Applications are now available for the popular Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which provides low-income seniors with $40 "checks" to exchange for fresh produce at farmers markets, roadside stands, and community supported agriculture programs throughout King County.

Applicants must be King County residents age 60 or older (age 55 or older if American Indian/Alaska Native) and low-income-below 185 percent of Federal Poverty Level (FPL). In real terms, that means someone who meets the age requirement must have an annual income at or below $21,588 (or $1,799 monthly) if he or she lives alone or $29,100 ($2,425 monthly) if he or she lives with one other person. For larger households, the FPL formula adds $625 per month per person.

"Many King County seniors have been inspired by visiting their local farmers market-perhaps for the first time-and eating fresh, nutritious, unprepared, locally-grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, and honey," said Maureen Linehan, interim director of the Aging and Disability Services division. "This has been a great investment in senior nutrition."

Applications are available online (http://ww.agingkingcounty.org/SFMNP/) or by calling any of the organizations listed below.

• African American Elders Program: 206-328-6840
• Asian Counseling & Referral Service: 206-695-7510
• Chinese Information & Service Center: 206-624-5633 ext 4178
• Latino Information & Assistance: 206-764-4700
• Neighborhood House: 206-461-4522
• Russian Information & Assistance (Irina at JFS): 206-861-8787
• Seattle Mayor's Office for Senior Citizens: 206-684-0500
• Senior Information & Assistance (206-448-3110 or 1-888-4ELDERS)

Because funds are limited, a random selection process is used to select recipients. Completed applications must be postmarked on or before May 15, 2014. All applicants will receive mail notification of their status on or before July 1.

A searchable list of local markets can be found on the Washington State Farmers Market Association website (http://www.wafarmersmarkets.com/washingtonfarmersmarketdirectory.php).

Join us at this month's Senior Coffee Hour for a conversation with Chris Arkills, Transportation Policy Advisor to King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Andrew Glass Hastings, Transportation Policy Advisor to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. Following the defeat of King County's Proposition 1 to increase funding for Metro transit and roads, come learn what's next for bus service and how it will affect you.

Sponsored by the Mayor's Office for Senior Citizens, the Coffee Hour will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 15, 2014, at the Central Building, 810 3rd Avenue, 1st Floor Conference Room, in downtown Seattle. The Mayor's Office for Senior Citizens is a unit of the Seattle Human Services Department.

Safe Harbors is King County's web-based Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) used to measure the extent of homelessness in our community. Data collected is used to create statements of need to funders at the local, state and federal levels through a variety of reports created from the information collected by our partner programs.

Safe Harbors is administered by HSD, and is a joint project of the City, King County's Department of Community and Human Services, and United Way of King County. In addition to the three sponsoring partners, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations require that an HMIS be governed by the locally-designated "Continuum of Care," which in King County is the Committee to End Homelessness (CEH).

Safe Harbors provides information that will allow the Committee to End Homelessness in King County and the broader community to:

• understand the workings of the existing homeless services system and the needs of homeless people;
• coordinate systems and funding to efficiently deliver the long-term housing and supportive services that homeless individuals and families need to stabilize their lives, get healthy, find work, and live independently; and
• measure our progress in ending homelessness.

This summer the Human Services Department will release our first Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). The NOFA will provide an overview of HSD's guiding principles, investment priorities, theory of change and the new Outcomes Framework pilot, a results-based accountability strategy recently approved by the Mayor. Additionally, the NOFA will announce HSD's upcoming investment opportunities and standard submission requirements for agencies interested in applying for funding. Two Requests for Investment (RFI) that align with the Outcomes Framework pilot will be released in the weeks following the NOFA, for HSD's Senior Centers and Food & Meal investments. The individual RFIs will provide additional details on each funding opportunity and application requirements specific to each investment area. Releasing the NOFA prior to the release of the RFIs will allow interested agencies to review HSD's investment priorities prior to applying for funding through the Senior Centers and Food & Meal RFIs.