Quinn applauds wins for Black community as Council approves $20 billion 2026-27 budget

November 18, 2025

King County Councilmember De’Sean Quinn on Tuesday applauded the passage of the next biennial King County budget – a $20 billion funding mechanism that includes investments focused on the Black community, where King County is working to counter more than a century of discrimination and oppression.

“The budget is an explicit statement about our values, and shows how much we value the people in this county – not just for their future but also to undue the harms of the past,” Quinn said. “Our Black communities have suffered at the hands of oppressive legislation and culture for most of this nation’s history and this budget brings significant funding to programs aimed at stemming the ongoing impacts of that oppression. I’m proud to have been a part of this vital work.”

The 2026-27 budget key investments to uplift and support King County’s Black community, including:

• $300,000 to support the Charles Mitchell and George Waashington Bush Study on Reparative Action for Washington State’s Descendents of Victims of United States Chattel Slavery conducted by the Washington State Department of Commerce
  
  
• $250,000 to Tabor 100 to provide support to small Black-owned businesses in King County including business development in District 5 (Des Moines, Kent, Normandy Park, Renton, SeaTac, Tukwila)
  
  
• $123,888 for Urban League for the following programs:
  • Homebase: Eviction prevention.
  • Harder House: Providing service for young men who have aged out of foster homes.
  • Streets to Home: Temporary housing, moving assistance, employment assistance, and flexible dollars for individual support (security deposits, bus passes, etc.)
    
    
• $50,000 to support and develop a Doctor Quintard Taylor historical grant or fellowship in collaboration with Blackpast.org
  
  
• $10,000 for the Kent Black Action Commission’s work to expand civic involvement of the African-American community in Kent
  
  

Quinn, appointed in January to represent District 5 after Dave Upthegrove’s departure, has worked on several major pieces of legislation this year, but the budget is by far the largest and most consequential.

“This was a tremendous amount of work, but its importance to our community made it a joy to be of service,” Quinn said. “I couldn’t be happier to end my time on Council with this legislation and I’m grateful I had the opportunity to serve District 5 and all of King County.”