Hearing Speech and Deafness Center

“Committee minutes are not maintained as all action items are discussed and recorded in the Board meeting minutes.”

“The full draft of the 990 is presented to the Board of Director's audit committee for review, comments and approval. After the HSDC audit committee approves the 990 and when the final public disclosure 990 copy is available, each current HSDC Board member will receive a public disclosure 990 by e-mail attachment.”

“The Board of Directors ensures that all board members, officers and senior staff conform to the conflict of interest policy and fill out and sign at the beginning of each year a conflict of interest disclosure form which is kept on file. Board members and employees disclose potential areas of conflict and recuse themselves during meetings.”

“An annual review of the Executive director's compensation is undertaken by the personnel committee to validate that compensation is consistent with external data, and any changes in compensation are decided based performance, experience, and availability of funds.”

“Outside human resources firm is contracted to perform compensation benchmarking for key employees and leadership team members, with similar criteria as the the executive director described above.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request normally via electronic PDF file.”

“Organization opened a new Specialized, bilingual American Sign Language-English preschool that provides an immersive environment in both language and culture. This program contracts with local school districts to provide developmental preschool services for deaf/hard of hearing students that are otherwise not available.”

“OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: Deaf Services: provided advocacy services to 3,595 individuals from three office locations (Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham). This program provides advocacy services, information and referral, training and education and support for individuals who are deaf, deaf-blind or hard of hearing. In addition, the program trains businesses, community groups, schools, local and state government agencies, landlords, and other services in the community on providing appropriate accessibility and support for their disabled clients and customers. Through the Seattle, Tacoma and Bellingham offices, these services are provided to 13 counties in Western Washington. The Bellingham office also provides a Family Program with sign language classes, communication strategies, etc. This work is done on a local, statewide and national level.”