Project Outline

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Seattle, Washington, United States
Creatives4Community and Yesler2014 works with and through the Planners Network (Seattle Chapter) and Youth Planners Network who are an association of professionals, activists, academics, and students involved in physical, social, economic, and environmental planning in urban and rural areas, who promote fundamental change in our political and economic systems through active participation at the ground-level in community, neighborhood, and city planning and design.

September 5, 2010

Yesler2014 Teens Present at Great Cities Initiative Brown Bag at GGLO!

Seattle Housing Authority Helps Get Yesler2014 Started!

In its third year, the Yesler2014 Summer Youth Program was a presenter at the Great Cities Initiative's Brown Bag Lunch Presentations, facilitated by Diana Vinn and Nate Cormier. A big thanks to Yesler2014 summer staff Cynthia Padilla for setting this up and making what we feel was an historic presentation for the Yesler youth!

SHA's Al Levine, Anne Fiske-Zuniga, Brian Sullivan, and Brett Houghton were present to help introduce, support, and listen to the youth's summer activities. It was a great opportunity for the youth, as well as a wonderful chance for the local planning, design, and architect professionals to see that Yesler is producing some highly talented, engaged, and diverse future professionals!

Presenters covered their summer program outline, some basics of the planning process at Yesler, and the most important element for the summer; The EIS and its importance at the Yesler Terrace Redevelopment this year.

Teens provided some insight into their thoughts about redevelopment, conceptual ideas and designs about what they would like to see at Yesler, as well as some personal feedback about their experience with the program. It was motivating to see many of the youth who were challenged with the program to standout and take the lead during this groundbreaking program presentation.

A Great 2010 Summer Program COMPLETED!

Thanks to Great Cities and GGLO for a FANTASTIC opportunity to have the Yesler2014 youth present their ideas and work in front of Seattle Housing Authority, industry professionals, and each other! It was a very proud moment for the staff, and those who attended.

August 26, 2010

Yesler2014 Big Day at GGLO!

Next Brown Bag: Yesler2014 - Youth and the Redevelopment of Yesler Terrace

Where: GGLO Space at the Steps, 1301 First Ave., Level A
Date: Thursday, August 26, 2010
Time: 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Enter through door located about 1/4 of the way down the Harbor Steps (click for map)


The Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) is currently working on its plans to redevelop Yesler Terrace, a public housing community located south of Harborview Medical Center and east of Pioneer Square along Yesler Way. The redevelopment of Yesler Terrace is now in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process.
This presentation will focus on Yesler2014, a cooperative effort between SHA and Creatives4Community (C4C), a non-profit organization whose objective is to provide youth with a wide range of skills to impact and improve their local communities. The Yesler2014 program consists of 12 teens who reside in Yesler Terrace. The youth, guided by the counseling of C4C staff, spent several weeks during the summer examining Yesler Terrace's redevelopment and understanding the proposed schemes and process. This year's focus for the program is two-fold: understanding the EIS process and examining open space. This presentation, led primarily by the youth, will summarize what they've learned, including some preliminary design and visioning ideas by the youth in addition to a summary of additional spaces, places, and organizations throughout Seattle that Yesler2014 has visited for inspiration.

Presenters - C4C Staff:

Edward Hill is the founding director of C4C. He has worked locally and nationally to influence local green policies and practices, and to help drive cultural and ethnic diversification of urban agriculture, urban planning and community food systems development in the Northwest. Hill is completing his Masters in Urban Planning & Design at UW's College of Built Environment and has a Bachelors in Urban Studies and Education. He is currently managing 60 youth and 14 staff in four programs, providing an introduction to urban agriculture and urban ecology as well as stewarding over 6 acres of urban land.

With a team of other planning, design, and educational professionals, Hill started a successful urban sustainability certification program called GroundUp Organics, and has helped broker community land use agreements with local agencies for increased composting and food production in Seattle.

Heather McKee is the project lead for Yesler2014. Heather graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Community, Environment and Planning. Throughout high school until the present she has been focused on community engagement through the arts and education. She started working at Yesler with the Youth Tutoring Program three years ago and this is her second summer with Yesler2014.

Daniel Kastoryanoe, a staff counselor for Yesler2014, grew up in Geneva, Switzerland. He has worked with teens in a variety of countries and settings, as a facilitator for training peer health educators in Mali, and as a member of outreach teams working with behaviorally-challenged adolescents in Worcester, Massachusetts and in Geneva. In 2010, Daniel earned a Masters of Urban Planning degree from the University of Washington, with a focus on stormwater management, decisions-making hierarchies, community outreach, and hazard mitigation. Aside from his experience in the field of planning, he has experience in marketing, transportation planning, and international microfinance. Daniel believes that when working with adolescents, there is never a dull day, which is what makes such work extremely interesting.

Cynthia Padilla is a staff counselor for Yesler2014 and a registered architect with 12 years of experience in the Philadelphia area. She has recently earned a Master of Urban Planning with a Certificate in Urban Design from the University of Washington, and is currently a principle partner in a small Seattle area planning and design firm. Although this is her first year as a Yesler2014 counselor, Cynthia has extensive experience with youth through mentoring students in architecture/urban design in addition to several years of coaching soccer, basketball, and softball.

Mary Roderick is pursuing an Interdisciplinary PhD in Urban Planning and Design at the University of Washington. After careers in literacy education and non-profit management, followed by IT development and consulting in Germany, she returned to the US to advocate socially-oriented and ecologically-sensitive planning. She provided staff support and content development for Yesler 2014, and is currently a staff counselor for the organization.

Presenters - C4C Youth:
Jamila Abdi, Madrona K-8, 8th grade
Najma Abdirahman, Ingraham High School, 10th grade
Abdulahi Adan, Roosevelt High School, 12th grade
Zemzem Ahmed, Garfield High School, 10th grade
Kalkidan Bedada, Garfield High School, 10th grade
Andrea Brown, Garfield High School, 9th grade
Nelley Dorbor, Seattle Central, 2nd year
Nimo Farrah, Nathan Hale High School, graduate
Fatuma Mahmud, Garfield High School, 9th grade
Guadalupe Ordonez, Garfield High School, 10th grade
Edgar Rivas, Garfield High School, 10th grade
Maria Delos Angeles Rivas-Garcia, South Seattle Middle College

To become a member of Great City, see our website for member levels and methods of payment. We appreciate your support!
 
 About Great City
We are environmentalists, neighborhood leaders, business people, and citizens working together to enhance our quality of life, help preserve our region’s natural beauty, and make Seattle a model of economic and environmental sustainability.

Great City
P.O. Box 599, Seattle, WA 98111-599
www.greatcity.org
www.facebook.com/greatcity

August 2, 2010

2010 Yesler2014 is Making a Plan! Youth Reporting in Seattle!

Yesler2014 Team with Architect Brian Sullivan, AIA LEEP AP
Yesler2014 Team for 2010 Takes On the EIS Process!!

We are 4 weeks into the Yesler2014 Summer Program for 2010 and things are starting to take shape.

This year's program is focusing on the EIS: Environmental Impact Statement, and Yesler2014, now in it's third year, is deep in the tours, site visits, community interactions, and design concept query.

The material this year is dense to say the least. It is well known that the layers of knowledge required to understand even the basics of the EIS process is challenging. These 12 High School students currently residing in Yesler Terrace are the third class of summer interns learning some of the foundational principals of urban planning, design, architecture, and community building. 

Using materials developed from Youth Planning Network affiliates, partners, and programs, the Yesler2014 Program is working to build youth leadership and participation in civics, local government process, and urban redevelopment.

Open Space, Closed Space. Inside Private, Outside Public. Transition spaces, hybrid spaces, and multi-use spaces. How much space is enough? How does income and class come into play when considering design? 

There are District Energy discussions, environmental considerations, and concerns about equity, balance of uses, and a slew of questions yet to be answered about this historically rich neighborhood.

Here are updates via our documentary team sponsors: http://www.pugetsoundoff.org/blog/king/12290 

Keep up with our updates and stick with us, Yesler2014 is going places! 

June 16, 2010

Yesler 2014 is in 3rd Year!!

JOIN US!!! VIDEO PRODUCTION! CITY TOURS! STIPEND! BUILDING COMMUNITY!!

Yesler Terrace is in the early stages of a historic redevelopment. The community is in the process of facing the most major changes since Yesler was built in 1939-1941. To prepare for these changes SHA and its community partners have committed to develop training, education, and career path opportunities for its youth and young adult residents.

The Yesler2014 Project is a hands-on youth planning engagement project connecting teens and young-adults to civics, urban planning, design, and pre-professional experiences using the current Yesler Terrace Redevelopment as a way to examine how personal, family, and community changes affect our lives and the City at-large.

The Yesler2014 Project provides stipend positions to 12 Yesler community youth aged 14-19 years old and uses “Pop Culture”, news headlines, social and economic issues, and social networking to spark ideas, commentary, and engagement around the redevelopment process.

The program focus is on direct teaching, hands-on activities, and discussions around issues concerning urban planning, urban design, public health, and city government and civics as they impact or affect Yesler Terrace and the surrounding community.

Yesler 2014 in its 3rd Year!

This year the program is focusing on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a critical part of any planning process and important to development or building projects. This summer youth will be visiting City Departments and talking to specialists, getting to know the workings of the EIS process, touring parks, streets, open spaces, high-rise buildings, construction sites, and design studios.

Yesler2014 is in its 3rd year of operation and the project goals to provide youth employment as well as job development training, is continuing to focus on life-skills improvement, professional and vocational career exposure, and a face-to-face with leaders in civics and community-capacity building.

“See - Think - Engage - Plan -Talk - Act”

Everyone participating in Yesler2014; staff, interns, and contractors, prepare themselves for a future of engaged citizenship, productive employment and academic opportunities, increased personal integrity, and an environmental awareness to tackle the challenges that lay ahead as we help build an equitable, healthy neighborhood for the residents, the City of Seattle and beyond.

November 27, 2009

COMMUNITY CHALLENGE!!!!

Reduce Waste and Win!
Approximately 200 tons of garbage are collected from Seattle households every day – the equivalent of 50 elephants! Much of this garbage could have been recycled, or better yet, not created in the first place.


To promote community-wide waste reduction, CleanScapes is piloting a Neighborhood Waste Reduction Rewards program in central Seattle. (See map for pilot project neighborhoods.)

Does your neighborhood need public benches, a pocket park, an information kiosk, public art or other improvements? Team up with your neighbors to reduce waste and win a $50,000 community improvement project selected by the community and installed and maintained by CleanScapes, the City-contracted garbage and recycling service in central Seattle.

To win, simply reduce the amount of garbage, recycling and yard waste set out for collection by households in your neighborhood collection area. The neighborhood with the greatest percentage reduction between Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 wins. Community councils representing the winning area will choose a community improvement project from a list of options worth $50,000. The winning area will be selected in early spring 2010, so spread the word and reduce waste now!

How to Win:
1. Find your neighborhood collection area.

2. Stop waste before it happens:
REDUCE purchases of disposable items
REUSE or DONATE products you already have
COMPOST at home

3. Get the word out and start organizing your neighborhood!

Visit www.cleanscapes.com for more ideas on how to reduce waste and win.

Candy Castellanos
Waste Diversion Project Manager
CleanScapes, Inc.
5939 4th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98108
www.cleanscapes.com

Please don't print this e-mail unless it's necessary

November 19, 2009

Announcement: The Freedom School

AFSC & People's Institute NW bring you the 2009 Winter:

Tyree Scott Winter Freedom School
December 28-30, 2009
10am to 4pm @ Cannon House
113 23rd Ave S
Seattle, WA 98144-2384

Why are people poor?
Why are so many ?people of color? in prison?
Why do our schools teach us lies?
Know your rights with the police.
Organize against racism...and much more!

Freedom School is for youth ages 15-21 to learn about racism and organize to undo it.

We take field trips around the city, learn anti-racist community organizing skills, and listen to community elders.

We learn about why people are poor and break down the education system, the media, and the criminal justice system.

We come together to create change and share culture.

To participate in the Freedom School, fill out the attached APPLICATION and mail to the address on the application by
*** DECEMBER 10, 2009! ****

Questions? Call or email Dustin Washington 206-632-0500 x 14 or dwashington@afsc.org or John Page at 206-250-7737.

September 24, 2009

GREEN EXPO in Georgetwon!! October 9th....

Save the Date!!!

Green Expo at Georgetown Campus
Friday, October 9


Greetings PSIEC Coalition Members -

Join OSPI Superintendent Randy Dorn, electric car owners, biofuel
experts, Cool Schools and your colleagues at the second annual Green
Industrial Business and Career Expo, Friday October 9, at South Seattle
Community College's Georgetown Campus.

To Register Click
Here<http://cmpgnr.com/r.html?c=1525202&r=1523861&t=1777315801&l=1&d=91206989&u=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eregonline%2ecom%2fCheckin%2easp%3fEventId%3d760139&g=0&f=-1>

Learn more: go to the Expo web site at www.greenexpo-wa.com

I look forward to seeing you at the event.

Joe Hauth
Director, Puget Sound Industrial Excellence Center

Georgetown Campus, South Seattle Community College
6737 Corson Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98108
(206) 764-5838
http://georgetown.southseattle.edu/