Author: handala

Serving community through the kitchen

By Sierra Wagner

Community permeates every aspect of Ms. Patrice Freeman’s kitchen at the Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club of King County in southeast Seattle. Smiles from the pictures of family members, staff, and Club graduates are posted all over the kitchen walls. The food is more than just nutritious and filling, it’s delicious. Nothing asserts this claim more than the clean plates kids present to staff after meals. I was able to sample the meal being served the day I visited the Boys & Girls Club and taste the flavors curated by Ms. Patrice. The warm, soft whole-grain bread, crunchy coleslaw, and sweet mangos … [ ]

Doubling the numbers—exponential growth in participation and retention for the afterschool center at the Salvation Army Seattle in White Center

By Sierra Wagner

Washington is ranked 25th hungriest state in the nation with 1 in 5 kids in our state living in a household that struggles to put food on the table. Food insecurity refers to households that lack available financial resources for food or may have to make trade-offs between basic needs and buying adequate nutritious food. Hunger can create obstacles to learning and growing. Afterschool and summer meals are a critical component of keeping children and youth all across our state full, healthy, and ready to learn. During their time at the After School Center, youth receive supper, homework help (math, spelling, reading), activities, … [ ]

Bureau of Fearless Ideas is strengthening intentional social-emotional learning practices

School has let out, and for youth attending the Bureau of Fearless Ideas (BFI) in Seattle, they enter their afterschool program in style: teleporting. A nonprofit writing and communication center, BFI draws youth from all over the city with an office in the Greenwood neighborhood and a more recently opened space at Yesler Terrace.  The Greenwood space is co-located with the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co., a store selling the “finest space travel supplies” including a variety of games, and other fun materials whose sales support BFI’s services.     As youth arrive at BFI’s Greenwood space, they walk through the store and enter … [ ]

Spokane’s YMCA Program at Meadow Ridge embraces new quality practices

Located just north of Spokane, the community of Mead is home to Meadow Ridge Elementary School where the YMCA of the Inland Northwest provides licensed school-age care before and after school for children in kindergarten through 6th grade. Earlier in the school year, the program underwent a transformative 10-week intensive quality improvement process. Already experiencing major transitions with moving their program to a new location in the school and bringing on new staff, at first, the prospect of being involved in a quality improvement intervention was met with uncertainty.  Now several months later, the team working on the program at Meadow Ridge has fully embraced and incorporated many elements of the quality supports and have seen … [ ]