This month, RBAC took steps to increase its capacity through the submission of two proposals to the City of Seattle’s Human Services Department. The first proposal is titled, ‘Supporting Youth and Young Adults for Success’ and the other is, ‘Community Safety Capacity Building. The proposal amounts totaled out at $720,000.  The question is likely to be asked, “does RBAC need that much money?” to which we feel confident in responding that this is the amount we have determined we need to bring RBAC to a preferred level of capacity. Here is some language used in each proposal to help make clearer what we expect from each. 

‘Supporting Youth and Young Adults for Success’- “Young people at RBAC are involved in all levels of programming. They help craft the agendas, facilitate meetings, and lead debriefs of previous weeks’ activities. This proposal, like many of RBAC’s other grants, is the result of ongoing conversations with young adult workers to hear how we can best support them and understand what type of structure and learning environment makes sense to them today. A key outcome of this proposal will be the development of replicable models for young adult employment/engagement that can leverage a relatively small cohort of YATTAs over time to dramatically expand their overall impact on the community as well as improve the likelihood of their advancing success in acquiring good-paying jobs and the ability to adapt to ever-changing employment environments.”

‘Community Safety Capacity’- “We want to solve the problem of incidents that occur and contribute to youth crime as well as to people not feeling that crime has gotten better in the Rainier Beach neighborhood. Our work over the years has told us that a solution to this problem is the reclaiming of public spaces as opportunities for re-establishing and strengthening community connections through positive activities and interactions. A key outcome of this proposal will be the hiring of four coordinating-level positions who will all focus on strengthening professional mastery and personal well-being of the young adult workers and volunteers who are “tip of the spear” for our community safety crime prevention activity. More people will be able to be involved as participants and be surveyed, the breadth and depth of an authentic relationship will occur to impact crime in a positive way and help people feel safer.”

One of the benefits of the proposal-writing process is always the opportunity that is provided to further refine our ability to describe what RBAC is. This is how we said it- “RBAC is a consistent community-led convener, connector, and collaborative problem solver.” 

Feel free to submit questions about the above information, particularly that idea of what amount of resource it really takes for RBAC to fulfill its mission.

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