Thurston County residents benefit from 30 programs now recognized as national models.

The win comes as the county government navigates what County Manager Leonard Hernandez calls "tens of millions of dollars" in state and federal funding cuts.

The county announced Tuesday, June 23, that it received 30 Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties, up from 19 in 2025. The Public Health and Social Services Department led all departments with 10 awards. The Thurston County Auditor's Office earned five.

The recognized programs touch daily life across Olympia and Tumwater. The Respiratory Illness Dashboard tracks local spikes in real time. The Lock It Up Program distributes free gun locks. A Youth Vaping Prevention Team works directly with young people.

And a prehospital ultrasound initiative, the first of its kind in Washington, equips all 80 county paramedics with compact devices to detect internal injuries before patients reach the hospital.

Auditor Mary Hall's office, which serves more than 200,000 registered voters, won awards for its Ballot Processing Observer Corridor, a "Path of the Ballot" educational program, a Spanish-language passport guide, and a Housing Justice Forum conducted with the University of Washington that uncovered more than 1,700 racially restrictive covenants on property titles and helped owners remove them.

"Our teams are short-staffed, facing tight budgets as the state and federal government cuts tens of millions of dollars in funding that directly impacts our local people and programs even as we work to bridge our own structural deficit," Hernandez said in the announcement. "Yet heavy state and federal requirements remain, and our teams continue innovating."

Board Chair Tye Menser said county employees are "finding creative ways to stretch every taxpayer dollar further."

The 30 awards mark a 58 percent increase over 2025, when Thurston County won more NACo awards than any other county in Washington. The full list of recognized programs is posted at thurstoncountywa.gov/thurston-county-awards.