Teens in Action

Teens in Action is a new project giving voice and political power to young people. It is coordinated by the Statewide Poverty Action Network in conjunction with the American Government class at Seattle Interagency Academy Southwest, an alternative school in White Center that serves youth aged 12-18, primarily students of color and self-identified as low-income.

“The program is built upon the belief that young people as well as adults need to be able to build skills that allow them to act on their interests and concerns. Students will be empowered to speak truth to power and lead their communities in effecting change,” said Juanita Maestas, Poverty Action Board Member and one of the organizers.

The class will cover topics including:

• How government works
• Racial equity
• Immigrant rights
• Education
• and more

One of the student's letters to Olympia, calling for a no vote on HB 1126, the "Racial Profiling/Gang Bill"

Recently, the students analyzed legislation working its way through the state legislature and wrote advocacy letters on issues concerning them and their communities. The class will travel to Olympia on March 29 to lobby Senators and Representatives in person.

“We hope that Teens in Action will lay the groundwork for an ongoing commitment among these young people to take a bigger stake in our community, to contribute to community life, and help society better appreciate young people’s contributions,” said staff coordinator Senait Brown.

For more information on Teens in Action, email Senait Brown.

To support Statewide Poverty Action Network go to their website.

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New fitness and dance studio holds benefit for Partners in Caring

Remember that New Year’s resolution you made to get in shape? To patronize local businesses more? To try Zumba? To support good work in your community?

Fit to Feed is your answer!

Fresh Fitness & Dance is a brand new dance and fitness studio right here in Wallingford, and as a way to welcome our community they are forming a partnership with Solid Ground’s Partners in Caring to benefit food insecure seniors and adults living with disabilities in our community.

Fresh Fitness & Dance is donating to Partners in Caring the proceeds of their 6:30pm Zumba class on Friday, March 4 – as well as 100% of the membership enrollment fees for any new members referred by Solid Ground who sign up during the weekend of March 4–6! What a great opportunity to accomplish your goals while supporting Solid Ground programs.

Where: Fresh Fitness & Dance
4430 Corliss Ave N (behind Kabul restaurant)
Seattle, WA 98103

When: Friday, March 4th at 6:30pm
Why: Because you like to move it, move it!
Cost: Just $10 for the drop-in class! AND – if you sign up as a member, your drop-in class is free!!!

Because classes do fill up, please RSVP by Tuesday, March 1 to Ugochi Alams, Partners in Caring Program Supervisor.

If you can’t make it to the March 4 class, you can still support Partners in Caring by making a donation through their webpage. Thanks!

Join us for Hunger Action Day, February 25 in Olympia!

Root solutions for root causes!

During each Washington State legislative session, the Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition hosts Hunger Action Day in Olympia to advocate for hungry families in Washington. Solid Ground is represented on the steering committee of the Coalition and helps coordinate Hunger Action Day, so we are encouraging our supporters to join us in Olympia on February 25 to engage our legislators in Solid Ground’s work to end hunger in Seattle/King County and Washington State.

Register today and join us in Olympia on February 25 — the success of our efforts in Olympia rely on your voices and the voices of those we serve being heard!

This year’s Hunger Action Day is especially important as the State’s budget crisis will result in the elimination or significant reductions of critical services that help struggling families meet their basic needs, like keeping food on the table. One in seven households in Washington struggled to provide enough food for their family in 2010. Washington now ranks as the 13th hungriest state in the nation, and the problem of hunger in our communities will continue to grow unless we speak out.

We are asking you to help us by telling your friends, family and coworkers. Blog about it, tweet it, share it on Facebook.

For more information on Hunger Action Day 2011, click here for the event info packet.

See you in Olympia!

The Giving Gardener: Growing for others

Editor’s note: This post launches a regular series called The Giving Gardener. Brought to you by staff of our Lettuce Link program, the series will offer advice on cultivating your own food and growing for others.

Pea vines

Growing food for yourself, for friends, family and especially to donate to strangers is at once an act of kindness and self-indulgent. Yes, self-indulgent, because growing food involves connecting with the senses when so often in our busy, urban lives we live hurried, stressed and detached.

It is the richness that gardening delivers to our lives that brings out the generosity in gardeners. We call it Growing and Giving or Food Bank Gardening, and in Seattle last year, both seasoned and beginning gardeners collectively grew and donated over 20,000 pounds of produce! Indulge your senses, contribute to your community and join us this year in Growing and Giving.

Now is the time to ready your garden bed for spring planting. Gardeners in the Northwest typically plant peas on Presidents’ Day. Soak the seeds overnight and then either plant directly into the ground or start them indoors to transplant later.

Wait a few more weeks to plant other crops. The February sunshine has given way to March cold snaps the past few years and unless you’re in a very warm sunny spot, even radishes won’t do too well.

When growing food you cultivate a delicate and full body awareness of weather, daylight and temperature. You experience the sensation of cold soil under your nails, blisters from the shovel and the pull in your lower back. The nose is alive with the scent of decay and the sumptuousness of life. And of course, you taste the flavors of the earth, spicy greens, crunchy carrots, the sweetness of peas and tomatoes freshly picked.

Whatever your gardening experience or philosophy, don’t forget to enjoy it. Toss in some planning, experimentation and creativity and the benefits will support your community.

Lettuce Link creates access to fresh, nutritious and organic produce, seeds and gardening information for families with lower incomes in Seattle. We work to educate the community about food security and sustainable food production. Community volunteers and donations are the key to making this work successful! Go to our website to learn more, donate and join in the fun!

Dan Savage brings It Gets Better project to Solid Ground Luncheon

It Gets Better with Dan Savage

On Friday, May 6, 2011, we will come together 800 strong to celebrate courage and hope: the courage to stand up for what we believe in and the hope of a better future for our community. Solid Ground’s work to undo poverty and oppression sits on a foundation of engaging and encouraging each other – clients, staff, donors and community members – to be a part of something bigger.

We hope that you will join us this year for the 11th Annual Building Community Luncheon. We are currently seeking Table Hosts who can invite their community to join in support of Solid Ground. The Luncheon is Solid Ground’s most important fundraiser, and revenue from the event  sustains Solid Ground’s vital anti-poverty work in King County. Guests at the Luncheon will be asked to make a minimum gift of $150.

We are thrilled to welcome keynote speaker Dan Savage. While Dan is best known as editor of Seattle’s The Stranger newspaper and author of the internationally syndicated Savage Love relationship advice column, he has also done groundbreaking anti-oppression work that shows just how effectively one person can change the world! Looking for a way to respond to the epidemic suicide rate among gay teens, Dan and his partner Terry launched the It Gets Better project, which involves a series of viral videos aimed at giving hope, strength and support to gay teens who struggle with social isolation, depression and bullying.

By creating this safe space, Savage mobilized a movement of caring adults who through thoughtful and passionate videos share their similar experiences and urge teens not to give up. The “It Gets Better” project is a powerful testament to the impact any one of us can have on the world!

As a Table Host, you will fill a full table (10 people) or half table (5 people) from your networks, and serve as the point person for your table at the event. We will support you as much as needed in asking your friends, family and coworkers to attend the Luncheon with you. While there is no ticket price, guests are asked to make a gift of $150 at the event. Many give much more!

And as a Table Host, you will be invited to an exclusive post-event question and answer session with Dan Savage!

For more information, or to sign up as a Table Host, email Ali Friedman or call her at 206.694.6852.

Here is Dan and Terry’s initial It Gets Better video:

Community radio supports community gardening

Cool: KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio is teaming up again with Solid Ground’s Lettuce Link program, this time for their Winter Fund Drive, which takes place through Sunday, February 20.

Donors who give at the $52 level and above can choose to have a portion of their gift passed on to Lettuce Link to support its efforts to get nutritious organic produce to hungry people. This past Spring and Fall, similar efforts raised some much-needed support for Lettuce Link and provided great exposure as well.

As the only community radio station in the Seattle area, KBCS aspires to be the radio of choice for adventurous listeners who are passionate about music, curious about our world, and value social justice.

To accomplish this mission, KBCS produces and broadcasts quality programming that supports more inclusive interdependent communities. KBCS is a non-commercial, listener-supported source for local, national and international music and information that draws from and reflects the diversity of our population. Operated as a public service by Bellevue College, KBCS trains and provides opportunities for community members to participate in all aspects of radio.

KBCS relies on donations from the community to support station operations. The KBCS Winter Fund Drive began Friday, February 11 and continues through Sunday, February 20. The goal for this important Fund Drive is $75,000. To donate securely today, please go online to KBCS’s website and click on the “Donate Now” tab.

Of course, you can also donate additional support directly to Lettuce Link!

A fond farewell, a fitting tribute

Talking up the campaign for Brettler Family Place

Today Solid Ground bids a fond farewell to Zanne Garland, our Individual Giving Manager. Zanne has pretty much revolutionized our fundraising approach and our ability to engage individuals, companies and groups in our work. She has more than doubled our Annual Campaign Revenues and helped raise the funds to build Brettler Family Place at Sand Point, which will provide permanent housing for 51 families starting later this Spring.

Those of you who have had the chance to get to know her will agree that Zanne is both a blast to spend time with and a rising star whose brilliance has graced our community for the four years she has been with us. She’ll have a positive impact wherever she goes; for the next few months, that will be traveling the world with her husband, Jackson.

In honor of Zanne’s great work at Solid Ground and in our community, Solid Ground has created the Zanne Garland Fund to support the completion of the Sand Point Housing Capital Campaign. Please consider honoring and carrying forth Zanne’s leadership and service with a gift to this fund. Click here for our Sand Point Capital Campaign donation page, and if you choose to make a gift to the Zanne Garland Fund, please specify that your gift is in honor of Zanne.

 

Brettler Family Place will open in a few weeks, providing permanent housing for 51 families!

 

Get Up, Stand Up!

While the budget crisis has gotten most of the press from the 2011 legislative session in Olympia, there are also some important bills that need your support to give homeowners facing foreclosure a fair chance at staying in their homes, and to bolster protections against predatory lending that were passed last year.

Foreclosure Fairness Act
Our housing counselors report that one of the biggest barriers faced by homeowners threatened with foreclosure is the extreme difficulty of getting whoever owns the loan to discuss modification options. What used to take a few phone calls and a few hours to work out can now stretch out over months of calls, and many forms of delay. This brief video on the Foreclosure Fairness Act dramatizes how consumers are being stonewalled. Please check it out and post the link on Facebook and other social networks to attract attention to the issue!

The Foreclosure Fairness Act (SB 5275 and HB1362) would mandate that banks, or whoever holds the loan, must offer face-to-face mediation with homeowners. In the 23 states and municipalities that have mandatory mediation, 60% of homeowners in foreclosure are able to stay in their homes! The banking industry is trying to strip the mandatory mediation out of the bill, which will take away its most important tool. Please contact your state Senator and Representatives and urge them to support the Foreclosure Fairness Act and to keep mandatory mediation in the bill!

You can use this web form to email your legislators in support of the Foreclosure Fairness Act.

Keep Protections against Predatory Lending
Last year the Legislature enacted law to protect Washington State residents from predatory lending. This year the banking industry is fighting back with two bills that would strip away crucial consumer protections. Please contact your lawmakers and urge them to oppose these bills: HB 1678 and SB 5547.

You can use this web form to email your legislators to oppose gutting protections against predatory lending.

To find out who your Senator and Representatives are, go to Statewide Poverty Action Network and look for the zip code tool on the top of the page.

Breaking the shame and silence with determination and love

Bettie J. Williams-Watson

Editor’s Note: Bettie J. Williams-Watson is the Domestic Violence Program Coordinator at our Broadview Emergency Shelter & Transitional Housing program. In addition to her work at Solid Ground, Bettie was recently awarded a Purpose Prize Fellowship for her work in a nonprofit organization she founded, Multi-Communities. Bettie was named a Fellow for her groundbreaking work with Multi-Communities to address domestic, youth and sexual violence in predominantly African-American faith communities throughout the Greater Seattle area and beyond. The following are Bettie’s reflections on her recent trip to Philadelphia to receive her award.

I was much more anxiety-ridden about flying than about going to be honored for my work. I have a fear of flying. The fear starts early, beginning with butterflies in my stomach, and I begin to imagine that the plane will definitely crash while I’m on it. Upon takeoff, however, fears decrease and my coping mechanisms kick in. I start praying, immediately visualizing comforting supportive hands encircling and guiding the plane throughout the flight. Those same hands are able to gently land the plane.

Normally, I travel in a zone where I am categorized, compartmentalized, discounted or dismissed, because my choice of issues to tackle is on turf where there is a lot of overt and covert resistance and reluctance. Let’s face it! Opening the can of worms about domestic and sexual violence is not something you ordinarily see within these (predominantly African-American) church settings. Often, tackling the issues is what I consider to be “pedaling backwards in quicksand.” Within these settings, there are no hard and fast rules that work the same way every time – each church setting presents different challenges. Accepting as well as embracing these challenges is largely by my own, passionate design.

Students submit bill for civil rights education

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Editor’s Note: One of Solid Ground’s staff members forwarded this note about the efforts of her 5th grade daughter, Kate, and her classmates to further education about civil rights and social justice. Makes you proud! She writes:

“My daughter is in a group at her school which studies the Civil Rights Movement and related topics during recess and lunch, and puts on an annual assembly. Their group is sponsoring a bill to encourage instruction in the history of civil rights in the state. The bill, SB 5174, is having a hearing today (before the Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee) and they are participating by teleconference.”

Here is the letter the students sent to committee Chair Rosemary McAuliffe:

Dear Senator McAuliffe,

We are the MLK group at Madrona K-8 school in Edmonds. Our group formed in December 2009 to create an assembly for our school. Since then, our group has expanded. In learning about the Civil Rights movement, we researched Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement, and we watched the movie of the Children’s march in Birmingham, AL. Then we listened to his “I Have a Dream” speech, and we wrote our own speeches and decided which ones would go into our play. Next we made a play with a news broadcast, and we shared this with the whole school at an assembly in Dr. King’s honor.

We took time outside of class to make this all happen, and we are sponsoring SB 5174 [Encouraging instruction in the history of Civil Rights].

Senator Chase introduced SB 5174 for us because we want to make sure kids know how to treat other people. We believe that people should know who changed the segregation laws in our country. We think we are lucky that we live in this time, and we have freedoms here. We think it is important to learn about places and times that don’t have the freedoms we share. If people don’t learn about the Civil Rights movement, people could take it for granted. This might lead to the same things happening again. We also learned that kids can make a difference, and we want other kids to know they can, too.

We would like a hearing for this bill and the opportunity to testify. If for some reason the hearing is at a time we can’t attend, we would like to watch it on TVW or perhaps a remote connection to the committee hearing from our school or Edmonds City Hall.

~Signed, Madrona School MLK Group, Judi MacRae, advisor,
and 32 4th through 6th graders

The bill would encourage school districts to “prepare and conduct a program at least once a year to commemorate the history of civil rights in our nation … and the importance of the fundamental principle and promise of equality in our nation’s Constitution.”

Transitional housing: a personal success story

Editor’s Note: For many women and children, escaping domestic violence (DV) is a root cause of their homelessness. Solid Ground’s Broadview Shelter and Transitional Housing program serves primarily women and their children who are working to survive domestic violence and rebuild stable lives. The following story was written by a recent resident of Broadview and our Sand Point Family Housing program. While she is not sharing her name in order to protect herself, she is very open about her experience. Her story is direct, honest and moving as it documents the difficult path DV survivors must walk to reclaim their lives. We are honored to be able to share it with you.

In September 2008, my daughter and I went into hiding from my daughter’s father by moving into Solid Ground’s Broadview Shelter. Despite the fact that this shelter was confidential, my ex had searched the neighborhood and found my car parked there. Because of this, the advocates at Broadview relocated us to a shelter in Kent.

Three months went by as my daughter and I resided safely in Kent. I spent every day trying to find some type of transitional housing; our time in the Kent shelter was strictly limited. My income level couldn’t afford us to pay market rent. We gratefully received public assistance and I also received SSI, as I have a disability. On top of that, I did part-time nanny work as much as possible. But with all of these, it was still not enough to pay market rent. My daughter and I don’t have family in the Northwest. I knew that our only viable choice was to find transitional housing.

Court Stops DSHS from Cutting Food Assistance for Legal Immigrants

(Editor’s note: This information comes straight from Columbia Legal Services, who have taken the lead in challenging WA State DSHS’ attempt to end Basic Food benefits to legal immigrants in the state.)

On January 27, 2011, a federal court stopped DSHS from terminating state-funded, Basic Food benefits to more than 10,000 Washington households who had been told that their state food assistance would end February 1, 2011. The court must still decide whether DSHS can cut the Food Assistance Program for Legal Immigrants in the future.

Following are step-by-step instructions for folks who expected to have their benefits cut:

1. Did you get a letter from DSHS stating your food assistance was being cut because of lack of funding? If so, you should check the balance on your Quest card to make sure you get your February benefits on the day you normally get your food benefits added to your card. The last digit of your Client ID# is the day of the month that DSHS adds food benefits to your Quest card. (If the number is zero, than you get benefits on the 10th of the month.) On this day, call DSHS toll-free at 1.888.328.9271 or visit the local DSHS office.

2. Does DSHS have your citizenship or immigration status correct? You should make sure that DSHS has correct citizenship or immigration status information for each member of your household by calling DSHS or visiting the local DSHS office. DSHS needs this information to see if you qualify for federal food benefits. DSHS will not share this information with immigration authorities.

3. What should you do if you do not get February food benefits or no longer have a Quest card? If you do not get your February food benefits or need a replacement Quest card, ask DSHS for help. Call or visit the local DSHS office. If you need more help, call Columbia Legal Services toll-free at 1.800.260.6260, ext. 207. There is more information on the Columbia Legal Services website.

Tear down the wall between banks and homeowners facing foreclosure

The Foreclosure Fairness Act currently working its way through the Washington State Legislature gives homeowners facing foreclosure a valuable tool in the struggle to keep their homes. For more on the problem/solution, check out this video.

Legislators need to know that you support this bill!

Contact Statewide Poverty Action Network, call 1.866.789.7726, or email Danielle Friedman to take action to support The Foreclosure Fairness Act.

Tear down the wall!

 

Mortgage counselor Marita DeLeon knocks down the wall between lenders and homeowners.

Thanks!