The Seattle City Attorney’s Office (CAO) could be exploring a new partnership with Unified Outreach, a relatively unknown organization that does community-facing arts and youth programming.
In emails obtained by Real Change, Unified Outreach Executive Director Edward Dumas and Program Manager David Toledo exchanged a series of messages with CAO staff members, scheduling at least three meetings.
According to the emails, Unified Outreach staff criticized the zero youth detention goals that other community organizations support and that Seattle and King County officials have committed to.
Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison, a registered Republican, began her term on Jan. 1. She ran as a tough-on-crime candidate, promising to crack down on people who are disproportionately involved in the criminal legal system, who she calls “high utilizers,” as well as shortening the CAO’s case backlog. However, she also declined to prosecute nearly 2,000 misdemeanor cases in her efforts to clear that backlog.
In an email to Davison dated Jan. 3 with the subject line “Diversion Program Proposal _ Unified Outreach,” Toledo discussed three community groups — CHOOSE 180, Community Passageways and Creative Justice — claiming that they have partnerships with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO). He wrote that “[a]lthough these are fine organizations, each is committed to the Zero Incarceration plan that does not hold youth accountable for their crimes … but our programs are much more in line with the vision of the current Seattle City Attorney.”
Toledo also attributed the 2021 shooting of 19-year-old Omari Wallace, who was shot outside a church where he was planning to attend a Community Passageways program orientation, to the “Zero Incarceration plan.”
Dominique Davis, the founder and CEO of Community Passageways, wrote in an email to Real Change that the organization does not have any contracts with the CAO or KCPAO. Davis also wrote that “we would never say anything negative about any orgs or org members.”
Creative Justice Executive Director Nikkita Oliver said in a statement that Creative Justice does not have any contracts with the CAO or KCPAO, either. They also refuted Toledo’s claims that the zero youth detention goal contributed to increased violence.
“Violence has not increased due to King County’s commitment to Zero Youth Detention,” Oliver wrote. “In fact, as our commitment to restorative justice and community-based responses to harm and systemic violence has grown the number of youth driven into the school to prison pipeline has decreased.”
Oliver said that socio-economic factors are the root cause of the recent increase in violence.
“The recent upticks in violence—including gun violence—are the result of the pandemic, economic crises and the housing crisis, increased suicide, and gun violence amongst adults (not juveniles),” they wrote.
“More importantly, gun violence is a public health issue that demands a public health response (NOT more policing, prosecution, criminalization, and incarceration),” they wrote.
CHOOSE 180 Executive Director Sean Goode wrote in an email to Real Change that Seattle needs to continue to build a “comprehensive community of support for our neighbors whose behavior has been historically criminalized in our city.”
He added that this effort “needs many hands” and that people engaged in the work “must not disparage” other similar efforts. CHOOSE 180 currently runs a diversion program for young adults with the CAO that recently reported a 90 percent success rate.
According to public records obtained by Real Change, the CAO scheduled three meetings with Unified Outreach staff on Jan. 7, Feb. 7 and March 15.
Unified Outreach staff initially pitched a potential diversion program centered on youth, despite the fact that the CAO does not deal with charges against young people under the age of 18.
In notes from the Feb. 7 meeting, CAO staff wrote that they hoped a new potential diversion program could address people aged 18-to-30 and that the program would have to be able to work with different neighborhoods and partners, including the Seattle Police Department.
Other details from the diversion program proposal document sent by the Unified Outreach email account include programs for different tiers of participants based on the severity of their charges. Some workshop series vary in length. It’s unclear what, specifically, is different in Unified Outreach’s proposal from other diversion programs, which also involve workshops.
When approached for a request for comment on the program, Toledo said, “We don’t do interviews” and suggested Real Change submit a public disclosure request for more information.
In an email, CAO spokesperson Anthony Derrick wrote that no decision has been made on whether to partner with Unified Outreach. Derrick said that the office expects partner organizations to establish “respectful working relationships” with other service providers and that any potential new program with Unified Outreach would supplement existing diversion programs, given the significant need for more pre-filing diversion programming. Derrick also added that the CAO no longer contracts with direct service providers, which are held instead by Seattle’s Human Services Department.
Given the city and county’s commitment to zero youth detention, Unified Outreach’s negative language may cause divisions in a field that has more need than is currently being fulfilled.
However, these rifts could potentially be mended. Davis wrote that he hopes community organizations will come together for the greater good.
“I want all of us to join forces to heal our community because we are better together!!!” he wrote. “Love beats Hate every time.”
Guy Oron is the staff reporter for Real Change. He handles coverage of our weekly news stories. Find them on Twitter, @GuyOron.
Read more of the Jun 22-28, 2022 issue.