Workshop will focus on bridging cultural differences
Jim and Rosemary Tiffany stopped by the office last week to talk about the work they are doing to bridge the cultural divide in North Central Washington. Tiffany is the ... READ MORE
PREVIOUS POSTS
Volunteer Attorney Services meets a growing need in our communities
I didn’t fully appreciate what our local attorneys have been doing to help low income residents with their civil legal problems until I chatted this week with Ryan Feeney, the executive director of Volunteer Attorney Services for Chelan and Douglas counties. Feeney, who once upon a time was a reporter ...
Misawa visitors teach us how to make Mochi
The sister city relationship with Misawa, Japan has provided the Wenatchee Valley with a wonderful international connection over the years. We're fortunate to have the Wenatchee Valley Misawa Sister City organization nurturing the relationship. On Sunday, the latest group from Misawa spent the afternoon at the RiverWest Retirement Center in ...
Film on bullying challenges all of us to act
The Vox Docs film "Bully" on Friday night provided a riveting and disturbing look at the impact of kids being mercilessly picked on, both mentally and physically. I found it hard to watch but also impossible get out of my mind. There real-time scenes of a student getting bullied on ...
Startup Weekend promises to help local entrepreneurs
One gets the sense in this fast-evolving economy that figuring out ways to help entrepreneurs get their ideas to market might be a more fruitful strategy than hoping to land the occasional significant existing business that wants to relocate to our region. The challenge is helping people with creative ideas ...
Wenatchee marathoners reach out to Boston victims
Before the Wenatchee Marathon started last Saturday, runners and others signed a banner honoring the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. That poster will be sent this week to Boston. "The compassion we felt from participants was really amazing," said Ian Crossland, one of the race organizers. Runners donned yellow ...
Gleaning program helps our community feed more people
Community Farm Connection is developing a broad network of farmers and gardeners who are donating their excess produce to local food banks. The Community Harvest program, now in its second year, is an example of how we can think creatively to solve challenging local issues like reducing hunger. Hannah Hostetter, ...
Volunteer organization targeting critical community needs
Tuesday, April 9 is Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service, honoring organizations and individuals who volunteer in our communities. A key volunteer development organization in our region, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, has undergone quite a transformation since Allen Dietz took over as executive director last August, switching from ...
Education survey shows the value of community engagement
A few weeks ago, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Community Forums Network put on an education forum at Eastmont Junior High as part of an outreach campaign to ascertain where the strongest consensus is in this state for ways to improve education. CFN is doing these forums across the state and ...
Mariachi Festival showcases local, national talent
This week, hundreds of local students are getting expert coaching as part of the 15th annual Mariachi Northwest Festival. The program culminates with a student concert at 7 p.m. on Friday and two professional benefit concerts on Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Wenatchee High School Auditorium. ...
Justice Steven González challenges Latino students to rise above bias
Washington State Supreme Court Justice Steven González challenged local Latino students to find constructive ways to overcome negative racial stereotypes during a speech at Diversity Justice Day for Youth at Wenatchee Valley College on Monday. Some people perceive Latinos as lazy, criminal, illegal uneducated and unable to speak English and ...
Mariachi program builds a stronger community
The impact of the valley's Mariachi program will on display for the next week, culminating with the Mariachi Northwest Festival at the Wenatchee High School Auditorium on Saturday night, March 30. On Friday night, a jam-packed crowd of more than 350 people heard the six local Mariachi bands from the ...
Diverse talents to be showcased in local pageant
Jennifer Bushong, the board president for the Miss East Cascades Pageant, stopped by the office to talk about this Saturday's event at the Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee. The event is in its second year and 11 young women will be vying for the right to enter the Miss Washington ...
Ex-addict Kristina Fry now giving back, inspiring our community
When Kristina Fry of the Wenatchee YWCA rose to speak in front of a crowd of nearly 500 people at the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce banquet recently, her story made quite an impression. There was hardly a dry eye in the joint. The diminutive Fry described in detail the ...
Local education forum looks for consensus
If we're going to change the toxic political climate in this country, a good place to start is having open community discussions focusing on where people agree. Finding common ground and building from there is essential to building a better climate for getting things done. That's the goal of the ...
What defines greatness in the Wenatchee Valley?
The Wenatchee Valley will welcome a team of marketing experts to town this week who will help us think creatively about how we might market ourselves more effectively to businesses that want to locate here and entice tourists to visit. This is a significant opportunity for our valley and the ...
Suicide coalition shows us how to solve a crisis
A year ago, our local communities were faced with a horrifying suicide rate and there didn't seem to be any way to meaningfully address the problem. Fortunately, our local mental health professionals stepped into the void, worked together to come up with a comprehensive approach to this problem, and the ...
Rotary-WestSide partnership shows what our valley does best - work together
When the Downtown Wenatchee Rotary Club was considering helping raise funds for WestSide High School three years ago, Ford Barrett was skeptical whether it would be worthwhile investment. Barrett, a financial adviser with a military background who laughingly admits to being "kind of a redneck" on some issues, said while ...
Gig Harbor's new brand gives valley a taste of what's to come
Part 2 In yesterday's column, I wrote about the upcoming community image workshops that will be held from March 11-13 to develop a compelling, marketable image for the Wenatchee Valley to drive tourism. To get a better feel for what this might mean for the community, Wenatchee Downtown Association Executive ...
Branding workshop could be a Wenatchee Valley game changer
PART I Maybe it's time for the Wenatchee Valley to move beyond being just the Apple Capital of the World since we have so much more to offer to visitors than just that label. We will be in a position to begin moving towards a more powerful, unified approach when ...
Newer Older
Blog archive by year:
