A listing of providers and events in the area of the Rainier Vista housing development.

Apr 2, 2014

Rainier Vista Service Provider Meeting Minutes 4/1/14


RV Service Provider Meeting Minutes

April 1, 2014 held at Tamarack Place Apartments, Seattle, WA

 

Attendance:  Neighborhood House: Kate Farmer, Allison Nackel, Phung Nguyen; Jay Gairson; Seattle Community Farm:  Scott Behmer; Habitat for Humanity: John Stovall; Seattle Housing Authority:   Lisa Uemoto, Sam McQueen, Cheryl Sabin, Courtney Powell; Genesee Apartments:   Shere’e Robinson; Horn of Africa: Natalie Eberts; Providence Elder Place:  Corina Kroll; P-Patch: Julie Bryan; United Healthcare; Atlantic Street Center.

Neighborhood House:

Basic Food and Employment Training (BFET) program offers free employment and training support.  To be eligible clients must be receiving or eligible to receive Federal foods stamps, resident of King County (not on TANF), at risk of losing housing in 14 days.  Call Allison Nackel at 206-571-4969.

Sewing Class – Every Monday (except 1st Monday) at 2:30pm (no cost) and free .

Affordable Health Care Act – Monday, 4/7 Neighborcare Health will be at Neighborhood House from 9-5pm to answer questions and assist residents to enroll.

Habitat for Humanity:

Green Building Program, total of 23 townhomes in 2 phases (16 homes are completed).  Homebuyers are selected based on income (60% of less of area median income).  2014 will complete duplex. 

Genesee Apartments:

Accepting applications.  Income eligible, residents pay 30% of income.  HUD housing, does not require proof of citizenship but 1 person must be disabled over 18.  They have 1-2 bedrooms apartments.  For more info go to www.bellwetherhousing.org or contact Shere'e Robinson at 206-725-1708.

Providence Elder Place:

Elder care program for people who want to live independently in their home, assist people to remain living in their community and home by providing  supportive services.  Clients must be over age 55 and eligible for COPES.

Seattle Community Farm:

Collaboration between Seattle Housing Authority and Lettuce Link ( program of Solid Ground).  Shared gardening space, free gardening classes and children gardening opportunities.  Residents on limited budget can work at farm and receive a free bag of groceries.

Horn of Africa Services Tutoring:

Looking for volunteers to assist with their program.  Also they have youth interns they want to place with service providers.  Youth tutoring at Neighborhood House on Mon-Thursday evenings from 5:30-7:30pm.

Seattle P-Patch:

3 gardens at Rainier Vista.  Sunrise built last year.  Negotiating to have youth groups there, have a Vietnamese group there.  Received FEMA grant to become emergency community hub so they have first aid kit, megaphone, flashlights, etc. for community to use as way to establish hub in community.  Training will occur in June for those who are interested. 

Seattle Housing Authority Community Builder:

Hosting bi-weekly traffic and safety walks in the community on Mondays, next walk is Monday, 4/7.  Police officers join from time to time.  Walk is an opportunity to have a presence in the community and show that residents want to get involved and address issues in community. 

Outreach bags – Lisa ordered plastic bags for quarterly outreach.  Service Providers can contact Lisa about putting special event and program flyers in bags which will be distributed to all 700 homes at  RV.   Service Providers can pay $20 per quarter to participate.  May 15th deadline to get flyer to Lisa.  Talk about what type of specific flyers would be accepted.  Contact Lisa Uemoto at cuemoto@seattlehousing.org

Shere’e Robinson of Genesee Apartments is hosting a quarterly meeting with Seattle Police Department to talk about community safety in RV.  Contact Shere’e at Genesee@bellwetherhousing.org if you want to be added to meeting list.

Open House – At last provider meeting, discussion about service providers hosting an open house with a passport to be stamped and to have families walk to each agency.  Will put this on next agenda in June.

Lisa is coordinating with Seattle Police Department Officer Jo Jo (Robert Cambronero) to host an ice cream social on Thursday April 24th in RV Central Park in late afternoon across from Neighborhood House.  She may host another ice cream social on May 15th in Phase 3 section of RV.  Goal of these socials is to build relationship with youth in the community and get to know their families.  Also promote safety and respect.

Resident Safety – speeding cars are concern in the community, remind people about road safety and look both ways before crossing.

P-Patch – have space at Dakota if people are interested in gardening.  Contact Julie Bryan at P-Patch at 206-684-0540.

Seattle Housing Authority – SHA is once again enforcing the community service requirement for residents (if not disabled or working or in school).   Cheryl Sabin of SHA is developing a list of volunteer activities for residents to work with local service providers. 
RV residents applied for Neighborhood Matching Fund Grant in Feb to provide financial support for neighbors to work together to host 3 major community building activities, and 10x adopt a Saturday events at the Central Park.  These major community building activities are Green Fair (include gardening and food security) tentatively scheduled for 6/14/14; Multicultural Lantern Festival in Fall and  a Summer Celebration for all neighbors, but hopefully led by the youth).
 
Cheasty Greenspace –  Working to restore a very large parcel of land near Rainier Vista into an accessible natural green space with bike and hiking trails.  This project has been ongoing for a few years, and they have already made progress in cleaning up and reclaiming this natural area.  There has been some opposition to this project but mostly positive support by the community.  Jay, a local resident, is hoping to spread the word and interest about Cheasty Greenspace.  He encourages residents and service providers to learn more about the project. He is seeking support through volunteering and backing of this project.  Contact Jay Gairson at jay.gairson@maztec.org for more info on how to get involved.

United Health Care – has a lot of resources to offer community such as free membership to Boys and Girls Club and Food for Thought eating on a budget with live cooking demonstrations that you can host at your event or facility.  They have several health plans available. 

Atlantic Street Center :

Moving in June or July to Rainier Beach.  A lot of classes including citizenship, ESL, free diapers, etc.

Next provider meeting will be held in June.