King County Executive Dow Constantine announced on Nov. 26 that three project proposals in East Federal Way have been awarded grants through this year’s round of the participatory budgeting process.

East Federal Way is a community of approximately 22,000 in an unincorporated area of King County. The area is between Federal Way, Auburn and the Pierce County line, between Interstate 5 and the City of Federal Way, according to the county.

Integrity Life Church received the largest award at $1,250,000 to build a multifunctional community space open to all on their property.

The Federal Way Senior Center received $210,000 to be used toward building improvements to increase accessibility and functionality of the space.

$56,000 was also awarded to rename part of Military Road South to honor Black pioneers John and Mary Conna. A park in the city limits of Federal Way will also be named after the pioneers in a separate project unrelated to the county grants.

The participatory budgeting process was first implemented in 2021 in King County and was designed by its participants. Community members are invited to submit ideas on how budget dollars can be spent to benefit their community. Those ideas are refined and developed into full proposals by volunteers, then voted on by those who live, work, play or worship in that community.

220 ideas were submitted for East Federal Way and those were narrowed down to seven.

The participatory budgeting process also awarded 39 other projects throughout the other unincorporated areas including East Renton, Fairwood, Skyway/West Hill, and White Center/North Highline.

A full list of projects can be seen here.

According to the county, this year voter participation nearly doubled from the inaugural round two years ago.