5 things Seattle is talking about
🔨 Seattle-area carpenters are on strike and here’s what that means. Sites like Microsoft office projects on the Eastside and Vulcan’s mixed-use office space in South Lake Union are among the hundreds of sites to be affected. Yesterday, the Northwest Carpenters Union rejected a tentative contract deal, calling for bigger pay increases to keep up with the cost of living. Big projects like Sound Transit light rail construction and Climate Pledge Arena won’t be affected due to agreements that prevent strikes. (The Seattle Times)
➡️ Colleen Echohawk will serve as YouthCare’s interim CEO. Allegations of racism from staff and protestors led to the resignation of the organization’s longtime president and CEO, Melinda Giovengo, last month. Echohawk is the former executive director of the Chief Seattle Club and most recently ran for mayor in the primaries. Now, as the interim CEO, Echohawk hopes to focus on building relationships that she already has with community-based organizations in the South End. (South Seattle Emerald)
🎖 This Lynwood cafe is run by veterans, for veterans. Heroes’ Cafe offers military veterans a place to gather and share a meal every last Tuesday of the month. Gary Walderman started the group after learning about a similar concept in Wisconsin. He cites the fact that the suicide rate among service members was 22 people per day five years ago as one of his main motivations for starting the cafe. At each gathering, veterans celebrate birthdays, get things off their chests, and are fed breakfast and lunch. More than anything, though, it's a place for veterans to find community. (KUOW)
🍴 From Seattle Public Schools to the Food Network. Emme Ribeiro Collins' appearance on “Chopped” aired Tuesday. Collins grew up in her parents’ U District restaurant, the now-closed Tempero do Brasil. As an adult she followed in her family’s culinary endeavors, opening her own restaurant, the Alcove Room, in the former space of Tempero do Brasil. The Alcove Room has since closed and now Collins is the executive chef for Seattle Public Schools where she is working to make culturally relevant food like injera and banh mi. Her appearance on the show ends the best it could for the local chef — she takes home the top prize! (Seattle Met)
🇦🇫 Washington’s Vietnamese community is rallying to help Afghans relocating to the state. Uyen Nguyen reached out to four Vietnamese American friends to brainstorm how they might help the people they were witnessing flee Afghanistan like their families had from Vietnam, decades ago. They came up with the 75 Viets for 75 Afghan Refugee Families Project, where they’re asking Vietnamese Americans in Washington to step up and host refugee families or help them find affordable housing. Right now, they have 50 families signed up in Washington and more than 25 from other states. They plan to keep going even after they hit their goal of 75 families in the state. (International Examiner)
