Archives for January 2018

Attention Educators! Library of Congress 2018 Summer Teacher Institutes –

January 31, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

Teaching with Primary Sources

The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for its week-long summer institutes for K-12 educa-tors. Held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., this professional development opportunity pro-vides educators of all disciplines with resources and strategies to effectively integrate primary sources into K-12 classroom teaching. Each session will focus on pedagogy, with an emphasis on supporting student engagement, critical thinking, and construction of knowledge.

While practicing these teaching strategies, attendees will explore some of the millions of digitized histori-cal artifacts and documents available in the Library’s collections. Finally, they will conduct research to identify primary sources and develop an activity related to their classroom content.

Five five-day sessions will be offered this summer:

General Focus – open to K-12 educators across all content areas:

· June 18-June 22

· June 25-June 29

· July 30-August 3

WWI Focus – recommended for K-12 educators who teach some aspect of WWI as part of their curricu-lum, or collaborate with those who do:

· July 9-July 13

Science, Technology, and Engineering Focus – recommended for K-12 educators who teach science, tech-nology, or engineering, or collaborate with those who do:

July 16-July 20

Tuition and materials are provided at no cost. Participants will be responsible for transportation to and from Washington, D.C., and any required overnight accommodations.

Applications are due March 21 and require a letter of recommendation. Read more and apply now:

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/teacherinstitute/

Department of Health Seeks Community Feedback

January 31, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

Over the years, the Washington State Department of Health has heard from community partners, organizations, and businesses about the barriers they face in competing for contracting, grant, and competitive bid opportunities at the Department of Health. Listening to this feedback, a project to improve our contracting, grant, and competitive bid processes has launched. An internal team led by the Center for Public Affairs Community Relations & Equity has drafted a work plan, and would like your feedback to help ensure the right strategies are being prioritized. Please see the work plan for more information.

Please provide your feedback! You can:
1) Take help by taking this survey by February 28, 2018.

2) Sign-up for a conference call by emailing [email protected] to learn about available times and dates in February.

If neither of these options work for you or your schedule, please let us know so we can see if there’s another option. Your feedback is very important to us.

This work supports Governor Inslee’s initiative to increase supplier diversity and increase business inclusion.

Governor Inslee Talks Youth Apprenticeship During ‘State of the State’ Address

January 30, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

Governor Inslee delivered his annual State of the State Address to the Washington State Senate and the State House of Representatives on January 9, 2018.

During his speech, Governor Inslee spent a few minutes highlighting his Career Connected Learning initiative, his trip to Switzerland and AJAC’s inaugural Youth Apprenticeship program, “You can go to Tacoma and see for yourself how this works. It was a joy last year to celebrate our state’s first 15 registered youth apprentices as they prepared to launch rewarding careers in aerospace. Let’s expand that opportunity, as well as apprenticeship programs for our veterans and other Washingtonians, in the coming years,” Inslee said.

Since Tacoma launched its first Youth Apprenticeship program, AJAC has implemented similar programs at West Valley High School (Yakima), Snohomish High School and secured partnerships with Puyallup High School, Shadle Park High School (Spokane School District) , Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center, Everett School District and the Mukilteo School District – all whom expect to launch their AJAC in 2018.

Learn more about AJAC’s Youth Apprenticeship Program online.

Tacoma Historical Society to hosting A Tacoma Mayor’s Life Journey

January 29, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

Monday, February 12 at 7 PM – 8 PM

Kilworth Memorial Chapel

3411 N 18th St, Tacoma, Washington 98406

Victoria Woodards took office as Tacoma’s 39th mayor in January 2018, and Tacoma Historical Society is honored to present her as our guest speaker on Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12. Woodards will share stories from her journey of life, work, and service in Tacoma.

Please note the special location on the University of Puget Sound campus: we will be meeting in Kilworth Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

Victoria Woodards has been proud to call Tacoma – the “City of Destiny” – her home for nearly her entire life. She is a product of the Tacoma Public School District and a proud graduate of Lincoln High School. In addition to being a US Army Veteran, she has worked in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.

For over three decades, Victoria has served as a passionate leader in our community in many ways. Some of those include former chair of the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs, Trustee for the Washington State History Museum, Co-Chair of the Tacoma Civil Rights Project, Senior Fellow in the American Leadership forum and Producer of the region’s largest celebration of diversity, Ethnic Fest.

While Victoria has always had a desire to serve and work in her community, it was while working for Harold Moss on the Pierce County Council that she discovered her desire to serve in elected office. In May of 2004, she was appointed to the Board of Park Commissioners and subsequently elected in November 2005. She served as President of the Metro Parks Board until 2009 when she was elected to the Tacoma City Council.

As a member of the City Council, Victoria worked tirelessly to make Tacoma the best place to live, work and play. She was Deputy Mayor in 2014 and during her tenure as a councilmember served in several capacities including chair of the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health, Community Vitality and Safety Committee and the Gang Reduction Task Force. She was also on the boards of the Foundation for Tacoma Students (Graduate Tacoma) and the Crystal Judson Family Justice Center.

Victoria has been a member of Allen AME Church for almost 40 years. As a youth, she was an active as a member of the youth choir, usher board and the Young Peoples Department (Y.P.D.). She has served in many positions within the church, including, a member of Ellen Kellum Missionary Society, YPD Director, and as a Choir Director for both the Youth and Women’s Choir.

Victoria took the reigns as the President and CEO of the Tacoma Urban League in 2011. There she led a devoted team, serving the local community while targeting the next generation. Under her leadership the League was stabilized and its budget was tripled. Today the league is thriving nonprofit serving youth and families in the areas of education, advocacy and financial prosperity.

Charles Johnson, Celebrated Author, Cartoonist, to Deliver the Swope Lecture

January 29, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

“The New Middle Passage: Mindfulness and Black America”

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13 Free, but tickets are required

Charles Johnson, celebrated author, short storyteller, cartoonist, professor, and one of a group of writers who raised African American literature to international prominence, will deliver the Swope Lecture at University of Puget Sound.

Johnson, winner of the 1990 National Book Award for Middle Passage (1990)—a retelling of the slave narrative that deeply impacted modern audiences—has accrued a long list of accolades over his five decades of work. Among them: the MacArthur “genius” award and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature.

His talk, “The New Middle Passage: Mindfulness and Black America,” will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13, in Schneebeck Concert Hall on campus, near the corner of Union Avenue and N. 14th Street. The event is free, but tickets must be obtained in advance. See below for details.

Johnson’s wide swathe of work has extended to some unusual horizons and audiences. His writing of four novels, including Dreamer (1998) and Oxherding Tale (1982); and three short story collections—most recently, Dr. King’s Refrigerator and Other Bedtime Stories (2005)—has been interspersed with two young adult books; a work of aesthetics; two collections of comic art; and numerous book reviews and critical articles. He co-authored King: The Photobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.; and Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery, the companion book for the PBS television series. He also wrote more than 20 screenplays.

For comic art lovers, Johnson has published more than 1,000 drawings. For followers of Eastern religion, the student of Buddhism and Sanskrit has written Buddhist stories and reflections. For aspiring writers, he has turned out books including The Way of the Writer: Reflections on the Art and Craft of Storytelling (2015). He also taught creative writing for 35 years at University of Washington, where he is professor emeritus.

In a 2010 interview, the Illinois-born author told Fiction Writers Review that he sometimes wrote throughout the night, heading out to give a lecture the next morning, and that he had not had a vacation in his entire career. Instead he practices meditation and works out in the gym, including sets of kung-fu, to relieve the pressure of work, family, writing, lectures, and other obligations.

“In order to serve the art, which will become a gift to others (and the culture) perhaps for generations, an artist often has to just step away from the quotidian demands of public life and the social world,” he told the magazine.

Johnson began his career as a political cartoonist and illustrator in the 1960s and published his first novel, Faith and the Good Thing, in 1974. He earned a doctoral degree in philosophy from SUNY-Stony Brook University in 1988. Over the following two decades, his work attracted international attention, drawing hundreds of requests for interviews and lectures—and the honor of a postage stamp carrying his portrait, issued by the Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation as part of a series on influential black authors.

In 2003 the American Literature Association set up the Charles Johnson Society, devoted to the many scholarly papers and articles on his work and the genre of philosophical fiction. A year later he was awarded the Stephen E. Henderson Award for outstanding literary contributions by the African American Literature and Cultural Society.

In the 2010 Fiction Writers Review interview, Johnson expressed the belief that racism will never end. “Racism is based on our belief in a division between “self” and “other,” and our tendency to measure ourselves against others … and to judge them as better or worse than ourselves,” he said. “Sad to say, it is also based on fear. This constant measuring of ourselves in a social context is something human being will always do until they experience—as a Buddhist would say—awakening, which frees us from judging others or ourselves.”

The Jane Hammer Swope Lectureship on Ethics, Religion, Faith, and Values aims to promote discussion, critical thinking, and ethical inquiry about matters of religion, including its role in public life and contemporary ethics. The lectureship was established at Puget Sound through a gift from Maj. Ianthe Swope in honor of her mother, Jane Hammer Swope.

FOR TICKETS: Admission is free, but tickets are required. Tickets are available online at tickets.pugetsound.edu, or at Wheelock Information Center, 253.879.3100.

For directions and a map of the University of Puget Sound campus: pugetsound.edu/directions

For accessibility information please contact or 253.879.3931, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility.

Press photos of Charles Johnson can be downloaded from pugetsound.edu/pressphotos.

Tweet this: Charles Johnson, author of Middle Passage & pioneer of philosophical African American literature @univpugetsound Feb 13 free, ticketed

Follow us on Twitter! twitter.com/univpugetsound

Parents, Grandparents to Discuss Impact on African Americans and Latinos of Trump Administration’s Proposed Health Care Policy Changes

January 29, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

Faith leaders with PICO National Network, the largest network of faith-based groups in the nation, today announced a Feb. 13media conference call for people affected by the Trump administration’s proposed cuts or changes to the Medicaid program, an essential source of health coverage for 74 million people. Proposed policy changes include state proposals requiring Medicaid recipients to continually prove that they work or take part in job search and job-training programs to qualify for health benefits.

About 3.2 million additional U.S. residents lost their health care benefits in 2017, and the uninsured rate rose the most among young adults, Blacks, Latinos and people with low incomes, according to a Gallup-Sharecare poll conducted in late 2017 of 25,072 adults nationwide. The proposed changes to Medicaid will increase the number of people without health insurance and this will disproportionately have an impact on communities of color.

“Every human being deserves to have their basic needs—food, shelter and health care—met without contending with the machinations of a partisan political class that abhors the poor,” said Bishop Dwayne Royster, political director for PICO National Network. “Forcing vulnerable families to be drug-tested before they can take their children to the doctor or receive a prescription for a potentially life-threatening medical condition is morally indefensible.”

Various states have waivers pending with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that if approved would allow them to use work requirements, drug screening and testing, and eligibility time limits to determine who qualifies for Medicaid benefits. In December, seven states—Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Utah and Wisconsin—had pending waiver requests with CMS that would require adults to work as a condition of Medicaid eligibility. Other states actively preparing waivers or amendments for submission to CMS of proposals to add work requirements to their programs include Arizona, Kansas, and Mississippi, the Kaiser brief said.

The Black Education Strategy Roundtable

January 29, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

We were thrilled to see many old and new faces at last Saturday’s BESR Quarterly Meeting! Attendees included students, parents, current and retired teachers, administrators, partner organizations and community activist. Over 20 people were first time attendees to a BESR meeting. There was excellent energy among the members throughout the meeting. The conversations from the morning portion of the meeting filled the hallways of the lobby during the lunch and networking hour. It was beautiful to see old friends catch up and new attendees join in the conversations. Our youngest attendee was only 3 months old; he sat in perfect cadence and absorbed the content with his military parents.

State Representative Eric Pettigrew, D-37th District, started the day with insight, inspiration and encouragement of the work of BESR on behalf of Black students. Pushing legislation requires we work as partners. While he is knowledgeable and skilled in moving bills through the legislative process, he stressed the vital role BESR members must have in the process. Engagement with our legislators to push our agenda must include advocating for key bills and “asking them for their vote”. Asking for their vote is critical and much more impactful than just asking for their support. Rep. Pettigrew offered his support in providing BESR with critical legislative timelines for this session.

Mona Bailey’s spirit covered the room as she was remembered for her 30 years of diligence, strong work ethic and dedicated service as an educator and administrator. Dr. Thelma Jackson provided comments, reflecting on Mona’s legacy and impact on our education system. Two months prior BESR honored Mona as the inaugural recipient of the BESR Lifetime Achievement Award. Little did we know then that she would soon pass with grace and beauty from this life. Mona was also the 17th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. They recently recognized Mona for her service and leadership.

The meeting concluded with an outstanding panel presentation of school board and college trustee policy-makers. T’wina Fields Franklin

(University Place School Board), Debrena Jackson-Gandy (Highline College Board of Trustees) and Denise Daniels (Kent School Board) gave powerful messages of why they chose to serve on their boards and why other BESR members should consider serving on a policy board.

While they each had different reasons and process in becoming a

board member, they shared a common theme was to change the system from within; you can’t do that if you are on the outside.

We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on Saturday, April 21, 2018 and please see and complete our Action Team Sign-up form.

New interactive site brings black grandmothers to forefront of black history One-of-a-kind archive features star studded lineup of leaders artists and activists

January 29, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

RealBlackGrandmothers.com, an interactive site that reaches beyond the stereotypes to share unvarnished, nuanced and authentic stories about Black grandmothers, will celebrate Black History Month by featuring 20 influential leaders that include activists, authors, broadcasters, chefs, artists and business professionals.

The Black History Month lineup includes:

Naima Mora: Entertainer best known for her success on America’s Next Top Model
Melana Crawford: Author of A Fistful of Honey, and Founder of the Black Divine Feminine Awakened Movement
Theo Wilson: Award-winning spoken word artist, poet and activist
Duane Laurence: Athletic shoe designer
Akinyele Umoja: Educator and author
Trey Anthony: Award-winning playwright, producer, actor and comedian
Mary Anne Adams: Founding Director of ZAMI NOBLA (National Association of Black Lesbians on Aging)

- Phoenix Jackson: Celebrity publicist, and creator of Phitnus dance and fitness series

Will Deyamport, III EdD: Connected educator and educational consultant
Reagan Jackson: Poet and artist
Chef BJ Dennis: Award-winning personal chef and caterer
Gabrielle Eitienne: Author of Revival Taste Collective
Aiesha Turman: Executive Director of The Black Girl Project
Maria Gates: Host of the Spiritual Homegirl podcast
Trelani Michelle: Artist and author of We Speak Fuh We

- Natalie Daise: Storyteller and visual artist, known for her role as co-star of Nickelodeon’s Gullah Gullah Island

Edouardo Jordan: Chef
Rhea Skinner: Publicist
Valerie Curtis Newton: Director and educator at the Hansberry Project

Courtney Patterson – Assistant Professor of Sociology at Wesleyan University

What is RealBlackGrandmothers.com?

Black grandmothers and their grandchildren share their own perspectives, with stories that will make you laugh out loud, sometimes break your heart and often leave you awed at tales of resilience and endurance during some very rough times for Black folks in America.

The site offers the first archive dedicated solely to the experiences of Black grandmothers, who have played such an important, and often unsung, role in American society. The real stories counter caricatures and archetypes of Black grandmothers, such as Mammy, Aunt Jemima, Tyler Perry’s Madea and Martin Lawrence’s Big Mama, with an honest look at the complex history of Black families in America.

“I often hear people say they wish they had asked more questions of their departed loved ones, gathered more stories or traced their family’s history while the elders were here to fill in the missing blanks,” said archive creator, Dr. LaShawnDa Pittman, assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“There’s an African proverb: ‘When an elder dies, a whole library is lost,’” she said. “Too many of our libraries have already disappeared.”

Monthly blog posts highlight stories and experiences written by Black grandmothers. Living and oral histories, sayings, art and news inspired by Black grandmothers will be added weekly.

“In an increasingly digital world, a Google search of ‘Black grandmothers,’ will garner very few results that reflect their contributions and experiences, Pittman said.

Pittman is the author of the soon to be released book, “Black Grandmothers from Slavery to the Present.” It is the first book solely dedicated to telling the stories of Black grandmothers from slavery to the present. The book looks at the broader structural forces and cultural practices that explain black grandmothering experiences over very different time periods. The grandmothers’ experiences range from being unable to cultivate a relationship with their grandchildren to serving as surrogate mothers. The diversity in black grandmothers experiences are rarely shared.

A free Black Grandmother Storytelling Guide can be downloaded at the website. The guide serves as a template for families interested in documenting and preserving their unique histories, but there is no obligation to use it. Personal stories, quotes, and Black-grandmother-inspired art and news can be submitted through the online submission process.

At Real Black Grandmothers, we believe your story is your inheritance. Use our platform to share it with your children, and their children, and their children and so on!

For more information, visit www.realblackgrandmothers.com

Count Us In 2018 brings nearly 1,000 volunteers together to count people experiencing homelessness in King County

January 29, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

Nearly 1,000 volunteers spanned across King County for Count Us In 2018, the annual Point in Time Count of individuals experiencing homelessness, coordinated annually by All Home. The unsheltered street count was conducted as a full canvass of all 398 census tracts in King County. Count teams included guides with current or prior experience of homelessness, who were compensated for their time and expertise with their assigned count area.

“Homelessness is a local and national emergency,” said United States Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. “Walking block by block through streets booming with construction but then under the freeway in areas peppered with tents was a stark reminder of the deep inequities of wealth and income in our city. We can and must do better. The fact that we see thousands of people living unsheltered, in the streets and in cars, is a moral and institutional failure. I will do everything I can at the federal level to build the affordable housing we need, provide the support systems necessary for people to live and fix a broken tax system that benefits only the few. Solving this crisis will require all of us —government, business, nonprofits and communities — to share responsibility for real solutions. Count Us In is a crucial part of those efforts – I want to thank the dedicated volunteers who canvassed every part of King County and I am grateful to be a part of and to represent a community that cares so deeply about the vulnerable.”

Continuing with the nationally recognized methodology introduced at last year’s Count, the full range of count activities includes a street count of people living unsheltered, a count of people living in shelter or transitional housing, a qualitative survey of people experiencing homelessness, and specialized approaches to counting subpopulations, including youth/young adults, families, and those living in vehicles. Local advocates, serviceproviders and Applied Survey Research (ASR), a Bay-area research firm contracted to help conduct the Count, have all been active and valued partners in the planning and implementation of Count Us In 2018.

“The fact that nearly one thousand volunteers joined us for tonight’s count demonstrates that our community is coming together to confront the homelessness crisis,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “It is that shared purpose and commitment that inspires the work we are doing with partners to ensure that everyone in King County has a safe, warm place to sleep at night.”

While the Count’s core purpose is to collect data on the needs of people experiencing homelessness, it also provides an excellent opportunity to increase awareness and spark action. A successful and accurate Count is an essential component to informing local strategies to address homelessness and to making homelessness rare, brief and one-time.

“The Count is a great example of what can be accomplished when our neighbors, housed and unhoused, come together,” said Kira Zylstra, Acting Director of All Home. “Achieving our vision of ending racial disparities and making homelessness rare, brief and one-time will require the whole community engaging in solutions.”

A comprehensive report of Count Us In findings, including data on youth, vehicle residents, chronic homelessness and other specialized populations will be available in May of 2018. Point In Time counts are a requirement for communities that receive federal grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Data collected from Point In Time counts across the nation are published on the HUD Exchange website and provided annually to Congress as part of the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR).

To learn more about Count Us In, please visit our website, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Local-control legislation would give cities authority to address the crisis of increasing gun violence

January 29, 2018 by NWFacts Leave a Comment

Calling gun violence a public health crisis in Washington state, Rep. Nicole Macri testified before the House Judiciary Committee, Thursday, January 25, on her bill allowing cities, towns, and counties to enact gun-safety regulations over and above those created by the Legislature.

Macri stressed that the bill doesn’t require local governments to adopt new regulations. Instead, it simply removes limitations that for more than three decades have prevented locals from regulating firearms.

“Local elected officials and police chiefs are best positioned to know how best to protect their communities and may wish to limit firearm access in certain public places – like public parks and libraries where kids play and learn,” Macri, a Democrat from Seattle’s 43^rd legislative district, said.

“For over 30 years, our local towns, cities, and counties have been blocked from taking action on their own to prevent gun violence because of the statewide preemption law,” she continued. “This legislation would allow our cities and towns to take steps to better protect families and communities.”

The Judiciary panel has until February 6 to decide whether to commend HB2666, with nearly two dozen cosponsors, to the House Rules Committee preparatory to a vote by the full House.