This is an exciting time of the year at the CDA because we are announcing our new format, calling for volunteers and projects form the community. This year Spring Clean will span April through August with a huge celebration on September 6th, 2013. We have 5 months throughout the year to ensure the cleanliness and beautification our community. If you have a project that you want to lead or suggest please fill out the Project Proposal Form and email it to Marquise@wccda.org or drop it off at the CDA located at 1615 SW Cambridge St, Seattle, WA 98106. Projects can be done on multiple days if it is a need of the community to be done throughout the months.  If you are interested in volunteering for a particular day please follow the link Volunteer Link to sign-up. You can sign up for as many days as you want.

As projects come in we will be updating our blog, Facebook and Twitter. If you have any question or concerns about Spring Clean this year please feel free to contact Marquise at Marquise@wccda.org or call 206.694.1082. Look forward to making our community healthy, clean and beautiful over the next couple of months.

Community Summit 2012

If you have not seen it on TV yet check out our commercial for the community summit coming up on Dec.8th. Please registered at the following link “Register Now”.

STG presents Global Dance Party at The Moore Theatre in Seattle on Friday, November 2, 2012.

Global Dance Party is a high-energy performance of cultural and contemporary dance and music. The performance features young local performers from STG’sDANCE This celebrating the rich cultural traditions and artistic talent found in the Northwest. A not-to-be missed experience for all ages. Think Global, Dance Local!

Performances by: Kaleidoscope Dance Company (modern), Tibetan Language & Culture Class, Electriq Dance (hip hop), Gansango Music & Dance (African), NW Tap Connection (fusion modern & tap), Lieu Quan Vietnamese Lion Dance Team, featured dance from “Black Nativity” and show-stopping finale by Daniel Cruz.

If you can make it out it is a great show!! Well worth the time.

LOST LOVES is the heart wrenching true story of Leav Sila, just one of many countless mothers that did all they could to keep their family alive, only to see the vast majority be killed or starve to death in the fateful years of the Khmer Rouge regime. Written and starring Kauv Sotheary, one of only two surviving children of Leav Sila, it gives a brutal yet captivating insight into the extremity of this painful chapter in history. LOST LOVES is directed by Chhay Bora, Kauv Sottheary’s husband. Both being university lecturers, they have spent their life savings on this project, not for personal gain, but because Leav Sila’s story, like many thousands of that period, needed to be told. The new generation of Cambodians must learn their history so as to never repeat it.

This Friday September 28th, 2012  is amazing opportunity to see the only premiere showing of Award-Winning film by Cambodian Director/Producer Chhay Bora in Seattle. The premiere will be shown at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center located at 4408 Delridge Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106. The screening will start at 7pm and will cost $7 if you buy advance tickets or $10 at the door. To get your ticket(s) please follow the link “Tickets”.

Also here is a sneak peak at the trailer for the movie Loves Lost, enjoy!!

Buy Fresh in White Center, Delridge and Highpoint

“New Buy Fresh website promotes healthy food and produce in White Center, Delridge and Highpoint neighborhood markets and corner stores.”

The White Center Community Development Association (WCCDA), in partnership with the King County Food and Fitness Initiative and Communities Putting Prevention to Work, has created a new Buy Fresh website that highlights thirteen different neighborhood produce markets and retail stores that offer fresh fruits, vegetables, and a variety of healthy affordable food for multi-ethnic communities. The site has multi lingual headers reflecting the ethnic diversity of the community.

Included on the site are the business profile pages, previously used in print that introduce customers to local healthy food shopping options, including the merchants themselves, store specialties and merchants’ favorite recipes from their home countries. The pages list business hours, EBT and/or WIC acceptance, and a list of the most popular items always in stock.

“The website is an important tool for me to tell new and long-time customers about Phnom Khiev Market,” said Vichet Khiev of his store in White Center. “It is always great how word can spread just from people talking about a website. The merchant profiles are especially useful because neighborhood residents feel like they know me and can trust me.”

The website will likely expand and include other healthy retail stores in these neighborhoods. The plan is to showcase recipe cards and expand the merchant profiles into various languages such as Khmer, Spanish, Arabic, Somali, and Vietnamese.

The site’s purpose is to promote the accessibility of healthy, culturally appropriate fruits, vegetables and other foods for residents and visitors in the White Center, Delridge and Highpoint neighborhoods. Parts of Delridge and Highpoint neighborhoods are classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as “food deserts”, defined as an urban neighborhood without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.

You’ll find the site at http://www.buyfreshsw.wccda.org

Made possible by funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Public Health - Seattle & King County.

White Center-Promise Summer Celebration-Friday, August 31st, 2012

“Success from cradle to college and career”

(White Center, WA)-Promise Summer Celebration 2012-Come celebrate the implementation phase of the White Center Promise Initiative. Get information about what implementation will look like, enjoy the company of your neighbors and enjoy a great time with free local food and performers.

To register and find out more information please click the following link: Promise Registration. Registration deadline is August 25th, 2012. Register before the deadline to recieve a “Special” parent gift and a book bag for your child.

To volunteer, please register at the following link: Volunteer Registration. You can register online or print out a registration form. Please fax registration forms to 206.658.8344 or drop it off at the CDA office located at 1615 Cambridge St. If you are under 18 please fill out a youth waiver form found at the above link.

Volunteers are needed!! To sign-up as a volunteer, please visit the following link: Volunteer Registration or contact Julie Hubbs, AmeriCorp VISTA Volunteer Manager and Fund Developer at 206.694.1082 x175 or at whitecentercda@gmail.com. Volunteers will recieve a complimentary T-shirt, refreshments and food at the event.

The Tenth Annual White Center CDA Dinner & Auction will feature Keynote Speaker King County Councilmember Larry Gossett. Born and raised in Seattle, Larry Gossett has been a dedicated servant of the people for over 40 years. He is currently serving his seventh term on the Metropolitan King County Council and serves on several committees including Law, Justice, Health and Human Services; Government Accountability, Oversight and Financial Performance; and Growth Management Planning Council.

In 1993 he was elected to the King County Council, representing District Ten (currently District Two), which encompasses most inner-city neighborhoods in Seattle and unincorporated King County in the Skyway neighborhood. He was overwhelmingly reelected in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007. In 2007 Gossett became just the second African American elected to be chair of the King County Council.

In 1999, 13 years after the 1986 change of the County’s name to honor the slain civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Councilmember Gossett spearheaded the campaign to change the King County logo from an imperial crown to an image of Dr. King. In 2007, the King County Council unanimously adopted the change, becoming the only governmental entity in the nation to have as its logo the likeness of Dr. King.

Councilmember Gossett is a highly respected community leader who has advocated for the underrepresented and underprivileged in King County for his entire career. He has long been an advocate for programs that help inner-city youth and reduce racial and class disparities in our local criminal justice system. He has also led efforts to eliminate black-on-black violence and other manifestations of self-hatred by poor and disenfranchised populations. White Center CDA Executive Director Sili Savusa is excited to welcome Gossett saying, “We feel it is fitting that Councilmember Gossett is our keynote speaker with our theme of ‘10 Years of Action,’  his actions over his career are what we as an organization aspire to!”

This year’s dinner & auction will take place on Friday, September 21, 2012 from 6pm-9pm at South Seattle Community College. Tickets are $65, buy yours at wccda.org/tickets.

For more information on King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, please visit: http://www.kingcounty.gov/Gossett/Biography.aspx

The Board of Directors of the White Center Community Development Association (White Center CDA) proudly announces the hiring of its new executive director, Sili Savusa, a long time community advocate and White Center resident. The current CDA Executive Director, Aileen Balahadia, plans to leave her position the end of March, after serving in her leadership role since 2004.

Click here to read the entire press release (PDF)