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This week, on Mariners’ Opening Day, we are not just celebrating the start of baseball season, we are celebrating the first public sporting event in our City since the world went into lockdown over a year ago. It’s impossible to capture what this means, not just for fans of the Mariners, but for everyone who is desperately longing for the world to feel normal again.
As we welcome baseball fans back to T-Mobile Park, I sincerely hope that people take this opportunity to enjoy all that our City has to offer – from the stadium to Pike Market and beyond – but I urge you to do so safely. We have already seen the beginning of a fourth wave due to the presence of variants in our community which if we are not careful, could push us back into Phase Two.
COVID-19 case trends for King County
According to data from Public Health – Seattle & King County, there have been 869 positive COVID-19 cases in Seattle over the last two weeks. There have been 3,597 positive COVID-19 cases across King County over the last two weeks.
As cases are rising, we are expanding our vaccination effort. The City has opened new Community Vaccination Hub operated by Seattle Visiting Nurse Association (SVNA) at North Seattle College. The site at North Seattle College will be the fourth City-affiliated fixed vaccination site, in addition to the Lumen Field Event Center, Rainier Beach, and West Seattle. Community-based organizations serving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, older adults, and immigrants and refugees will be given advance registration access to this site.
Also this week, Governor Inslee announced that effective April 15, everyone over the age of 16 will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. This means that even more eligible members of the public can sign up for the City’s vaccination appointment notification list.
I encourage all eligible residents and workers to sign up for the notification list to receive an email when vaccination appointments become available at any of the four City-affiliated fixed sites: North Seattle, Rainier Beach, West Seattle, and the Lumen Field Event Center.
Even though we are taking steps towards reopening, we all still have a role to play in defeating this pandemic. I know everyone is fatigued, and we all want this pandemic to be over. But now is not the time to let up on our efforts. Please continue to wear your mask in public, keep your distance, limit social gatherings, get tested, stay home if you feel sick, and sign up for a vaccine when it’s your turn.
Stay Safe and Healthy,
The City of Seattle and Chief Seattle Club today celebrated the opening of the Kings Inn–hotel-based shelter program with a focus on serving unhoused American Indian and Alaskan Native people.
Chief Seattle Club will operate the hotel, providing case management, housing navigation, and culturally appropriate services designed to support individuals on their path to permanent housing. Chief Seattle Club will also serve as the provider for the shelter’s dedicated rapid re-housing program. Per the 2020 Point-In-Time Count, American Indian/Alaska Native peoples are disproportionately represented in King County homelessness representing 27 percent of the unsheltered homeless community, while being only one percent of residents county-wide.
Including $500,000 toward AiPACE new senior care facility for Asian American elders
Together with Council President M. Lorena González and Council Member Teresa Mosqueda, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan is proposing $1.5 million to support older adults and address the increase in hate crimes and bias aimed at the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community in Seattle.
“We must stand together in Seattle, and across our nation, against acts of hate, racism, xenophobia, and violence targeted at the Asian American Community,” said Mayor Jenny Durkan. “Solutions best come from community, and leaders outlined additional steps that we can take to best support the safety, community, and mental health needs of those in our community and impacted by acts of hate and bias. Together with Council, we have worked to quickly fund the support that is urgently needed.”
The City of Seattle today announced the recipients of the 2021 Technology Matching Fund. With an investment of $343,000, 15 organizations will receive funding for community-led projects which aim to increase access to technology and provide digital skills training for underserved communities.
The grants range from $11,000 to $25,000, and organizations have pledged a total of $480,795 to match City dollars with at least 50 percent in cash or in-kind contributions of labor, professional services and donated hardware and software.
“This past year made clear both how essential reliable internet is and how many obstacles to access remain for historically disadvantaged groups and neighborhoods,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. “This investment will help bridge Seattle’s digital divide by making access more affordable and more available for more people while investing in programs that develop the skills required to compete in a digital economy. This is how we build back better.”
(Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)
Growing up, Manny Dubinsky wasn’t sure he wanted to go to college. He had faced some social anxieties early in high school, which he thought might follow him to college, and he didn’t want to end up buried in student debt.
“It kind of freaked me out at a young age,” said 19-year-old Dubinsky, a senior at Seattle’s Middle College High School. “I thought, ‘I don’t need to go to college to have a job.'”
Then he signed up for a summer course at the Seattle Maritime Academy, a program run by Seattle Central College that offers certificate programs for students who want to pursue a career in the maritime industry — including in passenger transportation, fishing and seafood processing, international trade and military operations.
“After that summer, I was really curious,” he said. “I was like, ‘Maybe I could learn more. Maybe I could turn this into something.'”
When he heard about the Seattle Promise, the city’s tuition-free community college program funded by taxpayers through Seattle’s Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy, he knew it was an opportunity he couldn’t let pass him by. With his father’s help, he applied to the program this spring, choosing to continue his education at the maritime academy, located in Ballard.
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