Seattle Office of Economic Development announces new program to prepare local youth for jobs of the future

May 6, 2019 by OED

Today, the City of Seattle Office of Economic Development (OED) announced a new investment aimed at providing young people access to and preparation for employment in Seattle’s economy. The first ever Career Connected Learning Grants will fund nine local organizations to increase job readiness competencies for youth ages 14-24, part of Mayor Jenny A. Durkan’s efforts to connect Seattle’s youth with living wage jobs of the future.

“As Seattle grows, it’s more important than ever that we help prepare our young people for the jobs of the future,” said Mayor Durkan. “These new Career Connected Learning Grants will help build pipelines to opportunity for the next generation. We are excited to be partnering with these community organizations to build a more affordable future.”

“This program is all about making sure Seattle youth have the skills they need to be successful in the first steps of their career,” said Office of Economic Development Acting Director Bobby Lee. “These grants will fund programs that help young people develop important employability skills like problem solving and time management, while at the same time introducing youth to fun, rewarding careers available right here in Seattle.”

The nine programs receiving funding will lead Seattle youth through hands-on trainings, workshops, tours and more, all aimed at building job competencies while introducing youth to high-demand careers in industries including IT, healthcare and maritime. The grant awarded to Seattle Public Schools’ Health Services Pathway Program, for example, will increase SPS’s capacity to educate its youth about careers in the local healthcare industry and embed career learning into its curriculum.

“We are thrilled to receive this support from the City of Seattle, which will provide wonderful opportunities for students to explore and prepare for a wide range of careers,” said Jane Hendrickson, Career Technical Education (CTE) Program Manager at Seattle Public Schools. “We also hope that the Health & Medical Pathway will become a model for the type of high-quality career-focused programming that we are trying to build in alignment with industries across our city, given our emphasis on CTE pathways in the district’s new strategic plan.”

National and local research has demonstrated that an expansive approach is needed to effectively prepare youth for successful careers. The 2018 Job Readiness Skills for Youth report stresses the importance of developing “soft skills” so that Seattle youth are ready for their first jobs and have positive early experiences in the workforce. In addition to skill building, it is also important to empower youth to pursue the careers of their dreams—even those careers they may think of as being out of reach.

*Youth on a Juma Seattle Career Tour. Photo courtesy Juma Seattle.*

“Juma Seattle career tours not only give young people a chance to see career possibilities, they also give youth from underserved communities a sense of belonging,” said Ren Gooch, Marketing and Communications Manager at Juma Seattle. “One Juma youth summed it up after a career tour at Boeing Airfield when she said, ‘Seeing everyone working here makes me think I can do this. I can be girly and like makeup and still come to work every day and build airplanes.’ Thanks to the grant from OED, this year Juma will be able to provide even more youth with these experiences, which can change the course of their lives and give them the confidence to reach for their dreams.”

Funded programs are preparing youth for the jobs of tomorrow, in alignment with Mayor Durkan’s Future of Work subcabinet. Seattle is at the forefront of emerging industries and technologies such as virtual reality, and connecting local youth with opportunities in these industries will help them navigate a workforce facing pressure from automation and other changes in the global economy.

“For years, ReWA has operated a Youth Job Readiness Training program for East African high school youth. After the youth complete their job readiness training and a group project, we place them in summer internships to practice their job skills and gain experience in a field that is related to their career interests,” explained ReWA Youth Program Manager Emily Tomita. “Every year, it’s a challenge to find internships for high school youth in tech fields. Our goal is to prepare youth to thrive in the Seattle economy, and access to early experiences in the tech sector are incredibly valuable. We are grateful to OED for providing us with an opportunity to create meaningful tech-focused internships for immigrant and refugee high school youth!”

OED issued a Career Connected Learning Request for Proposals in March 2019 that required applicants to focus on building job readiness competencies. Applicants were required to partner with an employer and describe how their proposal serves youth of color, immigrants and refugees, low-income youth, youth experiencing homelessness or housing instability, opportunity youth and/or English language learners. OED received 18 applications and is granting a total of $219,921 to nine organizations in 2019.

The organizations receiving this inaugural round of funding are:

Seattle Public Schools Skills Center– Apprenticeship Next
ReWA– Emerging Technologies Immersion
Juma Ventures– Explore + Connect
Seattle Public Schools – Health Services Pathway Program
Vietnamese Friendship Association – Urban Fresh Food Collective
Goodwill – Youth Maritime Collaborative
Multicultural Center – Youth Career Pathways
Seattle College District Workforce Development Office – Seattle Colleges Preview Days
Computing for All – Digital Skills for All

The Career Connected Learning grants are a new part of the City’s expanding efforts to prepare Seattle’s youth for success in the local economy. Building off her Seattle Promise College Tuition Program, Mayor Durkan announced the Opportunity Promise program this year, a partnership with Seattle Colleges, local businesses, and labor unions to provide Seattle Promise students access to paid internships with Seattle’s top employers and labor organizations, as well as access to high-quality pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship training. The new Career Connected Learning Grants will not only prepare Seattle youth for entry into Seattle Colleges and first internships, but also get youth excited about available careers and encourage them to begin thinking about their career goals and interests.

Awarded grantees will be included in a cohort to help programs learn from each other, create pathways, and help the City identify and continuously improve strategies aimed at increasing employability for Seattle’s youth.

Learn more about the Office of Economic Development’s workforce development strategies and partners on our website.A

Small Business of the Month: QueenCare

April 2, 2019 by Laura Bet

Listen: Origin Story – QueenCare

QueenCare staff members Kiana, Monika Mathews, Eva and Ashley McCarver standing beside a sign that reads "Show love, shop local with QueenCare"

Kiana, Monika Mathews, Eva and Ashley McCarver outside their store in Columbia City.

QueenCare in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood is much more than a beauty supply store. Opened in December 2018, QueenCare employs young women of color and provides them with mentorship, job training and support. On top of all of this, they sell amazing-smelling, all-natural skincare products at the same time. QueenCare founder and owner Monika Mathews has made it her life’s work to create opportunity and supportive community for young people.

“QueenCare has three tenants: indulge, engage and uplift,” Monika says. “We want people to indulge in our products that are made with all-natural ingredients. It’s all about self–care and loving your body and taking care of what you put on your skin. So that’s the indulge part, but we also want people to engage—we want people to engage with what’s happening in the community. This is more than just a program. We really are about changing lives.”

Monika created her nonprofit Life Enrichment Group 16 years ago and runs several programs out of the organization, including Young Queens, a personal development program that focuses on self-love, personal development, academic achievement and sisterhood for young ladies. “Entrepreneurship training is one of those tenants that we really focus on, and three years ago at Rainier Beach High School, we got an opportunity from the United Way of King County in the way of funding to be able to start an innovative program that focuses on economic development in Seattle,” Monika explains. “And so that’s where QueenCare really was born.” Girls involved in the Young Queens program at Rainier Beach High began making QueenCare’s line of products and selling them at festivals and community gatherings.

After sweeping awards at the Sharks at the Beach small business pitch event, Monika and her team began looking for ways to expand QueenCare beyond tabling at events. “I remember one day Monica was driving down the street and she goes, ‘Oh my god, there’s a building! We could open up a store, what do you think?’” QueenCare Executive Assistant Ashley McCarver recalls. “And I go, ‘Yeah let’s do it!’ So from September to November we were just driving by, thinking of great ideas, and about October or November, we got the space.” The store opened on December 8 last year, officially proclaimed QueenCare Day in the City of Seattle by Mayor Jenny Durkan. “When the day came, it was just so mind blowing—we really did this!”

Youth staff members Eva and Kiana show off QueenCare products.

Young ladies from the Young Queens program were hired as staff to help run the store, including Kiana, a senior at Cleveland High School who currently works as Youth Manager at QueenCare. Kiana has been selling products with QueenCare since she was a freshman and took advantage of the opportunity to work at the store when it opened. “We get training in a lot of different aspects other than just, you know, interacting with customers and making the products,” Kiana says. “I gained a second support system outside of my family, and it’s good to know that I can come and have people that are there to support me and care about me. I’ve learned to open up to different things and take risks, and just be a lot more open-minded.”

Eva, another student from Cleveland High and employee at QueenCare, agrees that she’s gained a new support system through working with Monika and Ashley. “I was literally just looking for a job and I saw [QueenCare] as a job opportunity, and I took it,” she says. “Now, it’s deeper than a just a job for me. I can rely on them if I need anything, I know that they got my back. There’s this sisterhood, and I know that they got my back too, so it’s one big community.”

Monika knows first-hand that there aren’t enough programs to support young women of color like Eva and Kiana. “There were a lot of challenges that I faced [when I was a teenager] and unfortunately I did not have access to a lot of positive support, either adults or programs,” Monika says. “So when I started Life Enrichment Group, it was really important for me to provide some of those things that I knew I needed as a young person, just to make sure to support the holistic development of young ladies.”

She continues, “At the same time, I saw a lot of young ladies really making not so good choices, like leading into criminal behavior, because they did not have a lot of opportunities to make money. And so that became very important to me, to really create something that young ladies could participate in and earn some cash in doing so, and also learn marketable skills that will help them in this ever-changing region that we’re in.”

QueenCare body products displayed on a shelf

Customers can come in and try out QueenCare’s body lotions, scrubs, perfumes and more.

Monika says there’s been a learning curve in running the business: “It’s one thing to table at festivals versus actually having a brick and mortar store. So I think that’s been a challenge. But we have been supported by the Office of Economic Development in learning different things, and other entities as well.” Monika has a long-standing relationship with Office of Economic Development staff member Heidi Hall, who works with community members across Seattle’s business districts. “Heidi has been a supporter of QueenCare since day one, before we had these nice labels and everything,” Monika says. “Heidi has just been a wealth of information and a great go-to person for support and encouragement.”

Monika and Ashley have big plans for QueenCare’s future. “The goals are to have more locations and definitely more products. We’re in the making of getting candles, and that’s definitely not the end of it,” says Ashley. Monika adds, “Another one of our goals is to expand our program offerings in the community…We want to have a transitional home, an educational day care center, and a youth development center where young people can come develop their skills and talents.”

You can find QueenCare at 3702 S. Hudson St., just off of Rainier Ave S. in Columbia City. You can also shop online and check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

If you’re interested in small business resources and support, check out our website or reach out to us anytime.

Mayor Durkan announces $1,300,000 to support neighborhood businesses

March 28, 2019 by Joe Mirabella

Today, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan joined neighborhood business district leaders, small business owners and community members at the UW Commons in Othello to announce a $1,300,000.00 investment in neighborhood business districts, as part of the Office of Economic Development’s Only in Seattle program.

“Our small businesses are part of what makes Seattle the best city in the country,” said Mayor Durkan. “Only in Seattle is an incredible initiative that helps our neighborhood business districts continue to be centers of local commerce, community, and culture. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and they provide essential services that advance the innovation and strength of our communities.”

Mayor Durkan and newly appointed OED Director Bobby Lee at the Only In Seattle Awards

“Seattle’s small businesses are the number one employer in Seattle,” said Karl Stickel, Interim Director of the Office of Economic Development. “Seattle’s Office of Economic Development focuses on helping small, locally-owned businesses, and the Only in Seattle initiative is one of our most important tools in this work. Grants support neighborhood business districts, who in turn foster an environment where small businesses can thrive.”

With this funding, Seattle’s neighborhood business districts will invest in the programs, services and projects that best address their needs, such as:

Providing training and support to local businesses
Helping businesses collaborate on events to bring in customers
Making the district clean and safe
Bringing public spaces to life with activities and art
Strengthening the organizations to sustain neighborhood improvement efforts, including the creation of a Business Improvement Area (BIA) or exploration to form one

The local business communities in 17 neighborhoods are working on comprehensive, multi-year strategies in which the City is investing $1,300,000 in 2019:

MLK/On Board Othello – $140,000
Chinatown/ID – $220,000
Rainier Beach – $110,000
Central Area – $215,000
Hillman City/Columbia City – $50,000
North Aurora – $40,000
Lake City – $123,000
Beacon Hill – $50,000
Baker – $48,000
South Park – $50,000
Pioneer Square – $18,000
First Hill – $65,000
Greenwood/Phinney – $40,000
Crownhill – $10,000
Capitol Hill – $90,000
Belltown – $10,000
Georgetown – $50,000

The grants will support small businesses in various ways. For example:

MLK/On Board Othello – The MLK Business Association plans to expand the increasingly popular Plate of Nations program, which brings people from across Seattle to explore the neighborhood’s international cuisine. Businesses learn techniques to welcome new customers and prepare for the event.
Chinatown/ID – Businesses are receiving one-on-one support when faced with pressures to move their business. Consultants help businesses evaluate their options and find and design new space in the district. The neighborhood is also working with developers of new projects to keep local businesses or bring in new ones that can thrive in and complement the neighborhood’s culture.
Central Area – The Central Area Collaborative and Central Area Chamber will continue their work to support black-owned business in the neighborhood that are especially at risk of displacement. Thanks in part to investments by the Only in Seattle program, the Liberty Bank property is being redeveloped to be a hub for black-owned small businesses.

The Only in Seattle program launched in 2011 and has awarded $12.6 million.

Mayor Jenny Durkan Announced Nominee for Director of OED Bobby Lee

March 28, 2019 by Joe Mirabella

Today Mayor Jenny Durkan announced her nominee for the Director of the Seattle Office of Economic Development, Bobby Lee.

Mayor Durkan with Bobby Lee(right) and Interim Director Karl Stickel (left) at the Only in Seattle Awards

Mr. Lee currently serves as the Director of Economic Development for the City of Portland. Prior to his service with the City of Portland, Bobby served in the Office of Governor Kate Brown as the Regional Solutions Coordinator, where he led an integrated team focused on solving the state’s economic and community development challenges. In addition to working in the private sector and for advocacy organizations, including Oregon’s largest workforce development agency, Mr. Lee also previously served on the City Council in Eugene, Oregon.

“As our City grows and faces unprecedented challenges on affordability, Bobby is the right person to lead the Office of Economic Development and help foster a strong, inclusive economy and promote true opportunity for all,” said Mayor Durkan.

“I am deeply honored to join the City of Seattle and Mayor Jenny Durkan’s team as the Director of Economic Development,” said Bobby Lee. “When I saw the Mayor’s recent State of the City address, I knew I wanted to work with her. Her vision to build an economy that is inclusive and widely shared is the same one I have spent much of my career working to achieve. I hope to be an agent of positive change for all of Seattle.”

Small Business of the Month: Works Progress

March 6, 2019 by Laura Bet

Works Progress owner Marnee Chua.

Listen: Origin Story – Works Progress

Coworking spaces are an increasingly popular option for small businesses, freelancers and entrepreneurs, and north Seattle businesses don’t have to look far to join a great coworking community. Works Progress is a coworking space located in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood, owned and operated by Marnee Chua since 2012.

Marnee Chua found the inspiration to open Works Progress through her own needs as a working mother. With a background in environmental science and conservation, Marnee moved with her husband and family to Seattle while working remotely for the University of California Merced. Finding it difficult to work from home in a small apartment while caring for her young son, Marnee began looking into coworking spaces and quickly discovered that most options were located downtown, too far from home to be practical for her. “So I started really looking, what would it take to open one more north? And I was especially interested in working on one that would have childcare on site.”

Marnee met a business partner with a similar vision, and the two worked hard to find a space that would allow for a combination coworking space and childcare center. They chose the location on North 85th Street with the goal of incorporating childcare in the future, but eventually had to abandon that idea.

Two women talking behind a kitchen counter

The member kitchen at Works Progress.

While an in-house childcare option never materialized at Works Progress, the business is still family-friendly and flexible. Members are welcome to bring their children in as long as it doesn’t cause disruption. Marnee also helped convene the group who started The Inc, a non-profit offering coworking and childcare in Greenlake, where she often refers people who have childcare needs.

Today, Marnee focuses on the triple bottom line with Works Progress—prioritizing the business’s social and environmental responsibility as well as financial success. “I think that coworking spaces in general can play a huge role in community,” Marnee says. “Coworking spaces bring people together that live in the neighborhood…[who] didn’t know they could work together, and they have an opportunity to build that community locally.”

Beyond building community with their membership, Marnee gives back by opening the space to non-profits and other community groups. “We take in maybe one or two non–profits a year that we can give free meeting space for their boards. We host tons of events that are open to the community.”

Some of those open events include business development and mentorship for Marnee’s fellow small business owners. “SCORE does their office hours twice a month here, and so that way people from the north end, it’s much easier for them than to get downtown.”

One of the Office of Economic Development’s very own Small Business Advocates, AJ Cari, also holds regular office hours at Works Progress. AJ has a long-standing relationship with the business—Marnee first met him when he was conducting outreach with the businesses impacted by the 2016 Greenwood explosion (right around the corner from Works Progress). “I met AJ since he’s been out in the community. Now, I have someone to call if somethings goes wrong,” she says.

AJ Cari and Marnee Chua sitting together on a couch

Marnee Chua and Small Business Advocate AJ Cari.

Marnee appreciates AJ’s ability to connect her to resources and people in the community that she may otherwise have never known about, and his know-how in navigating bureaucracy. “There’s so many different things in running a business—whether you’re doing taxes or whatever it is, you’ve got so many layers within the City, and then you have three or four or five different agencies in the State that you have to deal with, and you’re supposed to manage it even if you’re doing everything yourself. It’s a real headache” she explains. “It’s good to be able to have a resource where you can call and ask where to go for this next step.”

If you’re thinking of opening your own business, Marnee recommends taking advantage of resources like OED’s team of Small Business Advocates—especially before taking big steps like signing a lease. “There are so many ways that the lease can be set against the business. Especially brand new businesses, they’ll sign a lease that is not good for them,” she says. OED has a commercial lease checklist available online to help small businesses negotiate favorable leases, and businesses can contact us anytime for one-on-one assistance.

Marnee is excited for the next step in Works Progress’s journey: the business is exploring how to become a member-owned cooperative. “Members are excited about it as a way of having a little more investment in the space and say in what happens. I think the biggest interest that everyone has is for the long-term succession plan of the business itself, because it is a nice community, it’s something that people want to stay at as long as they can,” she explains. If and when Works Progress switches to a co-op model, Marnee believes it will be the first member-owned coworking space in the United States (as far as she’s been able to find from online research).

If you’re looking to join a welcoming, geeky, laid-back coworking community, you can find Works Progress at 115 N 85th Street, Suite 202, in Greenwood. Keep up with them on Facebook and Twitter too.

If you’re interested in learning more about our small business services and resources, shoot us an email at oed@seattle.gov.

Small Business of the Month: Judy Fu’s Snappy Dragon

February 5, 2019 by Laura Bet

David Fu stands in front of various framed awards and newspaper articles

David Fu at his restaurant.

Listen: Origin Story – Judy Fu’s Snappy Dragon

Judy Fu’s Snappy Dragon has been a staple of Seattle’s restaurant scene for decades. The nine-time winner of King 5’s Best of Western Washington Best Chinese Restaurant and one of CNN’s 50 best Chinese restaurants in the United States, Snappy Dragon has been family-owned and operated in Maple Leaf since opening its doors in 1993.

Born in Qingdao, China and raised in Taiwan, Judy Fu came to the United States with her son David and daughter Mari in 1971. The family first settled in Washington DC and made the long road trip to move out to Seattle several years later. After settling here, Judy worked in a couple of north end restaurants before opening her own. “Snappy Dragon started because my mother always had a vision of starting her own restaurant,” says her son David, who now runs the business. “She really wanted to start a restaurant so she could have her food on display, so people can enjoy it.”

David and Judy Fu.

Opening the restaurant was intimidating for the family. “It was really kind of scary, because of the amount of money we had to borrow from the bank,” David remembers. But Snappy Dragon soon earned a reputation for Judy’s Mandarin/Szechuan-style cooking, getting rave reviews and becoming a popular neighborhood destination.

Lots of things have stayed the same throughout Snappy Dragon’s 26 years in business. While David has taken over the business, his mother Judy still comes in to work daily. The restaurant is still best known for its handmade dumplings and noodles. (Both come highly recommended from David—he makes the dumplings himself, and his mom makes the noodles.) Even the cartoon dragon coloring page for kids has stayed the same.

Running the restaurant is hard work—David typically works from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., even spending his lunch breaks running errands for the business. But he still has fun working with his family and staff, and he’s thankful for the community of customers who continue to support Snappy Dragon year after year. “Meeting customers, that’s my favorite part. And having people say hi to me even though I work in the back,” he says. “It’s always great to see people go, ‘Hey, can we say hi to Dave?’ That always makes me very happy.”

A wall of framed awards and newspaper articles

Judy Fu’s many awards and reviews on display.

If you’re thinking of opening your own business—particularly a restaurant—David recommends having patience. “In the beginning it’s very slow business, but you just have to stay on your course.” He also stresses the importance of treating your staff and customers with kindness and respect.

Stop by Judy Fu’s Snappy Dragon at 8917 Roosevelt Way NE in Maple Leaf, and keep up with them on Facebook. You can even find Judy Fu’s very own line of sauces at local grocery stores.

Learn about how the Office of Economic Development supports like Judy Fu’s by visiting our website, and reach out to us anytime at oed@seattle.gov.

Small Business of the Month: Estelita’s Library

January 1, 2019 by Laura Bet

Estelita’s Library founder Edwin Lindo with Small Business Advocate Domonique Meeks.

Listen: Origin Story – Estelita’s Library

The books in Estelita’s Library are not organized by author’s last name, genres, or by any other particular system. “For us the structure is very simple,” says Estelita’s founder and curator, Edwin Lindo. “The door tells you what section of the bookstore this is. It’s Estelita’s Social Justice Library.” The library is located in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood.

The absence of defined sections plays into Estelita’s mission: giving the community a space to come together and expand horizons through culture and conversation. Inspired by similar spaces in Edwin’s childhood growing up in San Franscisco’s Mission District, and named after Edwin and his partner Estell’s first born, Estelita’s Library reactivated the space carrying its legacy as a place for community to speak openly about politics, history and the neighborhood. Since May, the books on the shelves have served as centerpieces and conversation starters. Edwin spoke about the importance of community space to host events, have open dialogue or just sit quietly and read. Guests can buy wine or other refreshments and books are available to borrow or purchase, but you don’t have to be a paying customer to come in and enjoy the space and read for as long as you’d like.

Edwin holding the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Edwin grabs his favorite book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

Many of the titles in Estelita’s came from Edwin’s personal collection; the rest were donated by community members. Edwin stresses the importance of bookstores and literary spaces for the Black Panthers and grassroots organizations throughout the 60s and 70s. Having access to these books, and a community space in which to read them, allows people to build relationships and learn from each other. “I love sitting in that chair in the corner reading a book and hearing the six different conversations happening. And being able to see those conversations getting larger, and they start integrating with each other, and all of a sudden there’s one conversation.”

Edwin watches people find the words to describe their own feelings and experiences in books at Estelita’s. “That’s what I believe books are…We get to tap into language that helps us describe our conditions, our analysis, and the way that we want to thrive.”

Three guests sitting at a table in the library.

Guests at Estelita’s.

Edwin gives a special shoutout to Leona and Luis Rodriguez at The Station for saying yes without hesitation. After graduating from the University of Washington School of Law in 2012, Edwin didn’t feel completely at home in Seattle until he and his wife stopped by The Station. It was then that he fell in love with Beacon Hill. “When I moved back a few years ago, we went to The Station. And I went, ‘Oh! This is the neighborhood I’ve been looking for.’”

The space that houses Estelita’s Library was The Station’s original home, right across the street from the coffee shop’s new location. Luis was running a wine bar out of the old shop, and Edwin asked if he could open a social justice-focused library there too. “Luis gave me the key, and next day there’s shelves on the wall. He was like, ‘Oh, you’re serious!’” Edwin laughs. “I was like, ‘Dead serious.’”

Since opening in May, Estelita’s has gained over 300 members and circulated over 1,500 books. The space is home to movie nights, New Orleans style Po’ Boy pop-ups, Salsa and Sangria events, and any other events that community members want to host there. “I’m a curator, we curated this space, but the community makes this place. They decide how it works, they decide how it operates. They want to run an event, they can run an event.”

Posters and photographs displayed on a wall

Edwin helps provide posters like these to local teachers.

“There’s something powerful for community, for myself, to be able to say, ‘We have a space.’ Unconditional space. No strings attached,” he says. When Edwin says the space is community-run, he means it. People can take books as they please without worrying about late fees, and if Edwin needs to leave Estelita’s early or can’t be there when it opens, he trusts others to open or close up shop for him.

You can expect to see much more from Estelita’s Library this year, thanks in part to the first-ever Tiny Cultural Space design and construction project from the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, which will allow Estelita’s to add a new location in the Central District. In addition to the new location, Edwin hopes that Estelita’s membership will grow to 1,000 people and plans to make his catalog accessible online. Edwin is also in conversation with LEMS Life Enrichment Bookstore to see how the two businesses can support one another, “because LEMS deserves to live indefinitely, and continue to be the oldest black-owned bookstore on the West Coast.”

If you’re thinking of opening your own small business, Edwin’s first piece of advice is to not be in it for the money. He points out the irony that he opened a bookstore in 2018, as physical book sales continue to decline. “It’s not a money maker. So I guess the next thing I would say is, be in community. Don’t try to do it alone. That’s really the only way this place operates. We are absolutely community-centered, and that keeps us going.”

You can find Estelita’s Library at 2533 16th Ave S (right by the Beacon Hill light rail station and El Centro de la Raza). If you come in looking for a particular title, Edwin can help you find it. “Spend enough time in here, you know where the books are.”

If you’re interested in learning more about the Office of Economic Development’s small business services, visit our  website  or reach out to us at oed@seattle.gov.

New VR fellowship creates career pathways for Seattle’s underserved communities

December 19, 2018 by OED

The Seattle Office of Economic Development launched the FutureFounders VR Fellowship this fall, a paid, four-month training, networking and hands-on experience in virtual reality app development. The program is intended to create career pathways for communities with low access to opportunity in Seattle’s booming tech sector while simultaneously encouraging innovation in community development. As a part of the FutureFounders pilot program, a group of young Seattle developers created a new app which allows residents of Rainier Beach to explore their neighborhood virtually.

Future Founders 2018 Fellows. Left to right: Julie Le, Eduardo Rojas, Beverly Aarons, Jakari Brown, Hafsa Don

The inaugural cohort, comprised mostly of South Seattle residents ages 18 to 24, learned virtual reality design and coding and built a prototype of the Rainier Beach Food Innovation District in just four months. The VR app is a game called “XR Valley” and can be played on the Oculus Go. The Fellows will present their prototype during a demo event at the Ethiopian Community in Seattle on Friday, December 21 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.

“Participating in FutureFounders has been life-changing for me,” said Beverly Aarons, a member of the cohort. “When I first got involved with the program I didn’t have any technical background. I’m a writer by profession but for the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with game development. However, my biggest obstacle was that I could not code. I always depended on partnering with a programmer. Now that I’ve gone through the program, I have the skills I need to create my own game or interactive experience from the ground up. Getting involved with FutureFounders was one of the best professional decisions I’ve ever made.“

Throughout the program, the Fellows had guidance and support from companies like SIXR, Chronos Global Academy, Floodgate Academy, and other local tech experts and mentors. This Friday’s event will kick off with a brief presentation, followed by demos in which attendees will have the chance to use an Oculus Go headset to navigate the neighborhood virtually as they visit places in the Food Innovation District via the Metro Bus.

In 2012, Rainier Beach residents came together around a renewed neighborhood plan. In their vision, food acted as a catalyst for neighborhood identity, cultural diversity and heritage, health and job creation. Local food innovation (growing, production, and distribution) is projected to be a top-ten growth industry over the next decade. Jobs are an anti-displacement strategy.

The concept of the Rainier Beach Food Innovation District, led by the Rainier Beach Action Coalition (RBAC), clusters manufacturing, technology, and food sectors around the light rail station to provide access to career paths in living-wage jobs, strengthening the local economy through production rather than consumption. The VR Fellows wanted a way to help the Rainier Beach community visualize and feel ownership of the Food Innovation District, so they learned how to create immersive experiences using Unity, a game engine, and C#, a common programming language for virtual reality.

“Creating the Rainier Beach Food Innovation District VR experience has been really exciting. I hope that people who take the time to experience our demo will get a taste of what this amazing food industry hub can be for South Seattle,” said Aarons.

As Seattle is poised to become a leader in emerging tech industries like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and blockchain, there is also opportunity to prepare youth and young adults from communities that have been marginalized from the innovation economy to not only participate but become future technology leaders. The FutureFounders pilot program seeks to leverage the innovative thought and resources found in Seattle to connect underserved communities to opportunity, break cycles of poverty and build generational wealth.

Louisa Hotel renovation project offers opportunity for community development

December 17, 2018 by Laura Bet

You’re looking at the future home of ten Chinatown-International District small businesses, new and old! Last week, Office of Economic Development staff joined our colleagues at the Office of Planning and Community Development and the Department of Neighborhoods for a tour of the historic Louisa Hotel—currently under construction.

The Louisa Hotel, built in 1910, suffered a fire in 2013 that damaged seven street-level businesses. Owner Tanya Woo and her family weren’t sure they would ever be able to restore the building, but thanks to the generosity of a local investor, the Louisa Hotel is currently being rebuilt to include 84 new apartments for those making between $45,000 and $75,000 a year, and 10 retail spaces on the street level.

As businesses in the Chinatown-International District struggle with rising rents and rapid changes in the neighborhood, the Louisa Hotel project is an exciting opportunity to connect business owners with the perfect space to run their restaurant or shop for years to come. Shanti Breznau, Business Development Consultant with SCIDpda, has worked closely with the Woo family, the developer (Barrientos Ryan) and neighborhood businesses throughout the redevelopment process. Coordinating with potential tenants early on means that the necessary nuts and bolts for a restaurant can be part of the design from the start—not an expense that a business owner has to take on when they move in. With SCIDPDA, the Woos and Barrientos Ryan working together, the building is set to open with a great mix of businesses that reflect and compliment the rest of the neighborhood.

Thank you to Tanya Woo and Alexandra Moravec and Kristin Ryan for showing us around and telling us about your work! We can’t wait to see the new Louisa Hotel building open next year. Stay tuned!

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