Literacy Source Newsletter

NovemberNEWSLETTER | 2023

Welcome Note

Today marks the start of Native American Heritage Month, a time to, as President Biden stated in his proclamation on the month, "celebrate Indigenous peoples past and present and rededicate ourselves to honoring Tribal sovereignty, promoting Tribal self-determination, and upholding the United States’ solemn trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribal Nations." It's also a time to recognize that our country has a long way to go to restore trust with the Native American community. Biden also points out that "broken treaties, dispossession of ancestral lands, and policies of assimilation and termination sought to decimate Native populations and their ways of life."

So how can we as a community celebrate Native American Heritage Month? Our values offer a good starting point:

Lifelong Learning: Take opportunities to educate yourself on the history of the Native American people and culture.
Equity: Understand the barriers that centuries of discrimination have created and work to dismantle them. One way to do that could be to vote for the Duwamish initiative to build a cultural center that would foster community engagement, promote well-being, and support cultural preservation (one of the project proposals included in the People's Budget).
Inclusion: Seek out opportunities to learn about, connect with, and understand the history and culture that has sustained us for centuries.
Collaboration: Partner with local tribes or support local Native Owned businesses in your community.
Integrity: Approach with openness, honesty, and accountability some historical events that might challenge our traditionally white-dominated narrative.
Celebration: Celebrate the ingenuity and resilience of the Native American people, past and present.

In Community,

Cat Howell

Co-ED, Educational Director

Shira Rosen

Co-ED, Managing Director

Part 3 of our Strategic Plan: Office Move

Each month, we've been highlighting a different part of our strategic plan in our newsletter. In September, we shared with you our plan for healthy programming and how learning what balance of hybrid programming works best for our students has been key to moving forward with that goal. In October, we reiterated our commitment to pay equity and highlighted the importance of ensuring that our staff can earn a living wage in an expensive city like Seattle. This month, we want to remind you of our upcoming office move, which will need to happen in the next year. We hope to remain in Lake City and are looking for 4500 physically accessible square feet. We are calling on you to please put the word out. Thank you so much for any help you can offer as we undertake this big next step!ext tep

New Staff

We're excited to introduce our two newest additions to the Literacy Source Team!

Elena Jounina

Instructional Advisor

Elena is an international ESL teacher/instructional designer with vast experience in the classroom and online teaching as well as designing and implementing culturally diverse and socially equitable curricula, serving students from various academic and cultural backgrounds. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in English Studies...

Stacey Hastings

Fund Development Manager

Stacey studied Communication: public relations and advertising at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. She was formerly the Director of Business Development at a nonprofit in Everett where she oversaw fundraising, marketing, and communication. She’s taught in private schools for 6 years. . Teaching Spanish, computers, and being a substitute teacher during that duration for grades Pre-K-12.

To read their full bios, go here.

Stay at Home Tea

Save the date! Starting November 9th, we invite you to join us for our Stay at Home Tea Fundraiser. It's a moment to reflect on the importance of literacy, enjoy a warm cup of tea, and make a difference in the lives of adult learners through your generous year-end donation.

Donate

Volunteer Spotlight

Meet Leah! Leah has been the Conversation Class Facilitator in the evening online class since July 2022.

Where are you originally from? If you’re not from Seattle what brought you here?

I'm not! I'm from all over the place. I've lived in Wilmington, DE, Chattanooga, TN, Dalton, GA, and Nagano, Japan. I moved here in 2015 from Greenville, SC after falling in love with the city while visiting my best friend the previous year.

To read Leah's full interview, go here.

3200 NE 125th St, Seattle, WA 98125 | (206) 782-2050

www.literacysource.org

Literacy Source has a new LinkedIn Page! Please check us out and follow us for updates.