Tag Archives: Featured

PONGO POETRY | Stay Bright

Pongo Poetry Project’s mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. For over 20 years, Pongo has mentored poetry with youth at the Children & Family Justice Center (CFJC), King County’s juvenile detention facility. Many CFJC residents are Youth of Color who have endured traumatic experiences in the form of abuse, neglect, and exposure to violence. These incidents have been caused and exacerbated by community disinvestment, systemic racism, and other forms of institutional oppression. In collaboration with CFJC staff, Pongo poetry writing offers CFJC youth a vehicle for self-discovery and creative expression that inspires recovery and healing. Through this special bimonthly column in partnership with the South Seattle Emerald, Pongo invites readers to bear witness to the pain, resilience, and creative capacity of youth whose voices and perspectives are too often relegated to the periphery. To partner with Pongo in inspiring healing and relief among youth coping with mental and emotional turmoil, join Pongo’s certification pilot program this spring!


Dear Grandma

by a young person, age 16

Dear Grandma,

I just thought you should know what I am doing now.
I am happy
You are the person who spends a lot of time watching over me
And taking care of me.
I just thought you should know
How I feel about you.
I am appreciative that
You gave us a place to stay
Because we had nowhere else to go.

Continue reading PONGO POETRY | Stay Bright

Need a Ride? Metro Program Will Send You a Minivan for the Price of Bus Fare

by Ben Adlin


Trying to get from one place to another in the South End? A newly refreshed service from King County Metro offers on-demand rides in much of South Seattle and the surrounding region — all for the price of a bus ticket.

Continue reading Need a Ride? Metro Program Will Send You a Minivan for the Price of Bus Fare

OPINION | Inequitable State Funding Must Not Limit Students’ Future Success

by Karen Lobos


You might not yet know any Rainier Prep students. But you will. They are rising leaders in our schools, communities, and political, economic, and educational systems. Rainier Prep is one of South King County’s highest-performing public middle schools serving Global Majority (i.e., Black, Brown, Asian, Indigenous, and other People of Color) and limited-income families who are navigating pathways to post-secondary success and careers. For eight years, we have been transforming how students, families, guardians, and educators prepare for the future of learning and work today so that our students and alum can take even bolder steps forward tomorrow.

Continue reading OPINION | Inequitable State Funding Must Not Limit Students’ Future Success

Youth Lobby Day Highlights Underlying Issues Around Gun Violence

by Dominique Morales and Marian Mohamed, GZR Newsroom

(This article is jointly published between Ground Zero Radio, an initiative of the Vera Project, and the South Seattle Emerald.)


Inside the heart of the Washington State Capitol building in Olympia, a sea of students in bright-orange shirts filled the Columbia Room. These students, representing different schools from all over Seattle, were getting ready to walk over to the steps of the Capitol to demand one thing: the end of gun violence in their communities. 

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OPINION | From the Other Side of I-5: Little Saigon Weighs In on Sound Transit’s Light Rail Expansion in the CID

by Friends of Little Sài Gòn Board of Directors


Sound Transit has the power to shape equitable development in neighborhoods south of Seattle’s downtown for generations. The political discourse over where to site a station essential for light rail expansion and potentially other non-car modes of transportation has become another existential battleground, falsely pitting our community’s fears of displacement, gentrification, and desire for transit equity in a city experiencing hyper wealth inequality against the simultaneous and very urgent need for connected, reliable, efficient transportation options that also support climate resilience. 

Continue reading OPINION | From the Other Side of I-5: Little Saigon Weighs In on Sound Transit’s Light Rail Expansion in the CID

South End Community Support Seattle Detective Who Filed Discrimination Claim Against City and Police Department

by Phil Manzano


Karen Wells stepped outside the meeting room, packed on a bright Saturday with children and parents, as an instructor spoke about chess moves and strategy. She has been bringing her two nieces to the Rainier Beach Community Center for about a year so they can participate in the Detective Cookie Chess Club.

News broke over the weekend that Seattle Police Department Detective Denise “Cookie” Bouldin filed a $10 million claim against the City of Seattle, alleging a discriminatory and hostile workplace.

“It was very upsetting to me,” said Wells. “I really got angry, but I wasn’t surprised.”

Continue reading South End Community Support Seattle Detective Who Filed Discrimination Claim Against City and Police Department