Author: handala

Welcome to the team, Cassie!

By SOWA

A desire to create change and provide quality information propelled Cassie into her position at SOWA. Fourteen years of serving youth in a volunteer and professional capacity has provided her with unique insight and passion. Cassie’s previous professional experience includes co-managing annual fundraisers for Spokane nonprofits, providing administrative assistance as a compliance specialist for an alternative high school, and several years in data entry. She feels fortunate to be a part of the SOWA team that is working to make a positive difference in the lives of young people through data insights.⁠⁠ Cassie provides Salesforce data administration support and handles … [ ]

Educators, school staff, youth development, and child care providers now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine

By SOWA

President Biden recently announced a directive that all states prioritize vaccinations of teachers and childcare workers, with a goal for all school staff and childcare workers to get at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of March. In response, Washington Governor Jay Inslee and the Washington Department of Health have added K-12 staff and educators and childcare workers to Washington’s current vaccination phase, effective immediately.   The following groups have been added to the current vaccination phase:  Pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade educators and school staff Childcare and Youth Development workers/providers, including:   All licensed childcare providers.    Licensed family home childcare providers, and the family members living in their home.   License-exempt … [ ]

Newport students keep ‘active minds’ during the summer of STEM

By Ready WA

Check out this great blog post written by our partners at Ready WA featuring one of our Feed Your Brain grantees in Newport!  Ready WA is a statewide coalition that believes every Washington student should graduate high school prepared for a successful future, on the education and career path they choose. The recipe for summer learning in Newport, Wash., looks like one part science lab, one part reading room, and two parts fun. The 80 students participating in The Summer of STEM program are building roller coasters, creating cars out of pasta, engineering popsicle stick bridges, constructing elaborate towers for marbles to run through, … [ ]

Seattle CARES—creating and becoming superheroes

By Adriana Zazula

Seattle CARES is more than mentoring. The organization invests not only in the youth they work with, but also their families. Their mission is to secure and transform the lives of Black children by inspiring, recruiting, and mobilizing masses of caring Black men and women to mentor and nourish them. Their programs respect the voices of the students, adults, parents and guardians they serve, and reflect the needs and wishes of the community. The pandemic highlighted an increasing need for wrap-around support. Seattle CARES took only three weeks to reassess how they would adapt their programs virtually. Immediately following, they … [ ]

African Young Dreamers Empowerment Program Intl.—amplifying youth voice and resilience

By Adriana Zazula

The African Young Dreamers Empowerment Program Intl. (AYDEPI) was established in 2019 in response to missing resources for young immigrants in South King County. Executive Director, Beatrice Kiraguri, noticed that there wasn’t a space for young immigrants to connect and heal—including her daughter, Fiona Okech, an AYDEPI Youth Representative. The urgent need for change and input from immigrant youth inspired the formation of AYDEPI. Their mission is to provide sustainable community health, social services and education programs targeting vulnerable youth and their environment. AYDEPI’s  key focus areas are in education, socio-economic interventions, mental health awareness, substance abuse and prevention, and … [ ]

How literacy is changing lives and building community in Kent

By Lex Gavin

Coalition for Refugees from Burma (CRB), based in Kent, knows that literacy is a vehicle that changes lives. Their programs provide support for immigrant and refugee communities across the age spectrum, always with an eye trained towards self-advocacy. Executive Director, Mona Han wants to work herself out of a job—a philosophy that influences all aspects of the organization. While some social service organizations utilize a case management strategy and aim to be a one-stop-shop to access a wide range of supports from rental assistance to counseling sessions to bus passes, CRB has stayed focused on their specialty: literacy as a … [ ]