🎉 What an incredible day at the Seattle Pride Parade yesterday! 🌈
👏 Shoutout to all the amazing sponsors, grand marshals, and participants marching with us! From community groups to businesses showing their support, you make Seattle Pride shine brighter than ever. 🌟 #SeattlePrideParade#SeattlePride2024#SeattlePrideNow
📸: Nate Gowdy
As we observe Memorial Day, let's remember the bravery and sacrifice of those who served. 🇺🇸 It's a day of reflection and gratitude, reminding us of the values that drive us to serve our community with integrity and dedication. This Memorial Day, we are harnessing the power of personalized engagement and emotional connections; check out our latest blog post, https://lnkd.in/gSNDt4Up#MemorialDay#HonorAndServe#DigitalMarketingEthics#CommunityFirst#ReflectionAndGratitude
Veteran Housing Corp says that IF YOU ARE NOT PART OF A PERMANENT AND LASTING SOLUTION TO THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS AND HOMELESSNESS, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!
THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IS BROKEN AND NOT WORKING FOR AMERICAN TAXPAYERS
Veteran Housing Corp would ask every TAXPAYER to demand and get answers from their elected and appointed government officials the below questions as they relate to any affordable, workforce, or supportive housing project in your community!
1. How much local, state, and federal funding, tax credits, or other government benefits or incentives did the project receive?
2. What is the affordability period for each project? Is the affordability period permanent and in perpetuity?
3. What guarantees exist have your local, state, and federal government officials obtained in writing that rents will not go up or that tenants will not be displaced or evicted after the "affordability period expires?
Every local, state, and federal housing authority and affordable or workforce housing stakeholder should adopt the State of Vermont's "permanent affordability" policy as a model for all future government funded or subsidized housing projects or developments, no exceptions!
https://lnkd.in/eFEUC8c8
Additionally, local, state and federal housing agencies should look to the Helsinki, FINLAND MODEL of ending homelessness by providing affordable housing for all
'It’s a miracle': Helsinki's radical solution to homelessness
https://lnkd.in/er9HZSQU
Even the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development AGREES THAT adopting FINLAND'S MODEL OF ERADICATING HOMELESSNESS may be of great value to resolving the affordable housing and homelessness crises in America https://lnkd.in/gkSZWYRU
Meet Suzie Sponder, a Miami advocate for over two decades, promoting the city's charm through the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. With roots in entertainment & fashion, Suzie's heart lies in community service. For 21 years, she's volunteered with Chapman Partnership, bringing joy through holiday events, monthly meals, & hands-on involvement. Suzie's dedication enriches lives and strengthens bonds in our community.
Join us in honoring Suzie at our 2024 Take a Walk In Her Shoes on April 11!
🔗 https://bit.ly/41KKoox
How I Spent #Juneteenth.
As organizations still wrestle with the concept of #Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging in the workplace, I traveled back to my old duty station at Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort Virginia, where slavery began in the United States. Here, in 1619, the White Lion, an English Privateer landed. The colonists traded food for “20” and “odd” Africans that the White Lion had captured from a Portuguese slave ship.
I actually lived 3 years at the very spot where the first Africans landed while I was stationed at Fort Monroe, during 1991-1994. https://fortmonroe.org/ Fort Monroe is no longer a military installation. Fort Monroe was on the 2005 base realignment and closure list approved by President Bush. It was designated a national monument in 2011 by President Obama. Until the last five years, history books taught that the first enslaved Africans, in what is the United States, landed at Jamestown, one year before Plymouth Rock, thus the significance of where I lived was unknown to me, during the time I was stationed at Fort Monroe.
In addition, the beginning of the end of slavery also began at Fort Monroe as those who escaped from slavery were no longer returned and were considered “Contraband.” A General Butler at Fort Monroe refused to return three runaway enslaved men. “Congress registered its approval of Butler’s policy when it passed the First Confiscation Act. This law stated that if slaves are, in fact, property and if this property is owned by any person in active rebellion against lawful Federal authority, then the U.S. military has every right to deny its use to any such person. Any slave that could be wrested from the Confederacy would therefore, in a technical sense, become the property of the United States government.” (National Park Service).
I’ve heard it said, “We study history to understand the present and plan for the future.”
I made this short video of some of my experiences at Fort Monroe and also it’s connection with slavery.
#Juneteenth#1619Project#juneteenth2024#fortmonroe#OldPointComfort#DEI
The world and America in particular needs this: volunteerism, civic duty and service are something sadly that seems to be at a loss in my country. The opportunity I had to serve in the Peace Corps helped me realize the necessity of community engagement and cohesion and the immense need for these opportunities for citizens around the world to build strong and resilient democracies at the local and national levels. I am also reminded of Robert Putnam’s “Bowling Alone” and an update he wrote in 2010, reflecting on the imperative of “social capital” which research has shown makes “citizens happier, healthier, reduces crime and makes governments more responsive, and honest and improves economic prosperity…” https://lnkd.in/ejFsvTs9 - all of this to say: building this social capital is imperative fo “any democracy, any society can’t be healthy without this resource…” (paraphrased!) - Americorps and Peace corps forging a stronger partnership can only be beneficial to growing social capital and I encourage all of us to look closer at our own civic engagement and service to our communities- this is where change and development starts.
🌟 Big News! 🤝 Peace Corps and AmeriCorps are forging a strategic partnership to rally all Americans for a brighter, sustainable future. Together, we're dedicated to recruiting and retaining members and volunteers who are committed to advancing the cause of peace, friendship, stronger communities, and civic engagement through service and volunteering.
Learn more about the partnership: https://bit.ly/3u5hm6D
Memorable Quotes by President Jimmy Carter
The 39th president of the United States has dedicated himself to community service and championed human rights throughout much of his life.
Our American values are not luxuries, but necessities -- not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself.
~ Jimmy Carter
War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.
~ Jimmy Carter
To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others.
~ Jimmy Carter
We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.
~ Jimmy Carter
We cannot resort to simplistic or extreme solutions which substitute myths for common sense.
~ Jimmy Carter
America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America.
~ Jimmy Carter
In a nuclear age, each of us is threatened when peace is not secured everywhere. -
~ Jimmy Carter
The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.
President at Commercial Cleaning Services Inc
3wWhat a GREAT Day and celebration!!! The Seattle Pride Cheer squad was on fire 🔥!!!