Sarah Olson is creating a healthier place to live and play

On April 21, The Herald Business Journal will announce the 2016 recipient of the Emerging Leaders Award. This week and next, we are profiling 12 finalists, who were chosen by a panel of judges from among dozens of nominees.

Sarah Olson has worked to make Snohomish County a healthier place to live.

She spent eight years chairing the Get Movin’ program, promoting an active lifestyle for youths in the county during the summer. She’s helped spearhead a 10-year Healthy Communities Action Plan for Lynnwood and the county through the Healthy Communities Coalition and LiveHealthy2020 program.

She’s been a presenter at the Edge of Amazing Health Summit sponsored by the Snohomish County Health Leadership Coalition and the Providence Institute for a Healthier Community.

In her job as deputy director of the City of Lynnwood’s parks department, Olson helped the city win a $1.9 million grant from Verdant Health Commission for the Bike2Health project in south county, which funds critical missing pieces of the multi-modal transportation plan. And she’s also helped successfully launch the Lynnwood Farmers Market.

In her early career, Olson spent time with municipal aquatics programming. She dedicated herself to drowning prevention in the county and the state.

For five years, she chaired the Washington State Drowning Coalition and worked closely with Children’s Hospital and Seattle/King County Public Health to coordinate April Pools Day statewide with a public outreach campaign.

In her 10 years living in Snohomish County, Olson has helped coordinate three neighborhood National Night Out block parties, organized two neighborhood backpack giveaways with View Ridge Community Church and volunteered at the Fun in the Sun for First Baptist Church in downtown Everett. She’s also served three years on the City of Everett’s parks board.

In that role, she was selected to serve on a special committee to create a new city policy on naming rights of parks, streets and facilities in Everett.

What’s she’s done on her job and in her city, Olson has attempted to bring the same to her neighborhood.

“At home in Everett, I apply many of the same principles and values to connect with and support my neighbors and the broader community,” Olson writes in her nomination form. “Getting to know my neighbors, checking in on them, and offering support are the basis of my personal relationships.”