14-dollar adoptions Tacoma Humane Society:

Tacoma Humane Society and Pierce County offered $14 adoptions for the whole week of Valentine’s Day. From February 13-18, all animals 2 years of age and older were adoptable for just $14. In the spirit of spreading the love the Humane Society made this offer available to cats, dogs, and all other critters. Along with the $14 adoptions, there were 15 dogs and 10 cats that had their adoption fees waived. Typically, regular adoption fees can be quite pricey ranging from $80-$500 for dogs and anywhere between $30-$135 for cats.
The Tacoma Humane Society’s director of Communications and Outreach, Lindsey Heany, stated in an interview, “This holiday really lends itself to finding the one, so skipping those dating apps and just trying to find a best friend at a shelter during Valentine’s Day week was great timing to not only help out finding loving homes for more shelter pets, if possible but also for creating matches.”
One of the Tacoma Humane Society’s main goals is to make adoption accessible for everyone to provide all of their furry friends with new homes. Back in July of 2023, the shelter also held a week of fee-waived adoptions. After the week was up over 287 animals had been adopted. Much like Valentine’s Week the shelter was able to encourage many to adopt animals in need. Tacoma Humane Society is always looking for good-fit homes for their critters, to learn more about Tacoma Humane Society’s adoptions, visit https://www.thehumanesociety.org/

King County Crisis Care Centers:

King County Executives have recently announced a Crisis Care Center Proposal. As part of the proposal five crisis care centers will be established throughout the county. Residential treatment beds will also be added back to the area and efforts will be made to attract and retain community behavioral health workers.
The goal of implementing crisis centers is to limit the number of patients that end up in emergency rooms for behavioral health crises. The crisis care centers would allow for a safe and nurturing environment where patients can safely de-escalate from their behavioral health crisis. These crisis centers would also promote a lower cost of care.
Last April, voters approved a property tax levy to provide funding for these mental and behavioral services. This levy went into effect on January 1st and since then has been increasing taxes by, “14.5 cents per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value. It’s expected to raise $1.25 billion over nine years,” according to the Seattle Times. King County does not currently have walk-in care centers so this is a huge step in the right direction and one that local mental health advocates have been pushing for a long time.
Currently, an implementation plan is being processed through Metropolitan King County’s legislative council. After this plan is passed, local officials working for King County will request support from mental health officials and local clinics seeking to help work at these 5 crisis care centers. King County’s goal is to start helping patients who require these centers immediately. This means that King County will be awarding contracts for up to three care centers in 2024. According to the implementation plan, all 5 care centers will be up and running by 2026. This is huge news for King County and a great step toward prioritizing local mental health.
To learn more visit https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dchs/human-social-services/community-funded-initiatives/crisis-care-centers-levy