Rainier Vista Service Provider Meeting
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
10AM – 11AM
Hosted by: Jason Rolfe, Youth Tutoring Program, Catholic Community Services

Attendance: Kate Farmer (Neighborhood House), Phong Ly (ACRS), Derek Taylor (Wellspring Family Services), Randy Nolan (Wellspring Family Services), Dave Siminski (Express Credit Union), Jason Rolfe (Youth Tutoring Program), Georgia Megow (Neighborhood House), Tien Duong-Le (IDHA), Denise Lewis (RV Boys and Girls Club/RV Teen Center), Naomi Chang (Seattle Housing Authority), Elizabeth Carr (SPL Columbia Library), Gregory Schaffer (REWA), Stephen Gray (YWCA), Rachel Wilch (YWCA), Laura Paulen (Seattle Asset Building Initiative/SHA), Arielle Rosenberg (Neighborhood House), Kat McGhee (Neighborhood House)

Program Updates and information:

RV Boys and Girls Clubs – Harvest Fest, October 30th from 6pm-8pm for everyone (including non-members!) includes best costume awards, games, music, raffles. A Talent Show on Thursday, October 22 at 5:30pm with special guests from America’s Got Talent!

Seattle Public Library (Columbia Branch) – Homework help centers for K-12 students can meet with homework help volunteers at various branches (including Columbia branch – call 206-386-1908). ESL Classes and computer classes are available. Free Movie this Thursday 10/22 at RV Cultural Center at 6:30pm Film is Kwaidan Ghost story of Japan. Another upcoming event will be Asian Tales of Shadow & Light on Saturday, October 24 at 6-90m at RV Cultural Center. Also the coming up is the Odunde Festival of African Harvest Celebration on November 6, 7, and 8th at RV Cultural Center.

Wellspring Family Services – Eviction Prevention Program (rental assistance, advocacy and support, budgeting). First come/first serve. Call their phone line at 206-902-4275. Eligible participants would be at risk of losing rental housing within 60 days, have household income of 50% or less of HUD income guidelines, resident of City of Seattle, have lease in their name.
Homelessness Intervention – if your homeless, they can help with interim housing, housing search, advocacy with housing providers, etc. For families and individuals who meet the following criteria: live in King County, have a household income of 50% or less of HUD income guidelines. Call 206-902-4271 for more information.

Neighborhood House – Helpline – assistance with rent/utilities one time a year. Emergency food bags/bus tokens. Case management services. Georgia Megow is at Rainier Vista Center on Thursdays. Call her at 206-778-0834.

Neighborhood House Computer Lab – Rainier Vista Center’s computer lab is expanding! New Hours, New Courses! Open lab time for youth, adults (do not need to be a resident or client of Rainier Vista). Beginner Word, Excel, resume writing classes, internet basics, etc. will be coming soon! Help with online job search available. Lab is open Monday – Friday. Call 461-4568 for more information.
Neighborhood House High Point – Grand opening of new High Point Center will be on Saturday, November 14th at 1-4pm—everyone is welcome to attend!

Rainier Vista Center Community Kitchen - October 28th at 6:30pm – 8:30pm – open to everyone. $25 cost. Come make delicious food, learn new cooking skills, meet your neighbors, bring food home for your family. Learn nutrition and new recipes. Monthly event.

Express Credit Union – base office is near Safeco Field on 4th Avenue S. Branch satellite sites located across the city. Banking alternative and affordable financial services for everyone. Free checking, savings account, loans at fair rates, short term/emergency cash, new and used car loans, debt consolidation help, visa cards, credit builder and cash secured loans, wire transfers and bad credit help. This is a good alternative to Pay Day Loans. They will help people who have large debts to Pay Day lenders. Located at Rainier Vista Center on Thursdays 9-4pm. Or Call 206-622-1850.

YWCA – Landlord Liaison Project – The project is a partnership among: landlords, service providers, homeless individuals, families, and the YWCA. Participating landlords agree to apply alternative screening criteria to applicants who are difficult to rent to (former addicts, mental health issues, etc.) This program helps with move in assistance, landlord training, rental assistance, case management and other support to help difficult to rent tenants transition to permanent housing and be strong and successful tenants. For more information call 206-336-4601.

Seattle Asset Building Initiative – pilot program of Seattle King County Asset Building Collaborative. This program helps connect SHA tenants with services they need such as credit counseling/debt repair, employment, homeownership, job training, baking, ESL, Higher education, legal services, access public benefits, etc. Clients are eligible to recent a $100 incentive if they meet with a Case Manager and develop a service plan and meet certain goals. Call 206-615-3596 for more information

Seattle Housing Authority Job Connection – helps people living in SHA communities to find jobs. Contact Larry Hill for more information at 206-722-4010 ext. 6.

Service Provider Open House- Discussion around hosting a Service Provider Open House. This event was planned for September but then postponed. Several service providers expressed interest in this today and would like to participate. Talked about when to host, with holidays coming up and winter months, talked about postponing until the Spring. Decision made to postpone until the Spring (March). At next meeting in December, we will discuss planning for this event, and will talk about table assignments, outreach efforts, etc. We will get a volunteer committee together to work on coordinating this event.

Helpful tools to get the word out on your services/events:

Rainier Vista Community website: www.newrainiervista.com (this is a community website for the Rainier Vista) great place to post events, etc.. Please contact Christina Gilman (website host) if you would like to post an event. Christina Gilman: Christina@dolcideleria.com.

Rainier Vista Service Provider blogpage: http://rvserviceproviders.blogspot.com/. Kate Farmer will update our blog page with these meeting minutes. Please let Kate Farmer know if you want to post an event or information on the blog page.

Next Service Provider Meeting: December 15th at 10AM, hosted by: Asian Counseling and Referral Service (Jeff Wendland)