Where The Wild Things Are

The Early Learning and Kindergarten classrooms toured First Place this morning showing their terrible eyes and terrible claws.

Vote Yes On Prop. 1!

by Dr. Doreen Cato, Executive Director

On November 3rd, if Seattle voters do not vote to approve Housing Levy, Proposition 1, First Place will lose important funding to two of our most essential programs; the Rental Assistance Program and the Housing Program.


Please vote yes to renew this important proposition when you vote between now and November 3rd. You will find Proposition 1 on the back of your ballot in the upper right hand corner. Vote YES to approve the Levy, which for the past 28 years has been assisting some of Washington’s most vulnerable citizens from losing their housing in difficult times. Last year, for example the First Place Rental Assistance Program directly served one hundred and forty five individuals helping these people with immediate funding to help them retain or obtain housing.

Also, by providing networking and contact information to other community resources, the First Place Rental Assistance Program served approximately 3,362 individuals last year.

First Place is one among many local organizations providing Rental Assistance funding to families in order to prevent them from becoming homeless. This funding helps by:

• preventing families from losing their homes and becoming homeless;
• preventing homelessness while a family deals with job loss, medical bills or a death in the family;
• moving families into market-rate housing through providing deposits for apartments;
• providing support services to stabilize families for the long-term; and
• leveraging Non-Profit developers, enabling them to build affordable housing for families.

Rental Assistance is just one of the 5 successful programs funded through the Housing Levy, yet affects over 3,000 families.

Where will these families go when they lose their homes? Our state’s unemployment rate just went up to 9.3% -- now more than ever families need help to keep their homes and children need a safe and warm place to come home to.

First Place endorses passing Proposition 1.

*This letter is part of bi-yearly newsletter.

Two Ways To Support First Place At The Grocery Store

We're really excited about two ways you can help support First Place right now -- by shopping at Safeway and by collecting Box Tops For Education.

Right now, if you shop at Safeway, check your receipts for the section titled "10% Back-To-Schools". It looks exactly like this:

First Place will receive 10% of your total if you follow the instructions listed on your receipt! Safeway will stop printing this offer on October 9 and then you will have until October 13 to go online and enter the code. All you have to do is go to the website www.backtoschools.escrip.com and click "Enter Receipts". Then you choose First Place as your school, or enter ID 5000012903. Then continue following instructions.

The great news is, you only have to do it once, and it tracks your purchases!

Now Collecting: Box Tops For Education!

Box Tops for Education tabs can be found on hundreds of items you buy at the grocery store like Cherrios, Hefty, Kleenex, Huggies, Cottonelle, and more. (See a full list of items here.)

Collecting Box Tops and sending them to First Place has the potential to raise thousands of dollars towards school supplies and learning materials for our teachers and students.

We want as many people as possible to get in the habit of collecting Box Tops For Education and mailing them in to First Place.

Here are some ideas on how you can help us:

• Ask your workplace, neighbors or book club to collect box tops.
• Put a message out on Facebook and/or Twitter with a link to this blog posting.
• If you already collect Box Tops for another school, consider splitting your collection and sending half to First Place.
  
• You can even sign up for special deal and news alerts from the Box Tops For Education website.
  

Once you start collecting, all you need to do is mail the Box Tops to:
First Place
Attn: Development Office
PO Box 22536
Seattle, WA 98122

We will be mailing a package out about every other month.

A Musical Extravaganza - benefit for First Place

This Saturday, September 12, join us for a benefit show for First Place at Tost in Fremont. The event features artists performing jazz, African drumming, folk, soul and more. You can listen to many of the artists by clicking on their links below.

Event Details: A Musical Extravaganza for a Great Cause

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tost Lounge, 513 N. 36th St., Seattle, WA. View Google Map.
Doors: 6pm, 21+
Cost: $5 - $15 donation at the door

Proceeds benefit First Place.

Evening line-up:
6:30 p.m. - Steve Treseler Trio (Jazz) - http://www.myspace.com/stevetres
7:30 p.m. - Goat (Greg Sinabaldi, Zach Stewart and Byron Vannoy) - (Experimental Jazz)
8:30 p.m. - Colin Higgins Solo Set (Singer/Songwriter/Guitar) - http://www.myspace.com/colinhigginsmusic
9:15 p.m. - Thione Diop and Yeke Yeke (West African Drumming and Dance Music) - http://www.myspace.com/thionediop
10:15 p.m. - Andy Sells/ Forrest Giberson/ Michael Stegner (Americana Soul) - http://www.myspace.com/michaelstegner
10:50 p.m. - Michael Shrieve Group (Legendary Drummer from Santana) - http://www.myspace.com/michaelshrieve
11:50 p.m. - Byron Vannoy/ Thione Diop/ Hans Teuber/ Michael Stegner (A Fusion of Dance, World, Hip Hop and Jazz) - http://www.myspace.com/michaelstegner

A huge THANK YOU Michael Stegner of Creative Music Adventures in Wallingford who is hosting the benefit for First Place.

View the Facebook Invite.

New to First Place - How to Get Involved

We are meeting new people every day who are interested in learning more about First Place. We are the only agency in the State of Washington providing high quality education to children whose families are homeless in addition to providing wrap-around support services to parents.

For everyone just learning about our mission, we invite you to get involved. Our current opportunities include:

Tours. We offer tours almost every Friday at 11am for individuals, families and groups. This is the perfect time to learn about volunteer opportunities. Each tour group gets to hear firsthand a story from a parent who has been a part of our program. To sign-up email tours@firstplaceschool.org.

Back to School Donation Drive. Students start their year at First Place up to 3 grade levels behind their peers. They need the right supplies in their backpacks, in the classroom and at home. We are actively seeking classroom donations. Learn more.

Join our Email List. We send short monthly email update as well as success stories.

Connect with us online through Facebook and Twitter.

What is the newest issue emerging in homelessness policy?

Recently the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had a Q & A session with the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Below is her answer from the first of five questions where she specifically talks about homeless families with children. It's exciting to see that families with children are at the top of the list of emerging issues.

What is the newest issue emerging in homelessness policy?
The issue of homelessness among children has become particularly visible as the recent collapse of the housing industry coupled with the current recession has swelled the number of families with children seeking homelessness assistance. I believe that it is possible to increase our efforts to help the growing population of homeless children and families, while also maintaining our efforts to address chronic homelessness. There are sizable opportunities for real collaboration using funding that has been made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as well as with the recent passage of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. In addition, the President’s budget for fiscal year 2010 includes over $400 million in HHS programs targeted to individuals, youth, and families experiencing homelessness, and a total of $338 billion for fourteen non-targeted, or mainstream, HHS programs that can serve persons experiencing homelessness. It will be critical to coordinate these resources flowing into communities to ensure that we are reaching the broadest populations possible, including in our efforts to prevent homelessness. HHS programs provide critical supportive services to homeless individuals, families, and children, and these services help these populations achieve or maintain economic and housing stability. By partnering HHS resources with resources available through other Federal agencies we can ensure a broader reach.

Read the full article here.

Family homelessness up 9% nationally, 56% in suburban areas

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) present its 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. The report showed that family homelessness is up 9% in shelters with the largest increases being in rural and suburban cities with an increase of 56%.

The good news is that the HUD will be begin to analyze homelessness quarterly (instead of yearly) in order to gain a faster understanding of the economic impact on homelessness. Quarterly reports will be put out by the Homelessness Pulse Project. The project will report on data using a sample of cities and communities.

Here is a snapshot of findings in the first quarter of 2009 (January through March):

• Of total homeless persons in the study, 55% of the individuals were in household with dependent children.
• Of sheltered homeless persons, 61% were in households with dependent children.
• Of unsheltered homeless persons, 6% were in households with dependent children.
  

Yesterday the HUD also announced Recovery Act funding awards of $1.2 billion throughout the US for rapid re-housing and homelessness prevention. Of the $1.2 billion, Seattle was awarded $4,993,052. Here is a paragraph from the press release to explain what funds will be used for:

Grants provided under HPRP (Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program) are not intended to provide long-term support for individuals and families, nor will they afford mortgage assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure. Rather, HPRP offers a variety of short- and medium-term financial assistance to those who would otherwise become homeless, many due to sudden economic crisis. This can include short-term rental assistance (up to three months), medium-term rental assistance (up to 18 months), security deposits, utility deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance, and hotel vouchers. Payments will not be made directly to households, but only to third parties, such as landlords or utility companies.

Learn more about how First Place helps families through rental assistance, housing and services.

Additional Links:
CNNMoney: Homeless families spike in the suburbs
CBS News: More Families Joins Ranks of Homeless
News Release: HUD Issues 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress