And just like that, another school year is underway! We are so thankful to be able to count on you each and every year to make sure our students start off their year feeling supported and connected in their journey, especially as the need for our classes continues to grow.

With this growth, we also want to make every effort to listen to our students and make sure that we are still serving them in the way that works best for them. Earlier this month, with your help, we asked our students about their experience with Literacy Source. We do this every couple of years to ensure that our programs continue to fit what our students need and envision at our learning space. For example, in past focus groups, our students asked for a driver's license class, which we offered, and an exercise class, from which our Walk in the Park class sprouted. Our last focus group in 2022 focused on what type of instruction worked best for our students (e.g., online, in-person, hybrid); we were surprised to hear that online worked great for a majority of our level 1-3 students so we continued to offer those classes online. This year, we used them as an opportunity to ask our students about our newly active library and what they would like to see in our new building when we move next year! The results have not been finalized yet, but so far we have received lots of great feedback.

There were also many wonderful volunteers that assisted us with this project that deserve a huge thank you! It would have not have been successful without you and we appreciate your aid in organizing and assisting the students.

We also want to make sure that we are listening to YOU! In our upcoming newsletter, you can expect to hear more about what our students had to say, and we will also give you the opportunity to share your thoughts and experiences in our volunteer survey.

So, stay tuned...

"We must dissent. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the hatred and from the mistrust. We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better."

~Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall

Next month is African Immigrant Heritage Month, and keeping in mind that one in ten Black people living in the US are immigrants, knowing more about some inequities that might impact our students' - particular our Black students' - experiences in the United States can help us to approach their situations more equitably. In his TED Talk entitled "How Racism Makes Us Sick", David Williams, a public health sociologist, emphasizes that doing nothing is not an option, and essentially perpetuates the problem. He strikes the delicate balance between sharing the damage that the longstanding legacy of racism has wrought on both the mental and physical health of BIPOC individuals and highlighting the many reasons for hope. He cites studies, for example, that show that out of the 171 largest cities, there isn't a single one where Whites and Blacks live under equal conditions, and that if you could "eliminate statistically residential segregation, you would completely erase Black-White differences in income, education, and unemployment. But he also highlights bold programs that are combatting these issues, such as Loma Linda University's gateway college, which pairs medical care with job skills training, and the US Dream Academy's program, which provides academic enrichment and mentoring to the children of incarcerated individuals who have fallen behind in school.

Williams is an innovator, and he realized that to answer the question of how racism impacts health outcomes, we must first acknowledge how insidious racism is, wending its way into every aspect of life. For example, did you know that a group of researchers put together a database that allows us to look at books, magazines, and articles over the years, and how utterly, and depressingly, different the couplings with the word "black" are than with the word "white"? In his position at Harvard, Williams developed scales, such as the Everyday Discrimination Scale, to capture experiences and transform them into measurable data so that these health discrepancies can be more effectively studied and mitigated.

The work we do at Literacy Source partnering with our students to create a better life and a stronger community is another example of resisting the indifference that has maintained the status quo. As Williams points out, action is the key to dismantling a system that does not treat everyone fairly: he quotes Robert Kennedy to say: "Each time a man" -- or woman, I would add -- "stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and those ripples can build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Please join us to celebrate! It's the end of term, we have many students successes, and nearly 8,470 hours of volunteer service this past school year! We can't thank you enough for helping us with our mission but we can throw a party to celebrate!

When: Thursday, August 29th, 5 – 7pm (classes are cancelled)

Where: Literacy Source Center

Can you help at the party with kids activities, set-up or cleanup? Please email Caroline

Eliciting is a learner-centric teaching approach that “elicits” information from the students rather than the teacher offering it directly. Eliciting can help students better retain information. This also means they are listening actively instead of passively, which is likely more engaging. It is a good tool to discern any gaps or holes in learning. With eliciting you can find what students know and don’t know, and better customize lessons to fit their needs...

You can read the full teaching tip here.

Niusha Shodja, Ready to Work Instructor

• Alida MacCracken – Basic Computer Skills Instructor & ESOL 4/5 Class Assistant
• Ann Duncan – Conversation Class Partner & Citizenship Class Assistant
• Bryce Smith – Conversation Class Facilitator
• Julieta Sanchez – Board Member
• Kitty Gustafson – ESOL Tutor
• Morgan Heller, Board Member
• Sandra Lowe - Conversation Class Partner
• Simran Sidhu - Conversation Class Partner
• Wendy Garrison – ESOL Tutor

Volunteers for a Cooking Class Elective

Back by popular student demand!

We are excited to work again with one of our favorite community partners HIP (Hunger Intervention Program) to run an in-person cooking class at the center. The class will be on Mondays, 1 – 2:30pm and will run from 10/21 - 12/9.

Levels: ESOL 2+ and ABE 1+ (Max. 12 students). Help students learn how to cook healthy, affordable meals, followed by lunch! Students will get a free recipe book, recipes, and groceries.

Volunteers will help in the class and with the pre and post required student surveys.

Please contact Caroline if you are interested in helping.

Literacy Source partnered with two individuals who became new citizens in the past month. Both were from Ethiopia.

Congratulations!

The Women

Staff: Stacey Hastings

Mother-Daughter Murder Night

Staff: Alex Olsen

The Backyard Bird Chronicles

Staff: Laura Kalmanson

Rachel's Holiday

Staff: Katherine VanHenley

Demistifying Disability

Staff: Cat Howell

The Heart Goes Last

Staff: Allie Azersky

An Evening of Wine and Jazz with Saxophonist Marion Meadows

Friday, August 23, 6-8pm (Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, $99, but two for the price of one options)

Join LANGSTON for an evening with Soprano Saxman extraordinaire Marion Meadows. Marion started playing tenor sax in high school, and then migrated to soprano sax. His passion for various types of music led him down an eclectic musical path. After studying jazz at Rippowam High School in Stamford, CT, Meadows attended Berklee College of Music. There he majored in arranging and composition. During his college years he played in several bands including disco, R&B and various jazz ensembles. Meadows perfected his craft studying with Sonny Fortune, Joe Henderson, Dave Liebman and Eddie Daniels. Meadows’ first RCA release “For Lover’s Only” was a huge success and was followed by his groundbreaking “Keep it Right There” album. He became a staple of the contemporary jazz format with his subsequent recordings. Meadows is a semi-pro cyclist, graphic artist and designer. Marion received a doctorate from Wilberforce University in 2016. Some of his artwork and photography can be viewed at the concert and will be available for purchase. 

Waterfront Block Party

Fri, August 30, 12-9:30 (All Along Waterfront Park | FREE)

Friends of Waterfront Park proudly presents the fourth annual Waterfront Block Party, marking an exciting milestone on the road to the Grand Opening of Waterfront Park in 2025! Join our celebrations at Olympic Sculpture Park, Pier 62, Occidental Square, across the downtown waterfront to and enjoy live music, dance, parades, food trucks, family-friendly crafts, and more.

A Conversation with Isabel Wilkerson

Thursday, September 12, 7:30pm (The Great Hall, 1119 Eighth Avenue, FREE-$200)

Isabel Wilkerson is the author of the critically acclaimed, New York Times bestsellers The Warmth of Other Suns, and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Proceeds will support Homestead’s work to create housing justice in King County. Wilkerson won the Pulitzer Prize for her deeply humane narrative writing while serving as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times in 1994, making her the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize and the first African American to win for individual reporting. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded Wilkerson the National Humanities Medal for “championing the stories of an unsung history.”

Ms. Wilkerson will join Marcus Harrison Green, publisher of the South Seattle Emerald and columnist for the Seattle Times, in a thought-provoking discussion about these critical issues.

Our next New Volunteer Orientation (via Zoom) will be on Sept 4 at either 1pm or 7pm. 

Potential volunteers are invited to register online here. 

We're Hiring! Help us spread the word in your networks and communities. We are looking for someone to serve as an AmeriCorps, teach our Beginning Computer Classes and assist with the organizational wide digital literacy program.

Americorps Adult Basic Ed. & Digital Literacy Instructional Support

Questions? Contact Caroline

Miss any of our past volunteer newsletters? You can access archived newsletters at the bottom of the Volunteer Resources of our webpage.