The Human Services team of Anyah Zupancic and Sarah Loeffler tackles one of the hardest feats at the City of Burien: creatively stretching limited funds and delivering results by partnering with community-based organizations across a range of needs.
The division’s ultimate goal is to create a community of opportunity where all residents in Burien can access the services they need to help achieve self-sufficiency and fully participate in and contribute to a healthy, vibrant, and inclusive community.
The division is currently responsible for over 60 different contracts, including with organizations that provide food access, financial assistance, support for those experiencing homelessness, outreach and intervention, employment services, and youth mentoring programs.
Every contract managed by the division requires annual tracking of demographics and outcome measures, and agencies must perform their contracted services to receive their full award. Programs funded by the division regularly meet and exceed their contracted program deliverables.
The data collected by the division reinforces this strong pattern of success. In 2024, 97% of funded programs met or exceeded their required annual service units for the City (such as pounds of food provided, or number of people sheltered overnight).
Loeffler, who serves as the City’s human services coordinator, explains that they get to address a wide variety of services to meet the community’s needs through intentional partnerships. One example of this collaboration is the division’s work with the King County Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
“We’re creating a video story that combines six different community organizations that work across violence prevention, intervention and restoration,” said Loeffler. In the video, the City is “showing the story of how they come together and fill the gaps for such a complex issue and work together to build the shared vision in Burien and South King County.”
The division supports the Human Services Commission, a council-appointed body that provides advice and recommendations on human services issues, including recommending funding priorities and allocations to the Burien City Council. The commission reviews every Human Services Fund application, which totaled more than 75 in the last cycle alone.
The Human Services Fund priorities identified for the 2025-2026 cycle focused on fostering a sense of community and belonging, building safe and healthy communities, creating pathways to living wage jobs, ensuring student success, and helping community members get or stay housed. A total of 36 programs addressing these priorities received a portion of the $530,000 fund to use toward achieving their goals. Some of the organizations awarded include Hospitality House, White Center Food Bank, Para Los Niños, Mary’s Place, and Children’s Therapy Center.
Funding continues to be critical as the demand for services has only increased. The division is intimately familiar with navigating an under-resourced system with a tight budget. With limited funds available for human services in the City’s General Fund and imminently expiring one-time funds, the division actively seeks out external funds to support growing needs. The division is also responsible for contracting severe weather shelter services, managing Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, and supporting the City’s membership in the South King Housing and Homelessness Partners (SKHHP) interlocal agreement.
Human Services Manager Zupancic acknowledges that while the size of the awards issued by the division may not be enough to fully fund every program, their understanding of the community’s pulse helps ensure the most efficient and effective use of available resources. She also shares that awarded agencies often strategically leverage small grants from the City of Burien to get larger grants from other funders.
“To hear the stories of kids that feel more confident in themselves because they went through a program that we’ve funded at their elementary school or to have folks stay in their home with their family because of small grants from the City is incredibly impactful,” said Zupancic. “You can tell that the agencies that we work with are very proud of the work that they do, and by proxy, we are very proud of the work that we get to be a part of.”
Rachel Perlot, Interim Director of Fund Development at African Community Housing & Development, shared how the agency is able to address their participants’ needs through wrap-around services, thanks in part to funding from the City of Burien.
“The City of Burien has been a critical partner in our work,” said Perlot. “This is a difficult moment for low-income families in South King County, especially those who are learning English, navigating caring for elderly relatives and young children, or who are new to our region. Burien’s funding over the past years has allowed us to provide holistic case management to help Burien families navigate complex systems of housing, public school enrollment, and assistance programs.”
To ensure an effective use of resources, and in recognition that the issues residents face in Burien are not unique to Burien alone, Burien participates in a funding consortium with 16 cities across King County. Pooling awards across the region helps agencies meet their funding needs, and in working jointly with other cities, Burien’s Human Services Division helps everyone involved better understand needs, trends, and strategies across South King County.
Highline Area Food Bank Executive Director Courtney Mellberg says their organization is the largest full-time food bank dedicated to serving Burien families, and having the City as a partner has been instrumental in meeting service needs.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with everyone from the Human Services Division, City Council, and the Human Services Commission,” said Mellberg. “With the grant funds we receive from the City, we are able to cover costs of whatever is needed at the moment. I’m happy to be a partner organization of the City and am excited to deepen our relationship!”
During the early years of the coronavirus pandemic, the division started brainstorming with leadership from the Burien Police Department and King County Fire District #2 around what a co-response model could look like as part of the City’s Enhanced Public Safety Initiative.
Supported by one-time federal pandemic relief funds, the City Council approved the initiative in 2021. The division has managed funding for the initiative’s programs, including the storefront resource officer position, the co-response program, and the Neighborhood Care Coordinator outreach program.
The outreach program, focused on connecting Burien residents experiencing homelessness to services, was contracted to Evergreen Treatment Services’ REACH program from 2022 to 2024 and The More We Love in 2024 and 2025.
The first co-response team started in 2022, when the division allocated American Rescue Plan Act funding to hire a mental health professional to team up with a firefighter EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). Soon after, the sheriff’s office replicated the structure with the Burien Police Department.
Two programs were created with two trained, credentialed mental health professionals, each riding along for 40 hours a week with the fire department and the Burien Police Department, respectively. One-time funding also briefly allowed for an additional co-response team to be added to the police department.
Zupancic shared that the program is a game-changer because when people are in an emergency, they don’t necessarily require a traditional firefighter or police officer response. The two response units benefit from the teamwork, which helps them better do their jobs overall.
“It’s been incredibly successful. We’ve heard from the community that this is the future that they want and need for first response,” said Zupancic. For other first responders, she shares that it’s been a huge victory “to know that they have someone they can call and dispatch out who can meet the different types of needs that are coming through the system.”
The mighty two-person Human Services team represents Burien’s voice at tables across the region, including the King County Joint Recommendations Committee, South King County Homelessness Action Committee, South King Housing and Homelessness Partners, and the Regional Gun Violence Prevention Initiative.
In conjunction with King County, the division also manages the City’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) entitlement, supporting a human services program and capital project within the City each year. This funding is allocated under strict guidelines to benefit low- and moderate-income members of the community.
One portion of the grant, around $40,000 annually, has provided continued support for Southwest Youth and Family Services’ programming serving youth and families living in local apartment complexes, such as Alcove, Woodridge Park, and Arbor Heights Apartments. Around $150,000 in funding has been invested each year in Burien parks, including replacement of the youth play structure in Lakeview Park in 2024, play equipment replacement at Chelsea Park in 2025, and replacement of damaged pavement at Jacob Ambaum Park in 2026.
Loeffler enjoys that the Human Services role is community focused. She gets to meet with community members and organizations and connect with other cities across King County.
“It really is about people, and I think that is sometimes lost in something that really, on the surface, looks like funding and contracts,” said Loeffler. “What we really thrive in is being able to meet with community members and hear what their needs are, but also hear from service providers about their success stories and how they’re reaching out and serving the community of Burien.”
Larraine Lynch, Chief Program Officer at King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, echoes the success of meeting people where they are and providing relevant cultural programming. Their program has supported a group of Latinx young people who have raised awareness about sexual assault and services available thanks in part to having a bilingual therapist co-located in the Highline School District.
“The students have gained valuable leadership skills by tabling at school-wide events to engage with families and students, presenting to school counselors and administrators, participating in a panel discussion with other school-based providers, and even addressing the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center Board,” said Lynch. “Along the way, they have created brochures and digital content in both Spanish and English promoting physical and mental health and sexual assault prevention for students and families.”
Gabriela, a bilingual therapist for King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, said that “working with these young people reminds me of the resilience of the Latinx community we come from, which keeps us pushing regardless of the barriers we continue to face.”
Zupancic believes it is important to take care of the community’s residents so that they can fully participate as members of Burien, which is one of the reasons she loves working in government human services and being able to connect organizations to the community’s needs.
“That’s what the Human Services Division is here for,” said Zupancic. “Funding makes sure that folks in the community are thriving and able to access their community and services. You have to think really creatively.”
In her first year in the role, Loeffler has recognized the strength their team possesses and the opportunities to shape how the division continues to grow and uplift the city of Burien.
“We work across the county with different cities; there’s a lot of collaboration happening, and that’s an area we thrive in, strategizing and being creative,” said Loeffler. “Now, we are looking to the future and discovering what funding looks like when it looked very different a year or two ago. How do we connect organizations and really build a vision that might bring something new?”
