Rainier Vista Service Provider Meeting - September 2013

Attendance:   Kate Farmer, Neighborhood House; Lisa Uemoto, Seattle Housing Authority; Scott Behmer, Solid Ground; Jason Rolfe, Catholic Community Services; Ashenafi Woldegebriel, Seattle Housing Authority; Angie Fioretti, Refugee Women’s Alliance; Yuliya Mailyan, Providence Gamelin House; Allison Nackel-Gaffney, Neighborhood House; Sheree Robinson, Bellwether Housing; Phung Nguyen, Neighborhood House.

 

 

Seattle Housing Authority Community Builder update:

Lisa discussed some of the concerns happening in the community.   Homeowner Meeting in September was held, one renter attended.  Hoping to get a planning committee to have a community forum.  They will reach out to service providers to work towards solutions.    Service Providers will be invited to talk about youth and ensure youth voices are heard.  SPD community Officer is aware and  Seattle Youth Violence Initiative.  Encourage residents to call 911.  Residents don’t call police frequently and police don’t respond quickly.  Car racing issue is new.  Traffic calming devices were discussed but need enough people involved and tracking to make happen.  Small and Simple Spark grants are available through neighborhood fund and may look into capacity building training so residents have more tools to engage with one another.  Lisa is working to form steering committee with both residents and homeowners.  Contact Lisa if interested in joining.  Lisa is hosting safety walks in the neighborhood every other Monday at 6pm, rain or shine.  cuemoto@seattlehousing.org

 

Neighborhood House BFET Program – Allison is enrolling clients in Basic Food Employment Training (BFET) for people who are unemployed, or underemployed or have housing instability, program provides vocational training and support services, contact allisonn@nhwa.org.

 

SHA – Seattle Housing Authority is hosting a Resource Fair on October 19 from 1-5pm at Rainier Community Center highlighting  education, job training, employment, homeownership, financial services, health services, door prizes and more.   

 

Also in October, Seattle Housing Authority will provide assistance a couple of days a week for clients to sign up for Affordable Health Care act, workers will be available 2 days a week at Rainier Vista Center to assist.

 

Refugee Women’s Alliance – REWA – After school tutoring Mon-Thursday evenings 4-6:30pm at Rainier Vista site (4443 MLK Jr. Way S)  for 4^th -8^th grade and 6^th-12^th grade at Main Office (4008 MLK Jr. Way S).  Program includes  Homework help and tutoring, college prep, girl leadership, and more. 

 

Catholic Community Services Youth Tutoring Program at RV Boys and Girls Club – Tutoring for 1^st -12^th grade on Monday-Thursdays evenings.  They do have a wait list right now.  Need volunteers.  Contact jasonr@ccsww.org if interested.

 

Providence Gamelin House  - Senior living facility.  They host monthly birthday celebration and service providers are welcome to attend to do outreach.  Interpreters are available.  Activities open to all, birthday and cooking events, etc.  yuliya.mailyan@providence.org. 

 

Seattle Farm –Community Farm in Rainier Vista, volunteer opportunities for residents to participate and get a bag of fresh vegetables.  Food from farm gets distributed to local food bank.

 

Nature Consortium – African drumming at  Rainier Vista Center from 4-6pm on Fridays for ages 5-19 year olds.  Youth art programs in Fall 2013 at their site in the RV Boys and Girls Club, including teen cooking and art classes.  Contact Grace Scarella at rainiervista@naturec.org. 

 

Rainier Vista Service Provider Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at Neighborhood House.

Next Meeting:  September 2013.

Attendance:  Kate Farmer, Neighborhood House.  Mason Durfee, Neighborhood House.  Tanner Phillips, Neighborhood House.  Allison Nackel, Neighborhood House.  Carla Moreno, Nature Consortium.  Abdi Faray, Assist Prop Mgr, Seattle Housing Authority.  Shazia Choudhary, Assist Prop Mgr. Seattle Housing Authority.  Cat Buckley, RV Boys and Girls Club.  Denise Lewis, RV Boys and Girls Club.  Scott Behmer, Solid Ground Seattle Community Farm.  Angie Fioretti, Refugee Women’s Alliance (REWA).  Cheryl Sabin, Seattle Housing Authority. Courtney Powell, Seattle Housing Authority, Ashenafi Woldegebriel, Seattle Housing Authority. 

Summer youth programming at RV:

REWA:    free, 7-week program for youth ages 10+.  Field trips, writing, hip hop, etc.  June 24-Aug 8.  Mon-Thursday.  Program enrollment contact Jennifer@rewa.org. 

Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club – youth programming for kids and teens this summer.  There is a program membership fee.  There are scholarships available for youth in need and sliding scale available at a very low cost for interested youth.  Contact Denise Lewis at dlewis@positiveplace.org. 

Neighborhood House – Free summer lunch program Monday-Friday, 12-1pm from June 24 to August 23 for youth 0-18. 

Horn of Africa – youth tutoring on Tues/Thursdays starting July 8^th at Rainier Vista Center from 1-3pm. 

Adult programming at RV:

Neighborhood House – Rainier Vista Technology Center, open computer lab time for adults and youth.  Basic computer class and Job Search Class and weekly ESL classes.  For more information contact:  Masond@nhwa.org.

Seattle Community Farm- local farm in Rainier Vista community right down the street.  Offers community work parties, to help with weeding, planting and sharing in community dinner.  Work trade program available where residents can volunteer and take food home.  For more information contact Scott Behmer at scottb@solid-ground.org. 

Neighborhood House Housing Stability Program – headed up by Tanner Phillips, the Housing and Stability Manager.  Program offers both employment and housing assistance to unemployed or underemployed who are homeless or in danger of losing their housing.  Wraparound employment case management and support services.

Neighborhood House Foundation for Work/Basic Food Employment and Training -

Provides  wraparound employment case management for individuals and families in King County experiencing unemployment or underemployment and housing instability. Our clients receive vocational training and support services, including food and transportation assistance. For more information, including program eligibility, please contact Allison Nackel at 206-461-4568 or allisonn@nhwa.org.

 

Seattle Housing Authority:

Lisa Uemoto – new Community Builder for Rainier Vista community.

Economic Opportunity Program – Helping SHA residents achieve greater stability and financial independence and find employment. 

Bridging the Gap Fair will be held in October 2013 at Rainier Community Center to share housing, education information. 

Discussion:

Affordable Care Act – discussion on new act that will come into place next Fall.  Alot of details that residents are likely not aware of.  Providers discussed possibly hosting an information event.  Will wait to see if residents are requesting this.  Public Health Contacts that Courtney Powell recommended are Daphne Pie, program manager at 206-263-8389 at Dapne.pie@kingcounty.gov and Willie Allen, education consultant and program supervisor at 253-874-7642 at willie.allen@kingcounty.gov. 

Youth problems – ongoing concerns of youth littering in neighborhood, youth bullying in the park, drug activity, possible gang activity, these are ongoing concerns and these issues seem to get worse in the summer months.  Providers will all refer youth to RV youth programs for the summer.  Lisa Uemoto hopes to get Traffic and Safety Committee and Multicultural Committee meetings going again with residents this summer and will invite service providers to these meetings.  Boys and Girls Club have an officer (Officer Cookie) who may be able to talk to the youth about bullying.  Helpful to get parents involved, and talking.  Cultural differences are also part of this.  No action at this time planned.