February 17, 2016 The Skanner Page 5
News
Events & Announcements
Community
Calendar 2016
Seattle
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19
CELEBRATE CHINESE NEW YEAR WITH SEATTLE PREMIUM OUT-
LETS: Join us as we celebrate Chinese New Year with special
treats at Simon Guest Services, festive décor, cultural perfor-
mances and stores offering extra savings. All day event! Seattle
Premium Outlets, 10600 Quil Cada Blvd., Marysville.
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20
Kehinde Wiley
At a Feb. 9 press event, artist Kehinde Wiley talks about his work, which is showing at the Seattle Art Museum through May 8. The
exhibit features grand portraiture, sculpture, video and stained glass windows.
Briefs
cont’d from pg 4
are encouraged to submit a brief recount of their
experiences by visiting www.legacyhealth.org/good-
sam140. There is a 300-word limit per story. The con-
test concludes Feb. 29. Public voting will begin on
Tuesday, March 1 and conclude on Monday, March
11. The winners will be announced on Friday, March
18. If you have questions, please contact Jonathan Ste-
phens at jstephe@lhs.org.
Seattle News Briefs
Seattle Association of Black
Journalists Offers Scholarship
The Seattle Association of Black Journalists has a
scholarship to help African American students in the
Puget Sound region who are pursuing college careers
in journalism.
The scholarship was established to honor Patricia
Fisher: a Puget Sound native, journalist, educator
and role model for her support of young people and
her contributions to the community.
Awards are based on scholastic achievement, finan-
cial need, community service and a serious interest
in print, photo, broadcast journalism or multimedia/
online, and non- fiction writing. Scholarships range
from $500 to $2,500.
The deadline is March 1.
To get more information go to the website http://
washboard.org/ScholarshipDetails/The+Seattle+-
Foundation/2016-2017/Patricia+Fisher+Endowed+-
Scholarship
If you have any questions, e-mail Jamon@aol.com.
King County Council Issues Black
History Month Proclamation
The Metropolitan King County Council this week
celebrated the continuing contributions of Afri-
can-Americans in the United States and throughout
the world by proclaiming the month of February
Black History Month in King County.
African American History month was the idea of
historian and educator Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who
hoped to raise awareness of African Americans’ con-
tributions to civilization. As the founder of the As-
sociation for the Study of Negro Life and History, Dr.
Woodson created Negro History Week to be celebrat-
ed in February, the birth month of Abraham Lincoln
and former slave and African American abolitionist
Frederick Douglass.
The first Negro History Week was celebrated in
1926. In 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial,
Negro History Week became Black History Month, a
celebration recognized in the U.S. and Canada.
Members of the Board of the Black Heritage Society
of Washington, Inc. were on hand to receive the rec-
ognition from the Council.
Mayor Ed Murray Delivers State of
the City Address Tuesday
In his State of the City address before the Seattle
City Council Tuesday, Mayor Ed Murray expanded
the City’s commitment to support education, job op-
portunities and success for all of Seattle’s youth.
He also pledged to hire an additional 100 police of-
ficers above the 100 net new officers he has already
budgeted, and offered new initiatives to support
small businesses, foster the arts, and activate urban
parks.
“Today the State of the City reflects the 21st Century
dreams of the 1962 World’s Fair: a vibrant city driven
by technology and science, creating jobs and inno-
vation in everything from transportation to health
care,” said Murray in a packed City Council Cham-
bers. “The State of the City also reflects our worst
fears from the Great Depression, as issues of home-
lessness and inequity continue despite decades of ef-
fort on the part of this City to resolve them.”
The mayor cited Seattle’s current successes, includ-
ing 63,000 new jobs in the city in the last five years,
an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent and median in-
come at an all-time high.
But the mayor noted that some communities are not
fully benefiting from the current growth, especially
African American and East African male youth be-
tween the ages 14 to 24. Seattle is one of 14 cities to
receive a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ In-
novation Teams program, which aims to enhance the
capacity of City Halls to solve intractable urban prob-
lems and improve the lives of residents. The team’s
first charge is to assess and address disparities facing
young Black men.
Murray challenged Seattle’s employers to help dou-
ble the number of available positions in the Mayor’s
Youth Employment Initiative to 4,000. The City will
partner with the Center for Children & Youth Justice
to train outreach workers to engage young men and
link them to school, jobs, training and other services.
The City will also create a first-in-the-nation program
to respond to the 40 percent of youth-violence cases
that involve violence against a family member, re-
ducing the need for youth detention. Seattle will also
provide an additional $200,000 for Career Bridge, a
proven program that puts individuals with criminal
records on a path to success through job training,
education and other supports. Seattle will also part-
ner with Seattle Colleges to create a new College for
Working Adults to help lower-wage workers increase
their earnings or change careers.
To address the opportunity gap and the persistent
disparities in our public schools impacting children
of color, Murray will build on last year’s launch of the
WHO WANT PANCAKES? Bring the whole family to start the
day off right! We’ll have pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs,
fruit, coffee and juice. Come join your friends and neighbors in
making this annual tradition. All proceeds go to our programs
scholarship fund. Cost is $5 (ages 4-64), $4 (ages 65+), children
0 – 3 free. 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th
Ave. S.
FREE COMPUTER & ELECTRONIC RECYCLING EVNT: SBK Recycle
will be onsite at Carson Elementary School in Puyallup collect-
ing non-working or working outdated electronic items for free.
10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Emma Carson Elementary School, 8615 184th
St. E. Puyallup.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21
“STRANGER IN THE WOODS” (children’s film). Journey deep into
the winter woods and meet two snowdrifts. Pierre and Janine
who will introduce you to their forest friends and reminisce
about the time a mysterious stranger came to visit. Free for all
to enjoy. For ages 3 and older. 1 p.m. – 1:30 p.m., Lewis Creek
Park Visitor Center, 5808 Lakemont Blvd. SE., Bellevue.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22
FREE TAX HELP: This service is free and available to individuals.
Reservations are not required. This free service is not available
for business tax returns. Bring following documents: Photo ID,
Social Security card for anyone listed on tax returns, Bring form
SSA 1099 (S.S. Benefits), medicare card (if S.S. is followed by an
A), copy of last year’s tax returns. Noon – 7 p.m., Seattle Public
Library, 1000 Fourth Ave.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26
FREE PRESCHOOL SCREENINGS FOR DEVELOPMENT DELAY: We
offer free screenings for children 3 – 5 years old. Call today for
a free appointment or for more information (360) 279-5928.
Screenings include: Vision, hearing, Language, social-emotion-
al and speech-cognitive and much more. Oak Harbor Public
Schools, Call for address and appointment. (360) 279-5928.
Seattle Preschool Program with a the first citywide
Education Summit in more than 25 years.
As part of the City’s efforts to ensure that neighbor-
hoods remain affordable and livable, the mayor today
announced new initiatives to support small busi-
nesses and nurture art and culture as Seattle grows.
The Commercial Affordability Advisory Committee
will identify issues that lead to displacement of small
businesses in growing Urban Villages and recom-
mend actions that support affordable commercial
spaces. And to support Seattle’s vibrant arts and cul-
tural community, another major employment sector,
the mayor announced that a significant portions of
King Street Station will be permanently rededicated
with 15,000 square feet of public arts space and new
affordable spaces for small businesses.
In his address to the Council, Mayor Murray noted
that “public safety is an area where we have made sig-
nificant progress, yet still have significant challeng-
es. Even with the progress we have made in the past
year, much more needs to be done to address proper-
ty crime.”
Under the leadership of Police Chief Kathleen
O’Toole, crime overall fell 7 percent citywide in 2015,
including a 30 percent drop in auto thefts and a 20
percent drop in crime in Southeast Seattle.
To respond to community concerns about proper-
ty crime, the Seattle Police Department are forming
a dedicated team focused on bringing down property
crime rates. The department is now using many of the
same strategies that have been effective in addressing
chronic crime and drug dealing downtown in other
neighborhoods in the city. The department will also
improve the efficiency of the City’s 911 response sys-
tem.
The mayor’s complete State of the City remarks as
prepared are available at seattle.gov/mayor.