We Belong Here Civic Commons

On October 27th, 2022, Civic Commons held an event at the Gates Discovery Center to introduce the Greater Seattle Compact for Belonging to the general public.

To celebrate, we invited four guests to talk about Belonging with the audience. Listen as Priya Frank (Seattle Art Museum), Donna Moodie (Marjorie Restaurant), Rozella "Rozie" Kennedy (Camber Collective and the Brave Sis Project) and Commissioner Sam Cho (Port of Seattle) tell some of their origin stories and how Belonging fits into small businesses, the arts, government, consulting, restaurants, and nonprofits!

Both Priya and Rozie have published books recently. You can find them here if interested:

From Small Wins to Sweeping Change - Working Together to Foster Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism in Museums - Edited by Priya Frank and Theresa Sotto
Our Brave Foremothers - Celebrating 100 Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous Women Who Changed the Course of History - by Rozella Kennedy

A topic that has dominated the news cycle in the COVID-19 aftermath is the future of downtowns. A simple google search on this topic will unleash a barrage of news articles about cities big and small across the country. Seattle is no exception.

Many of the folks who worked downtown have yet to return to their offices. Many commercial spaces are vacant and retail has been hit hard due to the decrease in foot traffic.

So how do we revitalize our downtown corridor? How do we make sure it's a space that welcomes and benefits everyone?

To discuss this topic, we've brought together an amazing trio of guests:

Yoon Kang O'Higgins, Director of Public Programs at Friends of the Waterfront Seattle

Rico Quirindongo, Acting Director of the Office of Planning and Community Development at the City of Seattle

Jon Scholes, President & CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association

They share their origin stories which span across the Central District, University Place, the Guggenheim Museum, Pike Place Market, St. Louis, New York City, and Oakland.

They discussed their favorite aspects of Seattle's downtown (can you guess what they picked?) and then really dug into the future of Downtown Seattle.

This discussion ranged from the future impact of the Waterfront, transforming commercial space into residential space, attracting visitors through arts & cultural attractions, and reimaging street-level retail.

And throughout the conversation, they held to the ideal of creating a space of Belonging and equity.

Join our discussion on the future of downtown Seattle with some of the folks who are most poised to impact it.

Thank you again to the Big Phony, a Korean-American singer/songwriter living in Seoul, South Korea for allowing us to use his music in our intro and outro, all royalty-free!

Creating Belonging in an organization is far easier when leadership is onboard. In this episode, Mayor Victoria Woodards exemplifies this throughout her work, background, and her hope for the City of Destiny. (Also, the City of Destiny has got to be one of the coolest nicknames out there)

Listen to learn more about the leadership journey that brought her honor to where she is today. The 39th Mayor of Tacoma speaks about her childhood, the military, community organizations, and politics. She also shares what she loves about Tacoma and how to create Belonging in the city.

Mayor Woodards finishes the podcast with some shout-outs to events and activities coming up soon. Here's a list with pertinent links:
Summer Teen Late Nights - From now till September 1st, middle and high school students have access to places with free food and activities Monday through Friday from 5 to 10pm. Click the link to find one of the locations throughout the city!
The City of Tacoma will be kicking-off a community safety strategy conversation this fall. While the date is TBD you can check here to find the latest information.
Tacoma Reads - Later this Fall, the city and library will host an author event with David Ambroz. His book, A Place Called Home was selected as the annual book for the city to read together. The author recounts his experience with foster care, homelessness, and sexual identity.
Thanks, as always, to Bobby Choy (aka Big Phony) for allowing us to use his music in our intros and outros!

"Center community. And center the synthesizing of multiple viewpoints to create a better outcome. It's all sort of an act of civic and cultural deejaying. Like you're trying to take two sources and bring them together to create a better outcome." - Randy Engstrom

This episode explores the intersection of Arts & Culture & Belonging. The US Surgeon General has deemed social isolation and loneliness as a public health epidemic that impacts all of us. He provides 6 pillars to combat this (link here) and the sixth one is Cultivating a Culture of Connection.

So how can Arts & Culture provide an antidote to the loss of Belonging and the growing epidemic of isolation?

To discuss this topic, we've brought together an amazing trio of guests:

Joël Barraquiel Tan, Executive Director of Wing Luke Museum.
Leilani Lewis, Associate Director for Diversity Communications & Outreach at the University of Washington

Randy Engstrom, Co-Founder & Principal, Third Way Creative

They share their origin stories which span across Manila, Hawaii, Detroit, and Chicago.

They discussed their previous roles at places like Northwest African-American Museum, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, and Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team Health Centers.

They range on topics from anti-fragility, community, and reimaging a new city for all of us.

Thank you again to the Big Phony, a Korean-American singer/songwriter living in Seoul, South Korea for allowing us to use his music in our intro and outro, all royalty-free!

One of the 4 Practices of Belonging is Advocacy. In the latest edition of the We Belong Here podcast, we are gracious to explore this topic in detail

In 2017, Richard Rothstein published The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. It clearly spelled out the non-accidental history of racial segregation in the United States. Upon finishing the book, Richard's daughter Leah Rothstein wondered what to do with this information.

The answer? A new book published this past June called Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law.

Listen to their origin stories, discussions about how change can happen more at the local level than the federal, the importance of Belonging in starting this advocacy work, and clear examples of communities who have already started to advocate for the removal and change of segregation-building laws and policies through relationships.

Both authors confessed that they felt more hopeful about collective change upon finishing the research for this book. That should give us all hope that WE can create impactful changes to create the equitable and just world we want for all.

To follow this issue more closely, please subscribe to the Just Action substack!

Thank you again to the Big Phony, a Korean-American singer/songwriter living in Seoul, South Korea for allowing us to use his music in our intro and outro, all royalty-free!

Today our guest is returning to the podcast for his second visit. Luis Ortega, Director, and Founder of Storytellers for Change.

Luis and Frank talk about the upcoming 2022 Belonging Gathering which will be held on May 12th and 13th at AXIS Pioneer Square.

In this episode, we talk about the practices that build belonging:

Conversations & Storytelling

Advocacy

Building Community

Personal Growth

Please listen to get a better idea what we will cover in mid-May and hear more about the work Luis and his colleagues are doing. You can hear more from Luis on this episode of the Adelante Leadership podcast (hosted by Peter Bloch Garcia and Tania Alheli Hino Gonzalez).

If the craft of storytelling is something you are interested in diving into, please consider joining a cohort of changemakers and social impact storytellers here!

Lastly, please consider joining us in May. We are accepting registrations up till May 9th so please click here to register for the 2022 Belonging Gathering.

Thanks again to Bobby Choy (aka Big Phony) for letting us use him music for our intro and outro music!