*We apologize, in our earlier email, we misspelled the name of our Watercolor Class instructor, Cathe Gill. | | |
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If there's one day we know our community will appreciate it's National Book Lovers Day! Starting a book club, visiting your local library branch, or picking up a pen and finally giving writing a try are a few ways you could celebrate.
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At Literacy Source, we recognize that systemic injustices lead to unequal opportunities, which is why we focus on partnering with adults to gain the skills they need to create opportunities for themselves and their community. It isn't uncommon for our students, many of whom are immigrants and refugees, to have the goal of starting their own business, which may not be surprising considering immigrants are twice as likely to start their own business in the US than U.S.-born individuals. But, as many of you know, they may face barriers, such as language, discrimination, or decreased networking opportunities, that mean they may have to strive harder than most to succeed in this goal.
Black business owners in the United States have also had to overcome barriers, such as the legacy of slavery, racially motivated violence, and systemic injustices, that decreased opportunities for the Black community. August is Black Business Month, a time to reflect on the troubled history of our country and its treatment of the Black community, but also a time to celebrate the resilient spirit of Black Americans, namely those entrepreneurs that braved difficult odds - and circumstances - to create a better life for themselves and their community.
Black Business Month is also a time to be intentional about supporting Black-owned businesses in your community, and here are a few resources for you to do that:
We've also got lots of updates - new staff, classes, board members, and growing partnerships - that we're excited to share with you, so be sure to read more about those below.
In Community,
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Cat Howell
Co-ED, Educational Director
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Shira Rosen
Co-ED, Managing Director
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Watercolor Class
Art is a language of its own! Watercolor Classes at the Center! For two afternoons this summer Literacy Source supported in-person watercolor classes for students, materials provided, and focused on learning basic watercolor skills and painting beautiful flowers. Students were amazing, talented and focused, and we've all been inspired by their paintings.
The class was taught by our wonderful - and very talented - volunteer, Cathe Gill. Here are a couple of examples of student work.
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Welcome to the Team!
We're excited to introduce the newest members of the Literacy Source team: Rob will be our new ESOL Instructional Advisor and Sonam will be our Citizenship intern for the summer.
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Rob Duren
Rob is originally from the Pacific Northwest (born in WA, raised in OR) but he has also lived in Arizona, Mississippi, and Colorado. He has worn many hats in education (Teacher, Specialist, Dean of Students, Assistant Principal) and he has supported non-profits in each state that he has lived in, as well. Rob is excited to support Literacy Source as an Instructional Advisor because it is the confluence of all of his experiences and what he is most passionate about...
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Sonam Sharma
I am an incoming senior at the University of Washington, double majoring in Law, Societies, and Justice as well as Political Science. I have a particular passion for immigrant and refugee rights which is what caused me to gravitate towards a role like this that serves many immigrants! I am most excited to connect with Literacy Source clients in person considering that all of my volunteering here has been virtual up until this point...
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To read Rob and Sonam's full bios, go here. | |
New Board Members
In exciting news, we've had five new board members join our team. Say hello to Julieta and Morgan; we'll be introducing more next month!
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Julieta Sanchez is an Information Architect and Taxonomist with experience in the e-commerce, healthcare, and medical devices industries. Originally from Mexico, she came to the United States as a teenager with no English knowledge...
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Morgan serves as CFO of the Washington Research Foundation (WRF) in Seattle. She joined WRF in 2004 to work on the Foundation’s patent portfolio, which included technologies that have improved the health of more than a billion people worldwide and enabled WRF to support groundbreaking research throughout Washington... | | |
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Goodbye to Jack
Jack is finishing his time at Literacy Source as an AmeriCorps member. He has spent these past 10 months teaching the ESOL 4/5 classes both in-person and online. He has been a dedicated, participatory member of our instructional team and has done an excellent job teaching the students and working with volunteers. We are thrilled that he is continuing on through the summer as a class assistant in the evening ESOL 4/5 class, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
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Expanding our SPL partnership
We are excited to expand our partnership with Seattle Public Library by adding two new in-person conversation classes beginning this fall. The new conversation classes will be Wednesday evenings, from 6-7:30pm at the Delridge branch, and Thursday evenings, 6-7:30 at the Northgate branch.
Participants will need to sign up for each class via our website. The classes are drop-in so participants can join at any time. Dates for fall are coming soon!
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Literacy Source is on the traditional lands of the Duwamish people, and we pay our respect to elders both past and present. To support the revival of Duwamish culture and the vitality of the Duwamish Tribe, please consider signing this petition to federally recognize them, or consider making a donation to Real Rent Duwamish. | |
Literacy Source has a new LinkedIn Page! Please check us out and follow us for updates. | | | | |
