www.seattleworks.org

The only time I feel alive is when I'm painting." -Vincent Van Gogh

If I could marry an art form, I would marry painting (as long as I could have drawing on the side).

…and because of my love affair with painting, I was eager to take on the task of adding some spice to the Seattle Works office.  Over the past several days, I have been painting the Seattle Works logo on one of the walls in the office.  It was finally completed today and it is so purty.

THE PROCESS:

To begin, I printed out a picture of the Seattle Works logo and drew a 12-part grid to encompass the design.  Then, Chelsea assisted me with measuring out and centering a 6 ft. x 6 ft. grid on the wall (also with 12 parts) that was directly proportional to the grid I had previously drawn on the logo.  This took quite a few hours, but the grid is a very useful tool when attempting to achieve accuracy and proportionality. 

After the grid had been drawn on the wall (which is invisible in the picture above)

…wait for it…

It was PAINTING TIME!!!   

first with yellow and green dots.

 

…and then light gray dots.

 

Yours truly!

 …and then brown dots.

…and then blue dots.

…and then letters (which took forever aka a day and a half).

…and then the mural was done and it was purty. 

Oh, and this is my foot covered in paint. 

-Melody 

The Seattle Foundation's Recent Publication--A Healthy Community

A few weeks ago, The Seattle Foundation unveiled its newest publication, A Healthy Community: Strategies for Effective Giving.  Seattle Works had a copy lying around I looked through a few days ago, but, as part of our Duke Engage experience (the program that has brought Melody and me to Seattle), we also took a trip to the Seattle Foundation to discuss exactly what it is that they do down there and to talk about this "Healthy Community" publication.  The Duke Engage program's main objective is to get its students involved in service around the world.  (I have friends serving in Kenya, Tanzania, Tuscon, Trinidad, Guatemala, and Portland.)  

There was a lot of information in the publication, and apparently the Seattle Foundation worked pretty hard to put this thing together.  I thought it was interesting, and I'm not even from this area.  They discuss what they call the seven "Elements of a Healthy Community" (basic needs, environment, economy, neighborhoods and communities, health and wellness, arts and culture, education)  Each element has a section that outlines the status of King County regarding that element and makes suggestions of how you can help.  I think it is worth reading, especially if you are a resident of King County/Seattle and are looking for ways that you can contribute to your community (financially or otherwise).

The publication points out a lot of interesting things too.  For example, I never considered that prosperity and industry could cause problems in a community, but the Seattle Foundation explains that increases in prosperity and industry is causing affordable housing in King County to disappear.  More expensive housing is replacing the affordable housing and is pushing many people out of their neighborhoods to other more affordable communities.  When people move away from their jobs, they therefore rely more heavily upon cars and transit, leading to increased congestion, sprawl, and climate change.  This is also a good example of how the various "elements" affect one another (economy affecting environment).

So take a look. It's pretty interesting. And Seattle Works makes an appearance on page 68!

http://www.seattlefoundation.org/page10004386.cfm

-Chelsea

NEWBIES!!!

Introducing 2 new interns to Seattle Works, coming all the way from Duke University... Melody and Chelsea!

Hi y'all!! We are two southern hillbillies and we love our biscuits and gravy.  For fun we like to ride John Deere tractors and catch crawdads in the river.  Ok... so maybe we are just kidding, but now we will tell you a little about ourselves.

Melody:

Hiiii everyone! I'm a rising senior at Duke majoring in History & Combined Arts. I also plan on going to law school in the Fall of 2010.  Why Seattle? Well, we have this program at Duke called DukeEngage that promotes civic engagement and sets up students with summer internships, housing, and travel in order for them to become more civicly engaged, and I joined that very program! 

So far I really like Seattle except the weather. It's so cold!! I just came from my hometown of Monroe, NC (near Charlotte) where it has been about 100 degrees for the past week.  Seattle kind of reminds me of San Francisco because of the massive hills, the cold weather, and the abundance of people who look like they live for vintage clothing.  

So more about me... For fun I like to read, watch movies, draw, paint, travel, kickbox, swim, and take amazing naps.  In addition, some of my favorite things are sushi/sashimi, the color red, indie rock, desserts, art, the Harry Potter series, the show How I Met Your Mother, NYC, the bands Jack's Mannequin & Something Corporate, and baseball. 

That's all folks ;)

Chelsea:

Hello!  I am so excited to be here in Seattle at Seattle Works this summer! I'm also here with the Duke Engage program and am eager to learn more about Seattle Works and civic engagement and the non-profit community in Seattle.  Things around the office here haven't been too busy so far, but I hear that the momentum will pick up soon.  But hopefully not too soon...It took me 24 hours to get here from the east coast and I'm still tired! (storms in Chicago)

So a little about myself...I have lived in the same small town of about 500 people in Southwestern Virginia my entire life (so it's exciting to be living in civilization for a change).  I go to school at Duke University and am a psychology major, with two minors in math and philosophy.  I LOVE Mexican food (and pretty much every other type of food too, to be honest) and COFFEE (so therefore I love Seattle).

What I've seen of Seattle so far has been amazing!  Although the bus system gave me a bit of trouble the first day.  We went to Pike Place Market and on a tour of the Underground and to the Fremont Fair.  But I look forward to exploring more of the Emerald City.

YMCA National CEO Sees Future as Time of Change

A great read on the YMCA.

- Alison

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YMCA national CEO sees future as time of change for Y

Neil Nicoll, president and CEO of the YMCA of the USA, would rather focus on what kind of Y evolves after the nation's current economic turmoil passes than spend time wringing his hands over the challenges his non-profit is weathering better than most non-profits.
 
And he sidesteps the opportunity to be critical of the fact that non-profits seem to be the only entities not getting stimulus or bailouts in any of the plans that have rolled out of Congress and the Administration.
 
I recently saw Nicoll for the first time since he left Seattle in May of 2006, after 14 years as president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Seattle to take the reins of the national Y. But we agreed I should call him to visit at some point. So I did this week to ask about the present, the future, and his views on what I characterized in the conversation as the federal government's slight of non-profit needs.