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As proud sponsors, the White Center CDA would like to be the first to announce this event, happening right here in White Center, at White Center Heights Elementary. Please see event flyer below for more information. See you there!

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For more information, CLICK HERE. To RSVP for this event, CLICK HERE.

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Promise Neighborhoods is a place-based initiative created by the federal Department of Education and inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone. The vision of this program is that all children and youth growing up in a Promise Neighborhood have access to a continuum of great schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career. The purpose of Promise Neighborhoods is to significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of children and youth in our most distressed communities, and to transform those communities.

For more information visit whitecenterpromise.org

Video directed and edited by Jerome Buenaventura

Music featured:
John Legend & the Roots - Wake up everybody feat. Melanie Fiona
John Legend - Shine (Waiting for Superman version)

King County is interested in how best to engage with our communities, especially unincorporated areas like White Center. Fill out this survey and let your voices be heard!

From the survey site: Your responses provide valuable insights to the King County Council and the County Executive on how to engage with UKC residents more effectively. In addition, when you select a CCF partner from the list below, you will help that partner earn a grant (from $250 - $5,000)!

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/615422/UKCRound

White Center CDA staff joined residents from the Greenbridge neighborhood and Family Connections staff (Mt. View Elementary and White Center Heights Elementary) to advocate for the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries at the King County Library System’s (KCLS) board of trustees meeting in Issaquah last night.

A large contingent of White Center’s community attended last night’s KCLS board of trustees monthly meeting to advocate against the closing and consolidation of the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries. Among them were residents from the Greenbridge neighborhood to provide their perspectives on how a potential closure will effect them and their families. Lan Le and Anab Abdulle from Family Connections provided interpretation in Vietnamese and Somali, respectively.

The experience for our Greenbridge neighbors was a new one - many of them had not been to Issaquah but were eager to speak in front of the board. They spoke about access, how their families utilize the libraries, and how closing the libraries will have an effect on the Greenbridge library (located inside the YWCA learning center).

The board heard from many other White Center representatives, notably the White Center Library Guild, who have been longtime advocates of the libraries and leading a campaign to “Save Our Libraries”. Over 1,700 signatures were collected by the Guild and community partners, which was presented to the board by Astha Tada of the Guild. King County council member  Joe McDermott was also in attendance to reiterate his support of the community.

The KCLS board of trustees decided to defer their decision of library consolidation of the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries until a decision about annexation is made by the City of Burien. We will provide more information about the library situation on this blog (as well as Facebook and Twitter) as it develops.

The White Center CDA supports the current efforts of the Save Our Libraries campaign, led through the grassroots community efforts of the White Center Library Guild. Below is CDA’s message sent out to the community to attend the next King County Library System’s Board of Trustees meeting on June 28. The next Guild meeting is on Monday, June 20, 1:00pm at the White Center Library.

Start of message:

There has been a proposal at the King County level to possibly close/consolidate both the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries. In response, the White Center Library Guild launched a “Save Our Libraries” campaign to advocate for these libraries and to stress its importance to the community. The Guild has created a petition that can be signed in front of the libraries and at various community events. Read news coverage about it here: http://tinyurl.com/SaveOurLibrariesWCBP.

The King County Library System Board of Trustees will be meeting on Tuesday, June 28 to further discuss this issue. Join the White Center Library Guild, White Center CDA and concerned community members to let the board know how important these libraries are to you, your family and your community!

WHO: Supporters of our White Center / Boulevard Park Libraries!

WHAT: King County Library System Board of Trustees meeting

WHEN: Tuesday, June 28, 5:00pm

WHERE: KCLS Service Center, 960 Newport Way NW, Issaquah, 98027 (TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED, INFO BELOW)

WHY: To advocate for our libraries, our youth, our neighbors and our neighborhood’s future!

The first 30 minutes of this meeting is open to public comment. Those who wish to speak may sign up at the beginning.

We understand that transportation may be a barrier, so please call (206) 694-1082 or email ian@wccda.org and let us know if you need a ride to the meeting and back to White Center. Meet us at the White Center CDA office at 3:00pm. Our White Center CDA van and other vehicles will leave the White Center CDA parking lot at 3:30pm.

The Promise Neighborhood Community Engagement Approach is community friendly and culturally competent. It has a couple of components including an educational/information campaign and survey. The Survey is available through a variety of means and in many home languages (Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Somali & Arabic). The Effort has an emphasis on going to the people to learn from them and start where people live.

Residents & Community Members from White Center Promise Zone, White Center Community Development Association, King County Housing Authority, Highline Public Schools, Southwest Youth and Family Services and Cambodian Cultural Alliance of Washington have been engaging parents over the past month and a half through a community survey. Parents are asked about what it takes for their children to be successful in school and life. Parents share their hopes for great schools and quality teachers where their children can feel supported to be successful and confident. Many parents share that their support networks include their parents, family members, caring professionals, church, and after school programs.  Neighborhood Mothers and Fathers also talk about the need for community centers, counseling programs, free activities for youth during the summer and tutoring programs.

Cambodian New Year Event, April 30:

Spring Clean, May 14:

CDA Membership Mixer (Social), May 20:

Math Market Nights and Coffee Hours:

Greenbridge Community Council Meeting, May 14:

Join the Promise Neighborhood Community Engagement Team and talk to your neighbors and parents about what it takes for their children to be successful in school and life. Share your ideas and opinions to guide a brighter future for the youth of White Center by taking the Promise Neighborhood Community Survey here - www.whitecenterpromise.org.

The White Center CDA expresses our heartfelt thank you to all of our 630+ Spring Clean volunteers! It was a great event; heavily attended by youth of all ages, our elders, our many different immigrant communities, our longtime residents, and our community partners/sponsors to keep White Center a cleaner, safer, healthier place to live.

Mural project on 16th and 98th.

A before and after photo at the White Center Heights Elementary project. Photos by Adrian Hedwig.

Also visit White Center Now for their rundown and gallery of photos and the West Seattle Herald/White Center News for the same. We’ll have official event photos, courtesy of Youth Media Institute, in our photo gallery soon.

We’ll see you at next year’s White Center Spring Clean - Saturday, May 19, 2012!

Tours of SOPI Village were given today for the project partners. Representatives from Capitol Hill Housing, Delridge Neighborhood Development Association, White Center CDA, Department of Housing and more were on hand to check out SOPI Village, which is now halfway complete.

You can view a walk through video HERE.

A larger community tour will happen in June. We will announce this event in the near future.

This just sent in to us from Emily Slagle, branch executive director at the SW Boys & Girls Club at Greenbridge:

I am proud to report that the Southwest Boys & Girls Club has won a 2011 Over-All Program award from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for having the BEST DROP-IN PROGRAM in the NATION! We are one of 4,000 Clubs in the Nation and WE WON!!!  What an honor it is for us to be recognized for the work we do with the youth in the White Center community!  We hope you are just as proud of our accomplishments and will join us at our Annual Celebration of Champions Fundraising Breakfast on Thursday, May 12th at the Club from 7:15am-8:30am.

Thank you to all of our donors, we couldn’t have done with without your support!  You are a part of something even greater!  BEST in the NATION!!!

In FEBRUARY we served 231 youth and 118 teens in our program for a total of 349 served!

Avergage Daily Attendance = 128 members!

Peak Attendance Day = Friday, February 11 with 222 members in the Club!

• 1112 meals served
• 37 youth participated in K-1st grade Power Hour Homework Help
• 104 youth in 2nd-4th Power Hour Homework Help
• 101 youth/teens in 5th-12th Power Hour Homework Help