Less than two months after the head of Vashon’s largest social service agency met with local government officials to request increased county support for island nonprofits, it appears Vashon may benefit from additional funds or services as early as next year.

Kathleen Johnson, the executive director of Vashon Youth & Family Services (VYFS), says that since she began at the organization three years ago, she has been troubled by the fact that agencies on the island are not eligible for money many other nonprofits in the region have access to: city funds. In urban areas, municipal funds help support social services addressing the needs of that city, but because Vashon is unincorporated, Johnson said the island’s agencies do not receive that type of financial support, leaving them chronically underfunded.

In December, hoping to change that picture, Johnson took action and met with King County Councilmember Joe McDermott.

“There is something about having that (funding) hole that has grated at me,” she said. “I got to the point where I said we need to do something about this or at least give it a shot.”

Reached on Monday, McDermott agreed that municipal funds are important to the work of many nonprofits, and he noted the way Johnson framed the funding issue was new to him and provided a different way to consider and talk about the issue.

“This is a situation where we are the local government for Vashon as well as the unincorporated areas of King County,” he said.

In January, he attended a Vashon Social Services Network meeting, with representatives from many of the island’s nonprofit agencies in attendance. Last week, Adrienne Quinn, director of the King County Department of Community and Human Services, attended another of the network’s meetings.

Afterward, Quinn indicated she will work to address some of the issues Vashon and other rural providers in the county face. She noted that everywhere she goes, communities ask for additional funding for social services, but she also stressed that Vashon agencies and residents face some unique challenges, including costly ferry rides to access services off-island and a surprisingly high poverty rate. Not long ago, she said, her department did a mapping exercise to show where people with low incomes live. There were some notable results.

“One thing that stood out to many people is that there really are a lot of people in poverty on Vashon,” she said. “It really stood out as a striking, significant issue.”

For Johnson and other island service providers, these results and related issues indicate just why Vashon agencies need assistance from the county. At VYFS, in 2015, the agency closed its VIVA program, which served islanders who were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. VIVA suffered a blow in 2013 when it lost an $80,000 county grant that had funded it in previous years. While VYFS leadership sought alternative funding, they were never able to secure an ongoing source. In 2014, VYFS closed its addiction treatment program because it, too, was financially unsustainable and was at risk of drawing needed funds from other programs. Additionally, Johnson pointed to Vashon’s growing Hispanic community and the importance of assessing and addressing needs within it, and she noted that the Vashon Senior Center has lost its funding from United Way and is struggling to make up the difference.

Johnson has also compiled data from the King County Health Profile, published in 2014, which gives an indication of some of the widespread needs on the island. Among the statistics are the poverty level results Quinn referenced: Some 45 percent of islanders live below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. Thirty percent of islanders 18 and older report “activity limitations,” and 10 percent of mothers received late or no prenatal care, with more than 7 percent having babies with a low birth weight. Moreover, Johnson said, one-third of all parents on Vashon experienced three or more “Adverse Childhood Experiences” (ACES), the fourth highest score in King County. High ACE scores are linked with a host of problems, including increased physical and mental illness, high injury rates and high unemployment, among other issues. Despite these challenges, she said, Vashon receives no money for early childhood prevention efforts from the county.

For her part, Quinn noted there are issues unique to Vashon, but noted, too, that rural areas in general pose challenges for service delivery.

In the coming months, she said, she will begin addressing the best way to gather the county’s rural service providers and have a discussion about their needs and how to address them.

While some county money is available for youth and family services in rural agencies, Quinn said she will begin looking at other areas where additional funding might be available or changes in procedure that might be helpful.

“Is there something we could be doing differently with county dollars?” she said.

She noted that the county’s Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) levy is intended to stabilize people suffering from mental illness and chemical dependency and might be a helpful resource for communities such as Vashon. Additionally, the Best Starts for Kids Initiative, which voters approved in November, may be another source of funds.

Additionally, she said, county funds are often available to agencies through a request for proposal (RFP) process. That process needs to be examined, she said, to ensure that small organizations can be more competitive for available dollars.

“Have we been equitable? Have we disadvantaged rural or unincorporated areas? There are valid and important issues we need to address,” she said.

She added that providing more services, instead of money, to outlying areas might also be an option. For example, the county has a mobile medical van that that provides services in some communities, and it could possibly serve Vashon and other rural areas and address a range of health-related issues.

Quinn also cautioned that the county has limited funds to assist with unmet needs and will have to proceed carefully.

“The pie is not growing,” she said. “We will have to have a well thought out rationale for why unincorporated areas get additional funding.”

Vashon Household’s Executive Director Chris Szala has also been part of this process, and both he and Johnson stress they want to see additional funding possibilities embedded into how King County operates and not awarded on a one-time only basis.

“At the county policy level, it needs to be important to them,” Szala said.

Moving ahead, he said forming a coalition with McDermott’s office — or McDermott’s successor — and other unincorporated areas will be important to developing long-term change.

“It cannot be a Vashon- only thing,” he said.

Johnson said she first approached the Youth and Family Services Association, a group of human services executive directors in King County, and they supported the idea of seeking additional funding from the county. She noted she is also a member of the King County Alliance for Human Services, and its members, too, support the idea. They will join her in advocating that, as a policy, the county find ways to identify additional funding for rural and/or unincorporated areas not being supported by municipal funds.

Szala said given the restrictions of the budget process, he is not sure how much change is likely in the short term, but he is more optimistic about the future.

“Long-term I think some good things will happen,” he said.

Recounting the actions of recent months, Johnson said she is pleased to have been heard at the county level and see that some changes might be made.

“I am surprised how quickly this has gone. I am gratified to see that because the need is urgent,” she said.