News

The Burning Effects of Colonization

August 28, 2023

When the first American businessman built a plantation in Hawaii in 1835, seeds were sown. Not just the literal seeds of cash crops, but also the seeds of devastation which have blossomed into the unimaginable tragedy we saw in Maui this month. How can that be? It starts with the way the Hawaiian landscape began …

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Working in the Silence

July 21, 2023

Some things happen with a big BOOM!!! Like Roe -v- Wade being overturned. Thus, once again giving government the right to legislate women’s bodies. Denying a basic health care need. For some women its not so basic. For some it is literally their life or death. Some things happen so quietly that we don’t even …

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540

June 23, 2023

540, 41, 220, 75, 76. These are the numbers so far. 540 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills have been introduced in 41 states. 220 pieces of legislation directly target transgender and non- binary folx (this is a record). 75 laws in over a dozen states directly target the LGBTQIA+ community. 76 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills have become law this last …

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Reflections on identity from our Multiracial & Multiethnic affinity group

May 31, 2023

Greetings from Neighborhood House’s Multiracial & Multiethnic affinity group! In honor of Loving Day on June 12, we wanted to share some our experiences as multiracial and multiethnic people. A little about us: We are a diverse group of folks with many different identities. As multiracial/multiethnic individuals, we are united by our shared experiences of …

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Importance of being Mental Health First Aid certified

May 1, 2023

Since Mental Health America designated it so in 1949, the month of May has been recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States. This year’s theme is “Look Around, Look Within.” This month, Mental Health America has asked us to specifically look at how our environments shape our mental health. Through the Mental …

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Equity Summit 2023

April 4, 2023

Equity is not a thing. It is not something that you can put your hands on or describe to the exact tee. Equity is not solid like a wall or stagnant like a pond. It is living and breathing and its shape depends on where and how it is needed. It flows and bends like …

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Rest is Resistance

March 1, 2023

Rest is a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy. Both toxic systems refuse to see the inherent divinity in human beings and have used bodies as a tool for production, evil, and destruction for centuries. -Tricia Hersey, “Rest Is Resistance” I woke up today, grabbed my coffee, …

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Attendee reflections from the Facing Race Conference

December 1, 2022

Last month, several Neighborhood House staff attended the Facing Race Conference. We were treated to an incredible speech by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of How To Be An Anti-Racist, and Stamped From the Beginning, and many sessions presented by race and equity experts and practitioners. One of the sessions I attended was The Trojan …

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King County community comes together to support Latinx youth

October 4, 2022

This Latinx and Hispanic Heritage month is a special one for many Latinx King County community members. Neighborhood House, community partners, parents, and youth celebrate being awarded 5 years of CDCs Drug-Free Communities program to support the newly created Latinx – King County Dream Coalition (La Coalición de los Sueños del Condado del Rey in …

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Holidays at Neighborhood House

July 1, 2022

Neighborhood House (NH) is committed to becoming a fully inclusive, anti-racist, multi-cultural organization. As such, we are reevaluating our policies, including our holiday structure, so that we can continue to create a more equitable organizational culture. Today NH has 306 staff members who speak over 40 languages. 72% of staff members identify as Black, Indigenous, …

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Being present for the first Juneteenth federal holiday

June 1, 2022

June 19th, 2022 will be the first year that many people will receive the day off in honor of Juneteenth, commemorating the day that enslaved people in Galveston, TX learned slavery had been abolished. They’d toiled in the hot sun for years under chattel slavery, and this year we will celebrate their freedom by taking …

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Multicultural principles for early childhood leaders

May 3, 2022

Head Start published these Multicultural Principles back in 1991. They have since been updated and continue to provide research based guidance to Head Start programs around the nation. They are also relevant principles that can be applied to other Neighborhood House service areas and approaches. You can find these principles and many other resources on …

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Putting People First – The King County Wage and Benefits Survey

April 1, 2022

Content from this article was adapted from the King County Alliance for Human Services press release after the publication of the King County Wage Survey. The hourly wage that one adult, one preschooler, and one school age child in King County needs to survive in 2020 was $38.85/hour, and adjusted for inflation, that amount is …

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My refection on power sharing

March 1, 2022

I recently got a new job at a government agency and this job puts me at the top of the organization. As such, I have been reflecting a lot on the meaning of leadership and leadership power.  Often, when we hear that a person “comes into power”, what is means is the person got a …

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Neighborhood House staff on celebrating Black Joy

February 1, 2022

Too often, many of the stories discussed during Black History Month are tragic.  One does not have to look too hard to uncover the many times in US history that humanity was not extended to those from the African diaspora.  On top of that, many stories of Black excellence are undercut by tragic ends of …

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Racial equity and social justice – How are we doing? What NH staff say…

January 3, 2022

Neighborhood House has been engaged in a multi-year effort to identify key racial equity goals and actions to move the organization towards becoming a fully inclusive, anti-racist, multi-cultural organization in a transformed society. As a part of this effort, we committed to implementing an organizational assessment to establish a baseline understanding of the current state …

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Native American Heritage Month

December 1, 2021

Note: this post has been updated to reflect that Neighborhood House decided in 2022 to move away from land acknowledgments. Land Acknowledgements were meant to raise awareness and to invite people in to learn more about the land you live on and the indigenous folks whose land was stolen. Now there are many feelings that …

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Elections, democracy, and equity

November 1, 2021

November 2nd, tomorrow, voters in Washington state will have an opportunity to have their voices heard. We are lucky that in Washington, voting is easy. Our ballots are 100% mail-in, with plentiful drop boxes, free postage for mailing the ballots, and several weeks from the time ballots are received in the mail to when they …

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National Hispanic Heritage and Latinx History: “Latinx or Hispanic?”

September 30, 2021

Hispanic Heritage Month began as a commemorative week when California Congressman George E. Brown first introduced it in June of 1968. In 1987, U.S. Representative Esteban E. Torres of California proposed expanding the observance to cover its current 31-day period that goes from September 15 to October 15 to properly observe and coordinate events and …

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Digital access is an equity issue

September 8, 2021

“Those who access and need our government services expect and deserve usability,” said Kendrick Stewart, Washington Department of Commerce’s deputy director. In a public performance review meeting on July 28, 2021, the deputy director went on to say that according to agencies that provide direct services to the public, those who are most likely to …

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