Transitional Resources thanks Team Awesome! January 26, 2012

Team Awesome is… well awesome!

Team Awesome is a Team Works team, which means they’re a group of people that volunteer together one Saturday a month, for four months. We have a round of Team Works kicking off on Sat 2/11 with the first project.

Know what that means? You can get in on this awesome action, that’s what it means!  

Check out the teams and where they’ll be volunteering each month: http://www.seattleworks.org/SW_TeamWorks_Teams

Sign up and you too could be awesome! http://seattleworks.ejoinme.org/teamworks

We be scrum’n January 20, 2012

The hottest topic this week is the SNOW!  People love it, then they hate it, then they love it again and now they’re sad the melting has begun. Here’s what we know about the snow – it doesn’t slow us down!

Seattle Works moved to a cloud solution a few years ago, which means that each member of our team is able to work from anywhere with internet.  It’s pretty incredible actually.  This “off” week has meant a ton of time for planning, catch-up, some re-scheduling and tons of focus time!

In this type of work environment, it’s easy to get disconnected from team members because we’re all so independent.  Enter… the daily stand up meeting! http://it.toolbox.com/wiki/index.php/Daily_Stand_Up_Meeting_Guidelines

We took a page from our tech friends and implemented a piece of the scrum approach. We used a call-in bridge to virtually do a stand up meeting with our whole team!  In a less than 15 minutes, each team member has a turn to talk about what they accomplished yesterday, what they’re planning to accomplish today and any obstacles that are in their way.

It’s simple, effective and speedy!  Especially when we’re snowed in…

Thank You from the Low Income Housing Institute! January 18, 2012

“Thank you choosing the Low Income Housing Institute for your project last weekend! Hannah, the Program Coordinator, told me today she had a great time hanging out with the volunteers and that you did such a thorough job preparing the Denny Park Apartments community room for new arts classes for the kids! I visited the space twice this week & every time I walk in I’m amazed at the transformation… The kids are again enjoying a beautiful space & we’re about to add an art activity for teens!

Thank you & Seattle Works for being our partner in ending homelessness.“

- Ania Beszterda-Alyson, Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator for LIHI

Love was in the air! January 16, 2012

Last Wednesday night we held Board Speed Dating where Bridge Partners searched for their ideal Bridge graduates, and Bridge graduates  searched for the best match for their new board skills!

Thank you to our enthusiastic Bridge graduated – we appreciate your dedication and willingness to step up and be leaders in our community! And a shout out to all of our committed Bridge Partners that attended:

Sustainable Path Foundation – http://sustainablepath.org/

Communities in Schools – http://www.communitiesinschools.org/

Easter Seals Washington – http://wa.easterseals.com/

ArtsEd Washington – http://artsedwashington.org/

Heron Habitat Helpers – http://heronhelpers.org/

Headstrong – http://www.headstrong4life.org/

Southeast Seattle Senior Foundation – http://www.southeastseattleseniorcenter.org/

Safe Futures – http://www.sfyc.net/

Transitional Resources – http://www.transitionalresources.org/

New Traditions – http://www.new-traditions.org/

Solid Ground – http://www.solid-ground.org/

Backyard Barter – http://backyardbarter.org/

Invest in Youth – http://investinyouth.org/

Flash Volunteer – http://www.flashvolunteer.org/

 

If you’re interested in taking The Bridge training course, we have a session starting on Sat 2/25. Sign up!

If you’re a nonprofit and interested in becoming a Bridge Partner, we’d love to help get you connected!

HandsOn Leadership projects kick off! January 10, 2012

Last Thursday, eighteen volunteer leaders who recently completed the HandsOn Leadership course got together to kick off six amazing long-term projects!

Working in teams of three or four, these volunteers met with staff from the organization they’ll be working with over the next few months to get to know each other, learn more about the organizations and the communities they serve, and dive into planning their projects. This was the first time we’ve ever included an orientation as part of HandsOn Leadership, and it was a great opportunity for us to celebrate the beginning of a new round of projects, as well as to do some serious planning and preparation for the months ahead.

The HandsOn Leadership program includes a 12-hour training, after which participants are eligible to team up with one of our community partners to manage a project over the course of three to nine months.

These are the projects that kicked off last week:

 

• Planning, organizing, & marketing youth photography shows at venues around Seattle for Youth in Focus
• Designing and creating a facility for native species propagation and developing an accompanying educational program with Discovery Park Forest Stewards
• Developing a model for recruiting and managing teams of volunteer translators and editors for Vittana, which provides microfinance loans for higher education students internationally
• Creating a business plan to support the development of a cooking school for El Centro de la Raza
• Planning volunteer projects and recruiting skilled volunteers to renovate and refurbish the Wallingford Child Care Center
• Working with Magnuson Community Center to plan and implement environmental restoration projects that will serve as educational events for local youth and community members

 

We’re so excited to have such a diverse set of projects and to have a fantastic group of dedicated, enthusiastic volunteer leaders and partners! And if managing projects like these sounds like a great opportunity, you can join us for our next round of HandsOn Leadership, which starts January 25.

Or if your organization is interested in proposing a project, we’d love to hear from you!

2011 Giving Campaign Results January 9, 2012

Our 2011 annual giving campaign ROCKED. With the help of our Rock Stars, we raised a total of $13,585 for Seattle Works!

But that’s not even the best part. We raised the money from individual donations given by 259 people.  That’s a lot of people showing a lot of love to Seattle Works!

And now for a spectacular showing of data:

Thank you to each and every green dot. Every single gift matters to us.

Round of applause for our Rock Stars, without which, we would have fewer green dots.

Rochelle Audette, Cate Bardelson, Jennifer Boehme, Tyler Bosma, Bekah Bridges, Nick Brown, Thomas Buford, Shauna Causey, Michael Closson, Nick Cullen, Lisa Danielson, Casey Dilloway, Norma-Erin Espinosa, Kathleen Ferguson, Laura Ford, Ellen Frierson, Lorraine Goldberg, Sarah Haeger, Stephanie Heffner, Pierce Hofman, Kim Leary, Alex Lewis, Jon Liechty, Austin McNamee, Shane McNamee, Jen McNeil, Madeline Moy, Gillian Murphy, Adriane Musuneggi, Frank Nam, Fred Northup, Jaxon Ravens, Monstrous Root Ball, Percival, Rebecca Roy, Irfan Shariff, Paul Shoemaker, Sergey Smirnov, Tara Smith, Karianne Stinson, Megan Szerwo and Bevin Wong.

LIHI features Seattle Works volunteers! December 21, 2011

The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) gives a quick shout out to a team of Seattle Works volunteers becuase they rock!

Thank you for the shout out LIHI!

Want to see the best giraffe impression ever? December 20, 2011

Tara makes us laugh… and she’ll make you laugh too.

http://youtu.be/3S6Mcs9gXDw

 

But the real point of all this is to support Seattle Works! When you give a gift today, you’ll be entered to win two tickets to Swank 2012! One of, if not THE BEST, party of the year!

 

Make a gift today: https://seattleworks.ejoinme.org/RockStar

#iHubs – Better Together December 17, 2011

Home. A week at HandsOn Network‘s Innovation Summit in Palmetto, GA was an incredible gift. And today, I’m happy to be sitting on my couch, alone with my own thoughts and a cup of black coffee.  Not a buttered biscuit or other trace of Southern breakfast in sight.

I went to the Summit to learn, and to more clearly define the next steps for Seattle Works. Going in, the idea of being there with nine other cities was a cool bonus, but not the point. Like our peers, Seattle Works received the Innovation Hub designation based on the great work we’re doing locally – for our own leadership and our own programs. We got invited to this Summit to start thinking about what OUR next innovation would be. I was probably not alone in this mindset going in.

Funny thing is, when you give a bunch of smart, caring, community-building types an entire week to think together, they start seeing a lot further than their own backyards. With each passing day, it became less about what each of us would create, and more about what each of us could learn from one another, what we could co-create and what we might leverage across cities.

What’s next? In terms of the specifics, I still don’t know. It will involve building a stronger network of Seattle Works volunteer leaders. It will involve a deeper of understanding of community issues and how to affect those issues in multiple ways – with volunteer time, with advocacy, with money. It will be developed in partnership with and in response to the Seattle Works community, not handed down on high from me or anyone else on staff. I also knew those things going in.

What I did not know, is that it may be something that Seattle and one or two other cities co-create and try out at the same time. It may involve a combo of new things built from scratch here, and importing things that are working elsewhere but not yet happening in Seattle.

I’m home from the Summit with three important things: 1) an even stronger conviction that Seattle Works’ strategic direction is the right one 2) a bigger set of tools and resources to keep us moving in that right direction and 3) a deeper sense of appreciation and admiration for our partners in this effort.

Long story short – we’re  better together.

A Comment Box has never meant so much! December 16, 2011

Our giving campaign is still rockin’! We’ve got under five grand to go until we hit our goal.  Here’s is the second portion of the comments that peopel have left when they’ve donated a gift to Seattle Works.

Comments that make us laugh, cry and feel the incredible love of our community!

- My darling wife is amazing!

- Keep up the great work!

- Woo hoo!

- Keep on rockin’, Seattle Works!

- I’d like to donate on behalf of Shane McNamee, who is an amazing guy.

- Keep up the great work in 2012!

- Ellen is stupendous!

- So proud of all you do. This organization changed my life as well.

- because I like to be matchy-matchy

- i heart Seattle Works (and Madeline and Tara)!

- I heart you Seattle Works.

- Megan is the cooles, smartest, best looking, funniest, and nicest person in the greater Seattle area.  I’m a non-paid endorser.

- Go Ellen! Keep doing great work for the Seattle community!

- Soy dung nook, Jen! Hung ging gone done yall!!!

- Proud of your involvement with Seattle Works

- Good luck fundraising, happy to help!

- We miss participating in Seattle Works!

- I heart Seattle Works! Ganbare!

- Laura is hella cool.

- I have worked with Jen in the developing world.  If she says your cause is good I believe it.

- Love you Rochelle!

- Great organization!  Love the philosophy behind what you’re doing!

- Tapas Party

- Wouldn’t be who I am today without you, Seattle Works!

 

Please consider supporting Seattle Works this season!  We rock community engagement by connecting volunteers, developing emering leaders and inspiring dialogue.

 

Give a gift today! https://seattleworks.ejoinme.org/RockStar