In this podcast we hear from three guests who share an affinity around education from different perspectives. Anthony Shoecraft leads Our Best, which is the City of Seattle's inaugural effort aimed at expanding opportunity and improving life outcomes of young Black men and boys. He is a native son of Seattle and a proud graduate of Garfield High School, Hampton University, and the University of Washington. Caine Lowery is the Principal of Seattle's Aki Kurose Middle School. He grew up in Oregon and came to Seattle after teaching in Atlanta. He's worked at Aki Kurose Middle School and Cleveland High School. David Bley oversees strategies focused on stable families, great schools and strong communities in Washington State and high-quality early learning both nationally and in Washington State for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He grew up outside of Chicago and has served the Seattle region for several decades in many capacities.

Our guests share stories around their roots and have a powerfully honest conversations around education and belonging. Much of this conversation is wrapped around leading with a racial lens as we consider trauma, re-imagined possibilities, representation, and the power of schools in creating futures for young people.

All three share personal and professional projects towards the end. Caine Lowery and his partner are expecting their first child in September! He also will be utilizing racial affinity groups with his schools staff and is open to any expertise in this work.

David Bley talked about the important work around family homelessness that he's championed at the foundation and he shouted-out the great work of Schoolhouse Washington, which improves housing stability and advances educational success for students experiencing homelessness. We both discussed the great work that Treehouse has done for youth in the foster care system! There's a great video of their Class of 2020 on the website!

In this podcast we are excited to launch our four-part series with The Gates Discovery Center's "In Community We Flourish" events. Each event will highlight young people who are local changemakers in our community!

Today's podcast includes two changemakers, Evana Enabulele of Queer the Land and Mariama Suwaneh of Hopelink. They are joined by City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture's Ashraf Hasham who is the Youth Arts Manager.

Our guests share stories around resiliency, family, activism, arts, and the power of taking care of oneself during these times of pandemic and racial revolution.

All three shared personal and professional projects towards the end.

Evana talked about the great milestone of Queer the Land as they purchased their first home. It's a 12-bedroom house in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. They are looking for folx to come help with their bodies to get the place ready, their minds if they have knowledge about housing regulations, and their bank accounts if they are able to donate financially.

Mariama shouted out her amazing blog for women of color: The Audacious Blog. She is also launching a podcast with a friend that will come out next month. Follow the blog for updates!

Ashraf talked about how the City of Seattle’s efforts at civic recovery are housed at Seattle Together. He spoke specifically on any help to think of innovative ways to employ the creative community. Many are impacted by the economic impacts in the region.

Responses for any of these endeavors can be sent to us at f.nam@civic-commons.org. We will happily forward along any notes to our guests.