Voices of Strength: A Mini-festival of Contemporary Dance & Theater by Women from Africa waa koox dumar ah oo ka yimid meelo kala duwan ee qaaradda Afrika ah. Waxa ay dhowaan booqasho ku soo mareen xarunta Somali Community Coalition Services ee ku yaalla SeaTac halkaasi oo ay ku maaweeliyeen caruur Soomaaliyeed kuna la kulmeen dad iyaguna waaweyn oo matalayey bulshada Soomaaliyeed ee ku dhaqan gobolka Washington. Waxa lagu casumay cunto Soomaali isugu jiray bariis, baasto, iyo sanbuus, hilib, digaaga, iyo ido.  Kooxdu waxa ay bandhig ka sameeyey Moore Theatre oo ka mida tiyaatarrada ugu caansan Seattle labo habeen oo is xigta. Sawirkan waxa qaaday oo ugu deeqay Runta Andrew Matson oo ka tirsan Seattle Times qeybteeda farshaxanka iyo muusigga.

Masawirka waxad ka arki kartaan Mustafe Kaid oo bidix ka qoslaya indhahana ku haya is heysadka Xabeeb  (Midig) iyo Mohamud Yusuf Makis oo ah Continue Reading

New America Media, News Report, Zaineb Mohammed

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On October 18 we were joined by over 200 community leaders to celebrate the inauguration of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA), Continue Reading

A large and diverse group of Washington State innovators, Continue Reading

SEATTLE – Mayor Mike McGinn’s 2013-14 Proposed Budget, presented today to the Continue Reading

Maalinta ciidda waxa magaalada Seattle ku soo kordhay Continue Reading

The Sea Beez, NAM, the Washington Hispanic Media Association, Norman Sigler Continue Reading

Seattle releases video educating residents on why waiting to pay parking tickets isn’t a good idea.

SEATTLE— One year after the vehicle booting program launched in July 2011, the City of Seattle has kicked off a new outreach campaign emphasizing the message “the longer you wait to pay a parking ticket, the more you pay.” The City wants residents to understand the benefits of paying parking tickets on time to not only save money, but to avoid the boot as a result.

The average amount owed from a typical boot offender can exceed $400. Not only do drivers have to pay their individual tickets, they must also consider late fees, collection fees, boot removal fees and time wasted in the process. Drivers are better off dealing with tickets promptly by paying the ticket, contesting the ticket, seeking mitigation, arranging for a time payment plan or scheduling community service.

This summer’s outreach features a combination of bus ads, print ads, handouts and public service announcements for television and radio. About seventy-five vehicles are booted weekly in neighborhoods, especially in Belltown, Capitol Hill and the University District. Young, active Seattleites are a priority for the City’s outreach because they typically work, play and go to school in these neighborhoods. Residents from many ethnicities were featured in the outreach reflecting the increasingly diverse population of the city.

Immigrant and refugee communities are also important audiences because 17 percent of Seattle’s population is composed of different groups proficient in languages other than English. The City is working to eliminate barriers that prevent residents from fully understanding parking laws. Materials (including the video PSA) have been translated into the five languages most commonly requested at the Seattle Municipal Court – Amharic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. T.D. Wang Advertising Group was hired to help develop this phase of outreach. The firm brings experience implementing full-service multicultural campaigns.

Highlights of the nine months of data collected and analyzed between July 5, 2011, and March 31, 2012, include:

• Number of vehicles booted 2,713
• Number of vehicles towed is 381 or 14 percent
• About 38 percent of the owners of booted vehicles chose to use time payments
• Amount of revenue collected—$2,217,000

The program’s effect on car campers continues to be minimal due to the collaborative effort among the Ballard Community Taskforce on Homelessness and Hunger, the Interfaith Taskforce on Homelessness and various city departments. No known car campers have lost their vehicles as a result of the Boot Program. To read the Parking Scofflaw Program 2012 1^st Quarter Report visit: http://www.seattle.gov/scofflaw/pressMaterials.htm.

The Seattle Police Department, Seattle Municipal Court, Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Office of Civil Rights and Seattle Department of Finance and Administrative Services collaborated on this effort.

To view the PSA, outreach materials or obtain more information about the program, visit www.seattle.gov/theboot.

Seattle’s population is expected to grow by at least 120,000 more people in the next 20 years. It’s important for the City to take steps now to make room for all our new residents.

If we don’t make changes, all Seattle residents could potentially face a poorer quality of life—including lower air and water quality (leading to increased health problems), more time spent in traffic congestion, and greater inequality among lower income communities. However, if the community can come together and work with the City of Seattle issue, we have a tremendous opportunity to create a vibrant, prosperous and equitable future for everyone.

When we have 120,000 more people in the city, we will not be able to drive as much because the congestion will be too great. Think about how bad traffic gets now. It will only get worse unless we can provide other options for people to get around. One way to do that is create ways to make Seattle neighborhoods more convenient for most of the daily needs of the residents.We have heard from the community that if there were more shops, schools and other needs that were closer to their homes, they would be more willing to try to bike, walk or take transit to get to those places.

The City of Seattle has created some pictures to show how certain sections of neighborhoods might look with some of the land use and transportation changes we are considering. These pictures show what a typical neighborhood might look like today and what that same neighborhood could look like in the year 2035. The pictures do not reflect a particular neighborhood but were designed to be representative of all Seattle neighborhoods.

The City is interested in hearing from the community what they think about the neighborhoods in the pictures. The specific questions the City is interested in hearing from the community are:

What do you like about these changes? What is missing from these changes?

To see the pictures, please visit www.seattle2035.com and submit your comments!