Each week RBAC’s supervisors, program leads and available young adults meet to check-in, to receive updates on Projects/Programs, check on the strategic planning direction of the organization and share opportunities (partnership, events, professional development, collaborating). We want to give you a glimpse into a recent meeting by sharing updates provided by some of the people in attendance.

Danielle talked about the recent Rainier Beach Back2School Bash (RB B2SB) held on August 8th. She was really proud of the success of the event, the 18th annual. Over 600 backpacks were handed out (thanks to Urban Impact, Liberty Road Foundation, Carriage House Church and Moms Demand Action), 450 people fed (thanks to Amanda Lopez-Castanon) and 900 books were distributed (thanks to Seattle Public Library) to the community. The next RB B2SB will be August 14, 2021.

Stew shared that the community wide positive behavior intervention and support program (CW-PBIS) is getting ready to extend its reach, and a few organizations have already shown some interest. Feel free to connect any organization within the Rainier Beach neighborhood that might be interested in utilizing CW-PBIS principles in its operations. Refer them to Stew (stew@rbactioncoalition.org) or Danielle (danielle@rbactioncoalition.org).

Ken who helps coordinate FreedomNet activities through RBAC young adult workers shared that the livestream of this year’s Back2School Bash is still available on the Facebook page. We ran into some music copyright issues, but had about 335 viewers and about 4 or 5 shares. We had 4 different cameras contributing to the live stream and 52 Twitter headlines/posts. Additionally, we are making updates to the website (Board of Directors page, how RBAC’s mission and programs are displayed, etc), and the updates are almost ready for review.

Rashad provided a Corner Greeters update by sharing that available spaces on the Corner Greeters team are coming up. A conversation about activating other hotspots in addition to the Rainier Beach Safeway parking lot– which has been the sole location since June 2020– was productive.

Eddie shared that the Priority Hire program convened a Black Leadership Engagement Team to talk about how coming together will benefit not only African Americans who are in the construction trade locally, but the industry overall in Seattle. Eddie also shared that he has assessed 18 people in July and referred 4 to pre-apprenticeship training./

Tyra let us know that the Clean Crew is thinking about new activities like identifying specific places to clean up. The Clean Crew has been watering and caring for gardens at the RBAC House and the Project Reclaim site at the Chief Sealth Trail and Henderson Street, and is open to other help with the garden.

The Farmstand members really enjoyed the B2SB that brought all of us together. For more on what they’re up to, see the article FARM STAND GOING STRONG!