Early giving for GiveBIG is underway! Puget Sound’s future depends on courageous, curious, inclusive leadership. This GiveBIG, your support helps connect and shape the leaders we need. Gifts of all sizes are appreciated and help set us up for a successful campaign.

Your gift today helps us:

• Innovate our 10-month Flagship Program to remain accessible and relevant
• Launch a new Emerging Leaders Program in 2025 to reach more leaders
• Pilot LT BoardLink to connect alumni with nonprofits that need strong leadership

Thank you for giving BIG! We can't do this important work without you.

LT Alumni Spotlight: Tracy Brown, LT'93 Building Pathways to Wealth Through Homeownership

Rooted in a multicultural and equity-focused upbringing, Tracy Brown, LT'93 has devoted her career to advancing equity and civil rights. In 2014, she founded Healthy Smart Homes (HSH) to help close the racial wealth gap by supporting home and commercial real estate ownership in communities of color.

For many families, homeownership is a key path to building wealth—creating opportunities to fund education, start businesses, and invest. Yet, due to redlining, racially restrictive covenants, and other discriminatory practices, Black and Brown communities were excluded from many of these opportunities. While the 1968 Fair Housing Act made such discrimination illegal, its legacy persists.

To address these inequities, the WA State Legislature passed the Covenant Homeownership Act—a landmark, bipartisan effort championed by Jamila Taylor, LT'13, the late Frank Chopp, LT'87, and many others. The act acknowledges the state’s role in discriminatory housing practices and provides financial support to help correct them.

Tracy was thrilled when her organization, HSH, was selected to help bring this act to life. With support from a Washington State Housing Finance Commission grant, HSH partners with the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle (ULMS) to provide statewide outreach and housing counseling services, helping homebuyers determine if they qualify for up to 20% (or $150,000) in down payment and closing cost assistance. This approach focuses on building meaningful, personal connections with individuals, families, and community partners.

“For so many families, one thing standing between them and homeownership is the down payment,” Tracy says. “This program helps remove that barrier and creates real pathways to generational wealth.”

Tracy is proud to continue the legacy of "papa" Haynes—her uncle, Dr. George Edmund Haynes, co-founder of the National Urban League.

If you or someone you know might benefit from the Washington State Covenant Home Ownership Program, please contact Tracy and her team! You can also support Tracy's work by making a donation here.

In a recent LinkedIn post, C. Marie Taylor, LT'23, Flagship Program Consultant, reflected on a book that changed her life and the vital role libraries play in our world:

Today I’m reflecting on a book that changed my life: Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

The last time I read it, 45/47 was in office, and it articulated what had been stirring in my soul. Glaude’s framing of the “value gap”—this entrenched, dehumanizing belief that white lives are valued more than others—named a truth I had long felt and have been pushing against for years.

His call to radically reimagine our democracy still echoes in me today, challenging me to lead, live, and build differently.

And yet here we are again, watching as the current administration strips away funding for libraries. These aren’t just budget cuts; they are blows to access, learning, and equity.

Libraries are sanctuaries. Especially for historically excluded communities, they’re spaces to expand knowledge, connect with culture, and imagine what’s possible. When we defund them, we chip away at the very foundation of a just society.

Democracy in Black reminds us that real change demands more than performative gestures. It takes courage, clarity, and community, and that's exactly what our libraries and books like this one make possible.

Let’s keep fighting, reading, and building the world we know is possible.

Follow C. Marie and her company Equity Through Action on LinkedIn for other insights and resources!

PK v.80: Leadership: Communities of Courage

May 22, 2025, 3:30-8 p.m. | Seattle Public Library | Free!

Leadership: Communities of Courage unites inspiring leaders from across our region to explore what leadership means at this moment in our nation’s history. Presenters include LT's Executive Director, Bindiya Patel, as well as Sally Jewell, former Secretary of the Interior, James Williams, LT'00, Seattle Managing Partner, Perkins Coie, C. Marie Taylor, LT'23, President and Principal Consultant, Equity Through Action, and many others!

Discover how LT alumni are advancing in their careers and partnering to build a more resilient Puget Sound region. If you have an update to share, email Megan.

👏🏽Congratulations to Kate Nagle-Caraluzzo, LT'24, Christopher Sanders, LT'24, Shoko Toyama, LT'18, and Daniel Zavala, LT'23 on being named to this year's Puget Sound Business Journal's 40 Under 40 list!

Honorary LT: Judy Runstad has been selected 2025 Seattle King County First Citizen. She is the 87^th recipient of the prestigious annual award.

LT'16: Haid Bloxham started a new position as Chief of Staff at Kinetic West, a social impact consulting firm.

LT'16: Erin Hobson was promoted to Chief Strategy Officer at Sellen Construction.

LT'16: Dr. Julie Pham's 7 Forms of Respect were featured in the Forbes article "Building A Culture of Respect In Times of Crisis."

LT'16: Toka Valu's public art pieces were celebrated in this article written by his classmate Leliani Lewis, LT'16.

LT'18: Justin Chan started a new position as Strategic Business Planning and Policy Advisor at Seattle Public Utilities, where he supports long-range planning efforts.

LT'18: Melanie Roberts was featured in GeekWire for her work as Executive Director of the Washington State Academy of Sciences. Read the article here.

LT'21: Sara Lazkani joined the KidsQuest Children's Museum Board of Directors.

LT'23: Angela Wallis was honored with the Seattle Kraken's Hero of the Deep award for raising more than $31,000 in support of WestSide Baby. Read the blog post here.