By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
The city of Seattle’s Human Services Department (HSD) recently announced the appointment of Mary Mitchell as the new director of the Aging and Disability Services Division (ADS), where she has served in an interim capacity for the past year.
ADS offers resources, assistance and support for Medicaid, disability equipment such as ramps for wheelchair access and medication resources for our community’s most vulnerable populations.
According to Mitchell not only is it important to support the elderly community but it is her responsibility to oversee funding and essential resources for seniors and people with disabilities. Currently, the agency is serving more than 51,000 people each year
“We are housed in the city of Seattle, but we provide services to clients through the entire King County,” says Mitchell. “So, our funding comes from the city, from the state and from the federal government and the budget hovers around $99 million a year.”
A 30-year veteran working in the service of others, Mitchell began her career in civil service working for the Seattle Police Department before transitioning into the Human Services Department. She has extensive experience in organizational development, conflict resolution, and race and social justice work. She is a certified mediator.
Prior to joining HSD as interim ADS division director, Mitchell served as the director and deputy director of the Consumer Protection Division of the Seattle Department of Finance and Administrative Services, where she was instrumental in starting the racial equity toolkit to examine developing a marijuana equity program to increase diversity in the newly regulated industry.
Looking at her career there is a common thread that runs through Mitchell’s philosophy as a leader in civil service and that is equity.
In the beginning of her career, Mitchell worked in the SPD’s records file unit. In that capacity she co-chaired the race and social change team, was also a facilitator for focus groups within the SPD like the citizens academy and race the power of an illusion, where she cultivated her leadership skills educating both the police force on race equity and relations as well as equity within the police departments policies and procedures.
Even though she has worked behind the scenes, Mitchell has been instrumental in shaping policies and procedures as it relates to race and equity in various city departments.
“These experiences were connected to the city’s race and social justice initiative,” says Mitchell. “Here, I trained SPD’s entire department through video, questions and exercises to help police officers understand race and race equity in America and to look at the policies and procedures of the police department and try to embed equity into those policies and procedures.”
After 23 years with the SPD Mitchell’s transition into Human Services stems from her upbringing and her stance on the historical significance of our elders, our grandparents and great grandparents’ role in the family, the community and society.
A native of Seattle and a graduate of Garfield High School, Mitchell says that being a civil servant allows her to give back to the community she grew up in and offered her an opportunity to impact those who have helped to make the city what it is today.
“Coming to work for the city it was really about having the opportunity to be a part of helping the community that I grew up in,” says Mitchell. “Born and raised in Seattle for me it was an honor to be able to become a public servant for the city of Seattle, and then what attracted me to the Human Services Department was the Aging and Disability Services (ADS) division, which serves our older adults and people with disabilities.”
Mitchell’s appointment has been well received by community leaders. Margaret Boddie, Executive Director with the African American Elders Program at The Catholic Community Services, says that she knew Mitchell was the right person for the position during their first meeting.
“I was impressed with her,” says Boddie. “She came over as the interim director and immediately when I first met her, I thought, she is the one for the job.”
Boddie agrees with Bobby Humes, director of the City of Seattle’s Human Resource Department and his selection of Mitchell and says that Mitchell is qualified and well-deserving of the position.
“I know they [the City of Seattle] did a national search, and I am so glad they picked her because she knows her stuff,” says Boddie. “She knows and is compassionate about and towards the aging. She knows this community; she has worked in various parts of the city system, and she knows how it works. Her knowledge about aging and about finances are very important and she pays attention to the data, she is well versed in the data as it relates to African American elders and BIPOC people and she is the type that is going to turn things around for the aging network.”
