Vote for a Change! 2012

Senait Brown is a Community Organizer with Solid Ground’s Statewide Poverty Action Network.

Poverty Action Members register new voters!

In 1993, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to increase the number of citizens registered to vote in Federal elections by requiring voter registration with every driver’s license application and renewal. An equally important but less well-known provision of the NVRA is the requirement that states offer voter registration opportunities to clients and applicants of public assistance programs like Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid and Food Stamps.

Solid Ground is a direct service, anti-poverty organization and as such, we are in a unique position to increase voter registration rates in King County’s low-income communities and communities of color. And through Poverty Action’s Vote for a Change! campaign, YOU have many opportunities to get involved.

Every two years, Poverty Action sends a candidate questionnaire to all candidates running for office in Washington State and publishes their responses in this useful Voter Guide. Share this guide widely with your family and friends!

We also need volunteers to register citizens to vote, inform people of their voting rights and help make sure everyone’s voice is heard in the upcoming elections! While our official Vote for a Change! Campaign Kick Off is Thursday, August 16, voter registration opportunities in low-income communities and communities of color are coming up this weekend. Here’s the current schedule: 

• August 4 & 5: Umojafest Voter Registration Drive, Judkins Park
  (2150 S Norman St, Seattle, WA 98144), 11am-7pm
• August 16: Vote for a Change! Campaign Kick Off, Solid Ground in Wallingford
  (1501 N 45th St, Seattle, WA 98103), 5:30pm
• August 17-19: Hempfest Voter Registration Drive, Myrtle Edwards Park
  (3130 Alaskan Way W, Seattle, WA 98121), 10-8pm (Fri) /12-8pm (Sat/Sun)

Is your voter registration outdated? If yes, you can register online. The voter registration deadline for the General Election is October 8, so register right away!

For more information, to volunteer, or to otherwise support the Vote for a Change! campaign, please contact Senait Brown at senait@povertyaction.org or call 206.694.6794. And for more information about Poverty Action’s work, visit our beautiful new website at povertyaction.org.

On Kids & Carrots

This post, written by Jessica Sherrow, a Harvest Against Hunger Summer VISTA with Lettuce Link, originally appeared on the Lettuce Link blog. Lettuce Link is one of several partners stewarding original urban farmland at Marra Farm in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood.

A handful of carrots!

Marra Farm is a place that defies stereotypes. The word ‘farm’ even takes on a new meaning when applied to our little agricultural oasis in South Park. The images associated with that word – solitary, quiet, pastoral – dissolve when you step onto our farm.

Truthfully, it can be a little chaotic. Kids from Concord International Elementary or the South Park Community Center running around; a few dozen of our 1,800 annual volunteers working and digging and planting; planes, trains and cars filling the air with that distinct urban din – it’s not at all what you would expect on a farm.

So, true to form, Marra Farm manages to do what many parents thought impossible: It makes kids love vegetables. It’s a bold statement, we know. But it’s a hard thing to deny when a 5-year-old, while pulling one carrot out of the ground and simultaneously munching on another exclaims,

I WANT TO EAT ONE MILLION CARROTS!!!!”

And when you think about everything these kids experience throughout the growing season, it makes perfect sense. They dig in the dirt and plant seeds. They water to their heart’s content, and then they watch their little plants grow.

They harvest the veggies themselves – chard, sweet peas, carrots, broccoli – and help prepare a snack especially for them. Today, it’s Chinese Veggies and Rice, and it’s a hit.

We can’t help but wonder, then, if all children are secretly veggie-lovers? It appears the only thing kids need is a little involvement in their food – planting a seed or chopping a leaf – anything to make it more fun, more exciting, and more delicious. After all, if we can get a 3rd grader to eat kale, the sky truly is the limit…

For more information on gardening and cooking with kids, check out these amazing projects: Lettuce Link’s Seattle Community Farm, GRuB: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities, Seattle Youth Garden Works, Seattle Tilth, and The Edible Schoolyard Project.

Many hands, cleaning carrots

The New Guy

This post, written by Mitch Cameron, was originally published in the July 2012 issue of the Santos Place Q-Notes, a newsletter written by and published for the residents of Santos Place. Santos Place is Solid Ground’s transitional housing program for single adults at Sand Point Housing.

Self-portrait of Mitch, in his truck on the road to San Diego to see his mom

The New Guy

Today I am the New Guy, I moved into Santos Place two weeks ago.

Tomorrow I may be the Old Guy, who can say.

My past is unimportant, it is behind me; I won’t compete with anyone for the best story.

My future is before me and it may be formed by fate or destiny, I don’t know; I choose to believe I make my own future.

I try to live in the here and the now, this day, this moment; I am still learning.

I am the Slow Guy with a limp, except when I am on a bicycle where I am more free to travel in harmony and with speed.

A volcanic crater in the Pacific NW

I am no different than most people; I am an imperfect human who wishes to be a part of something to better myself and to be loved and respected.

I am the New Guy and I wish to treat all people the way I wish to be treated; with dignity and respect.

I am the New Guy, if you can, give me helpful advice, I will gladly accept and give back if I can; or a friendly greeting and I will do the same.

I am the New Guy and I have lost my way in this world and my confidence is slow to return.

I am the New Guy and I love the Great Northwest and the outdoors; including fishing and camping.

I am a Veteran of the Vietnam War and I still remember being spit upon while wearing my uniform, but still I remain “The New Guy.”

Recent image of a sunset at Golden Gardens Park where Mitch and friends had a bonfire

Solid Ground declines ‘O Brother’ benefit

Solid Ground has chosen to decline accepting funds raised during the Fremont Outdoor Cinema showing of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” on Saturday, July 21. While the film has received artistic acclaim for its recreation of a specific aspect of American history and culture, it contains many negative depictions of people of color and stereotypes that perpetuate racism and are damaging and insulting. We are grateful for the ongoing support of our committed partners, the CoHo Group of Windermere Agents and the Fremont Outdoor Cinema, and look forward to working with them to find a more suitable venue to serve as a benefit for Solid Ground.

We need YOU: Join the Washington Reading Corps!

Want to make a long-term difference in kids’ lives? Consider a year of service with the Washington Reading Corps (WRC) of King County!

WRC is a statewide program that helps struggling preschool to elementary students improve their reading skills and succeed in school. WRC believes access to education and closing the achievement gap are key social justice issues with far ranging consequences directly related to our mission to end poverty and undo racism. Literacy is one of the most important factors in school success, and our goal is to ensure that all students can read by the end of 3rd grade. We also support family and community involvement in schools.

Solid Ground coordinates the WRC of King County, which serves over 1,600 students a year at more than 20 schools and community sites. Since 1997, WRC has boosted the literacy skills of close to 150,000 students statewide. Each year we place stipended AmeriCorps Members to tutor and coordinate family literacy events at WRC sites across King County.

During your year of service as a stipended, full-time AmeriCorps Member with WRC, you’ll receive extensive para-educator reading training to:

• Tutor struggling readers, both one-to-one and in small groups.
• Coordinate Family Literacy Nights to engage families in their children’s schools.
• Develop analyses of institutionalized racism and low literacy, and their connection to poverty.
• Recruit, train and support community volunteers.

Solid Ground’s WRC program is unique in the level of training Members receive in understanding and developing the skill set to be an active member of the anti-racism and social justice communities. In turn, AmeriCorps Members help recruit and train community volunteers and provide one-to-one and small-group tutoring for students.

Former WRC Member Quentin D. Ergane Johnson describes the Reading Corps experience for people considering a year of service:

I would tell them that it would be challenging, but it would be the best challenge they’ve ever had of their lives. I would tell them the reward of a child’s smile is immeasurable, and you can’t even understand unless you get one. I would tell them that there’s something really magical when your students start to really understand words and language – when they really start to get it. Oh, there’s nothing like it!”

How to become a Washington Reading Corps (WRC) Member:

WRC of King County is currently seeking full-time Members for the 2012/13 school year. Benefits include:

• bi-weekly living allowance totalling $1,050/month
• $5,550 education award at the end of your year of service
• health coverage

To apply, go to the My AmeriCorps website and use the Seattle WRC Listing ID #: 5006, and visit the WRC ‘s webpage for more information.

Stay tuned… Fremont Outdoor Movies to benefit Solid Ground

7/12/12 Post Update:
Solid Ground has chosen to decline accepting funds raised during the Fremont Outdoor Cinema showing of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” While the film has received artistic acclaim for its recreation of a specific aspect of American history and culture, it contains many negative depictions of people of color and stereotypes that perpetuate racism and are damaging and insulting. We are grateful for the ongoing support of our committed partners, the CoHo Group of Windermere Agents and the Fremont Outdoor Cinema, and look forward to working with them to find a more suitable venue to serve as a benefit for Solid Ground.

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Original Post: “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” to benefit Solid Ground

On July 21 at dusk, the Fremont Outdoor Movies will show ”O Brother, Where Art Thou?” to raise funds for Solid Ground. Proceeds from the door and donations will be matched up to a total of $10,000 by the CoHo Team of Windermere Agents!

“O Brother” is the Coen brothers’ classic that sparked the old time music revival. The cast is amazing, featuring stars like George Clooney, Chris Thomas King, John Turturro and John Goodman. The musicians are royalty: Ralph Stanley, Emmy Lou Harris, Norman Blake, Alison Krauss and many more. Their talent is only exceeded by the CoHo Team and Fremont Outdoor Movies’ passion and commitment to a partnership that since 2004 has raised more than $70,000 to support Solid Ground’s work to help people get the firm foundation they need to exit poverty and realize their dreams.

So come on down to Fremont at Phinney Ave and 35th Ave N by dusk on the July 21 to join in the fun and the fundraising. See you there!

For more information, visit Solid Ground’s web calendar.