Category: Stories

Persistence and growth-mindset—how staff and youth alike at Filipino Community of Seattle are adapting to a new normal

What does it mean to fail? What needs to be renegotiated in how we talk about success and challenge? If youth workers strive to foster growth mindset in the young people they work with, what does it mean to extend that kind of grace to ourselves, to remain tenacious as adults? The coronavirus pandemic has provided seemingly endless creative opportunities to do things differently. Filipino Community of Seattle (FCS) demonstrates remarkable agility and unwavering commitment to their mission, even when things don’t go according to plan. Given that their youth programming is anchored in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics), it makes sense that … [ ]

Magic mamas—how parent partnership is expanding learning in Northgate

Out-of-School Time program staff are partnering with parents in new ways during this pandemic. With in-person programming mostly closed down, kids are connecting with youth programs virtually from their living rooms and kitchens. And staff are getting creative.   For Rebecca Brito, Recreation Leader at Northgate Elementary with Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR)—a Best Starts for Kids Collaborative with STEMPaths Innovation Network (SPIN)—this parent partnership has been the secret sauce for supporting her students. By tapping into the existing leadership of two mothers in the community, Feben Ghirmatzion and Blanca Melgarejo, nearly 40 kids have stayed engaged in programming despite not being able to attend in person.  “I’ve tried to hire them so many times!” she says, laughing.   The current program design happened organically, building on strong relationships. … [ ]

The seeds we sow and centering equity

By Janell Jordan

The 2020 Bridge Team decided on seven core values that help ground and inform how we intentionally move the work forward this year. We use these in our decision-making processes, to help inspire us, and push us towards bringing you a stronger conference each year. Our core values this year are:  Equity Belonging Leadership Change Nourishing Innovation Community  We are continuously trying to check ourselves as a team in not only what these values look like, but what they feel like as well. We don’t aspire to perform, but rather break ceilings. Centering equity is both a broad and specific … [ ]

Reflections on Bridge’s core values—innovation

By Janell Jordan

“For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?”  ~ bell hooks    I started working on this year’s Bridge theme at end of February–when I thought I would be back in the office in two weeks max (almost laughable at this point); back when Breonna Taylor and George Floyd still had their breath — when so many folks laid content and complicit with their everyday life.   Having been a participant, a facilitator, and a support staff in previous years,  working in … [ ]

Boys and Girls Club of Chehalis gives youth of essential works a place to learn and thrive during COVID

By Brianna Kirschenbaum

In an interview with Lauren Day, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Chehalis, she talked about the experience of one student in particular who became homeless right before the pandemic. The student’s mother is a health care worker whose irregular schedule during the pandemic would have left the child alone a considerable amount of time without the help of the Boys and Girls Club. At the Club, the student has access to his own Chrome Book to complete schoolwork with help from caring staff. The child received considerable support from his school, as well as ample opportunities … [ ]

Cascade Middle School students become wellness ambassadors

Students and teachers were settling into their seats in the gym of Cascade Middle School in Auburn, where the statement, “Today is going to be awesome,” shone bright on the projector screen. It was a bold claim, considering it was nine in the morning on a chilly Saturday in February. The principal of Cascade, Megan McGroarty, welcomed the student leaders and teachers from her school, as well as school staff from across the district and youth development staff from Neighborhood House. They had all gathered to learn from Generation Wellness, an organization dedicated to fostering thriving schools by focusing on well-being. This … [ ]