if programs like this succeed, we all succeed.

Lend a hand!

You can meet one-on-one with representatives of more than 35 agencies that serve homeless people and others in need. It’s a great way to find out about the different agencies, their cultures and needs, and whether you’d be a good match and what skills YOU can offer THEM.

Want to learn how to advocate for others with your own program or idea?  Here’s your chance.  At 3:00 p.m. there’s  a workshop on “Advocacy 101”, where local superstar advocates for the homeless, Nancy Amadei and Alison Eisinger, will talk about the best ways to get your legislators to support opportunities for homeless and low income people. You can sign up with advocacy organizations as well, so you can learn to comment at the right time on legislation in the works.

Also, the Millionair Club is being honored.  This organization has changed thousands of lives by providing jobs and other essential support services to individuals who are homeless or unemployed in Seattle and King County.  They have been doing amazing work since 1921.

Please join us!  I would love to meet you at the Josephinum and talk about steps we can take together, as a community, to end poverty and homelessness. And if *that* doesn’t tempt you, come for the door prizes, or for the tours of the SHARE/WHEEL office space in the Josephinum, which were very popular last year.

The 2nd Annual Downtown Volunteer Fair is sponsored & hosted by Christ Our Hope, funded by the Virginia Mason Medical Center & co-sponsored by the Church Council of Greater Seattle, the Downtown Seattle Association & the Pike Place Market Foundation.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Faith Action Network, Real Change, Boston College Alumni Seattle Chapter, United Way of King County, Seattle Human Services Coalition, Center for Service and Community Engagement at Seattle University, University District Conversation on Homelessness, Metropolitan Democratic Club & the Seattle Human Rights Commission.

HONORARY BOARD: Seattle Archbishop Emeritus Alexander Brunett; Dow Constantine, King County Executive; Bob Ferguson, King County Council; Judge Willie Gregory, Seattle Municipal Court; Kate Joncas, Downtown Seattle Association; Nick Licata, Seattle City Council; Chief Justice Barbara Madsen, Washington State Supreme Court; Honorable Jim McDermott, U.S. House of Representatives, Michael Reichert, Catholic Community Services of Western Washington, and me!

This year, as I’ve done for over a decade, I’m focusing my personal efforts to give women and homeless families a little more comfort.  My heart wrenches when I see women who are struggling on their own, especially those with their children in tow.

Halloween is so much better with the twins in a stroller!

The City of Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) does everything it can with its reduced resources to supply homeless family services and to invest in community-based agencies.  There are more than 37 sites in the City of Seattle that coordinate their efforts to serve people who need support.

One such organization is Mary’s Place, on Bell Street in Belltown. Mary’s Place is a day shelter for homeless women and their children, a place to find warmth, meals, a telephone, medical care, a place to do laundry while they work to get into more stable housing situations.  

Mary’s Place does great work as a day shelter but to their deep dismay they cannot offer night shelter in their current configuration. 

 Last week I spoke with Marty Hartman, the Executive Director of Mary’s Place, who told me that her organization has seen a 186 percent increase in the number of families coming through their doors in 2011. In the last two weeks alone they’ve had 12 families with a total of 22 children looking for a safe place to stay warm and together.  In some cases, Mary’s Place could offer nothing but the encampment on East Marginal Way.

 Marty reminded me that homeless women with kids need the most basic things, like sweaters, socks, and strollers. 

A number of organizations in Seattle (see the links to their websites below) are dedicated to helping homeless women. They all rely on direct donations along with other sources of support and funding.

Allie Wolfe of Edmonds was glad to see her stroller go to a good use.

 Wish lists and needs for these organizations are long and getting longer. Blankets and winter coats are always in high demand this time of year, but you can go to any organization’s web site to see what they need most.  Your donations of new or gently used clothes, linens, towels are a boon to a woman who has little to nothing.

In addition to Mary’s Place, here are just a few other places I can recommend.  I will happily add others to the list if readers have recommendations:

Broadview Shelter

Jubilee Women’s Center

New Beginnings

Noel House

Solid Ground Family Shelter

YWCA
If you have items you are no longer using, please know that others can.  Take your items directly to a shelter, or bring them to my office and I will make sure your items get delivered.

By the way, I did find a double stroller on Craigslist thanks to a generous young mom from Edmonds. Marty made sure it went to a family who could really use it.

I’ve posted this reminder before, but here’s a new push to remind people that the decisions the city makes now will have great implications in the future. We need your thoughts on updating Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan – the vision for how Seattle will evolve over the next two decades.

There’s a great YouTube video that explains the purpose of the Comp Plan and directs the sort of feedback that the Department of Planning & Development (DPD) are looking for. Check the video out here before moving on to the additonal information provided below.

DPD has a great overview of the Comprehensive Plan available online. Included in that overview is a public involvement plan that outlines the schedule for the public participation process, the methods and tools the department will use, and what materials and information will be produced and available for distribution as a result of that process.

There’s also a brief survey available on the site that allows users to rank and prioritize the goals driving the Comp Plan review and update. It takes about ten minutes to complete. The public’s contribution to these outreach efforts will influence the final decisions.

Help DPD  – and Seattle – plan ahead for the next twenty years. Share the links to the video, the public involvement plan, and the survey.

The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is updating Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan – the vision for how Seattle will evolve over the next two decades. A population increase of 20% is predicted, and the City needs to plan on how best to improve opportunities in housing and business and provide for public services.

DPD has a great overview of the Comprehensive Plan available online. Included in that overview is a public involvement plan that outlines the schedule for the public participation process, the methods and tools the department will use, and what materials and information will be produced and available for distribution as a result of that process.

There’s also a brief survey available on the site that allows users to rank and prioritize the goals driving the Comp Plan review and update. It takes about ten minutes to complete. The public’s contribution to these outreach efforts will influence the final decisions. Please take the survey and share it!

Seattle Department of Transportation has been running the Walk Bike Ride Challenge for about a year.  This program encourages folks to switch to walking, cycling and transit.  Participants become part of a community making a difference on many fronts, including personal health and improved air quality in Seattle.

When you enroll, you’ll receive weekly reminders and tips and you can track both your individual impacts and the group’s collective impacts online.   Anyone with the ability to convert a couple of car trips per week to a trip by foot, pedal, or transit can participate.

The program runs every two months, but the July/August round is the biggest of the year. It helps that the weather is better, but the summer program also has the best prizes, too:

• An electric bike (donated by e-Moto Electric Vehicles, $1,000 value)
• Apple iPad ($499 value)
• One night stay at the Pan Pacific Hotel  (donated, $375 value).
• $100 REI gift card
• $100 Zipcar gift card (donated by Zipcar)
• $50 Nordstrom gift card  (donated by Commute Seattle)

Take the Walk Bike Ride Challenge this summer. Visit www.seattle.gov/waytogo to get started!