King's Dream Selected as a Technical Assistance Provider for King County's 2026 Participatory Budgeting Program
$2.7 Million, Community-Led
King County's Department of Local Services has opened its 2026 Participatory Budgeting cycle for unincorporated King County, putting real public dollars directly in residents' hands: $1.6 million through the Elevate Skyway Community Fund and $1.1 million through the Uplift White Center Community Fund. Community-based organizations have until October 11, 2026 to submit proposals, which a resident-led Community Advisory Board will then review and score — with funded projects running through December 2027.
The Gap Technical Assistance Fills
Participatory budgeting puts the decision in the community's hands, but writing a proposal that can actually win funding is its own skill — and it's not one every organization with a good idea has on staff. King's Dream knows exactly how competitive that process is: the firm's own nonprofit, Shop Skyway, won its first King County Participatory Budgeting grant by community vote out of more than 800 submitted ideas, with only 5% of submissions funded. Good ideas lose to sharper proposals more often than they should — which is exactly the gap a Technical Assistance Provider is there to close.
King's Dream's Role
As one of the Technical Assistance Providers selected for this cycle, King's Dream will work one-on-one with community-based organizations applying in Skyway and White Center — helping them assess their own organizational capacity honestly, develop a clear and fundable scope of work, build a realistic budget and budget narrative, set achievable timelines and deliverables, and understand what living up to a public contract actually requires day to day.
This isn't new territory for the firm. King's Dream previously spent two years as one of only two providers selected by King County to support Participatory Budgeting grant recipients in launching their funded projects — and its roots in Skyway itself go deeper still: King's Dream's own nonprofit initiative, Shop Skyway, was a community-voted Participatory Budgeting grant recipient there in 2023. This engagement brings King's Dream back to the same table, this time helping the next round of community organizations get funded in the first place.
One of those prior engagements was with the Federal Way Senior Center, where King's Dream provided hands-on technical assistance for a capital improvement project — working through the project budget and contractor payment terms, and helping define practical performance measures, including a final walk-through inspection and before-and-after documentation, to track the completed work.
“This is a full-circle moment for us. Skyway is where our own nonprofit went through this exact process and won — now we get to help the next round of organizations in Skyway and White Center put their best case forward.” — Jawan Harris, Founder & Managing Partner, King's Dream Business Consulting
What's Next
King's Dream will run intake, proposal-development, and final readiness-review sessions with assigned organizations over the coming weeks, ahead of the county's October 11 proposal deadline. From there, the Community Advisory Board takes over review and scoring, with selected projects launching afterward and running through December 2027.
Is your organization applying for Participatory Budgeting funding in Skyway or White Center, or want to know more about how King's Dream supports public-sector and community partners? Book a free discovery call and let's talk.
About King's Dream Business Consulting: Founded in 2019, King's Dream Business Consulting is a small business consulting and management firm established initially in response to Seattle's gentrification and displacement of its minority business communities. To date, King's Dream has served over 400 small businesses nationwide. King's Dream Business Consulting is a leading provider of business advisory services, offering strategic planning, marketing strategies, financial management, operational efficiency, and human resources consulting. Committed to the success of small businesses, King's Dream Business Consulting provides tailored guidance and support to drive sustainable growth.
The Local Mogul is King's Dream Business Consulting's blog, covering news, wins, and insight from our work with public agencies, Tribal governments, and community partners across Washington State.
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