Through a grueling elimination process, Dynamic Partners, emerged as one of the top two nonprofit finalists competing in the first annual Social Innovation Fast Pitch presented by Social Venture Partners on October 3, 2011 at Fisher Pavilion in Seattle. Dynamic Partners was awarded the $20,000 Zino Society Award for Social Innovation for their Dynamic Labs project.

“We feel privileged to have been a part of this inaugural event and incredibly honored to receive such an award,” Jon Botten, the CEO of Dynamic Partners.

“Dynamic Labs exemplifies the core values of the Social Innovation Fast Pitch program through exceptional societal impact, innovation, sustainability and leadership,” said Will Poole, SVP Lead Partner and Social Innovation Fast Pitch organizer.  “The ZINO Society Award for Social Innovation represents our community’s enthusiastic support of Dynamic Lab’s vision and work in developing breakthrough solutions for individuals with special needs.”

The 2011 Social Innovation Fast Pitch competition began in August with over 120 applicants. Forty organizations were chosen to compete in the quarter finals with twenty advancing to the semi finals. Of those semi-finalists, Dynamic Partners was chosen as one of seven nonprofits to pitch their projects onstage to an audience of 700 at Monday’s Fast Pitch final event at Fisher Pavilion in Seattle.

Jon explains the purpose behind Dynamic Labs:

“By creating Dynamic Labs, we are making an organizational commitment to innovation. We recently went through an intense organizational review as part of a marketing and branding project with an outside consultant. This project brought to light the fact that innovation is a key characteristic of our organization and staff. This drive stems from our commitment to do whatever it takes to help children with special needs reach their full potential. Until now, we did not have a dedicated space for staff, families, and community members to test, vet, and trial innovative products, services and funding models. Consequently, we missed opportunities. We’ve now made a commitment to make innovation a priority via Dynamic Labs.”

“Through a process of systematic innovation, we will gather ideas from a wide variety of constituents including staff, families, referral sources and community members. Then, we will vet those ideas for impact and sustainability. Once something has proven itself inside the lab, we will spin it off into its own social enterprise. Like all of our products and services, Lab ventures are intended to help children with special needs reach their full potential.”

Dynamic Partners is consortium of organizations empowering children with special needs through innovation and collaboration headquartered in Kent, Washington. Our Dynamic Partners include Children’s Therapy Center, South King Early Intervention Program, Dynamic Orthotic Systems, SPIO Compression Garments, Dynamic Labs, and Dynamic Family Services. Member organizations have been providing therapy services for children with special needs in South King and Pierce County since 1979. We currently have locations in Kent, SeaTac and Tacoma.

To learn more about our Dynamic Labs project, make an investment, volunteer your expertise, or present an idea, please contact Jon Botten, CEO at jon@dynamicpartners.org. To learn more about SVP’s Social Innovation Fast Pitch, visit www.sifp.net.

This Saturday is ‘Children’s Day’ in Mexico, when you may hear the expression ‘Happy Dia de el Niño,’ and it’s also being celebrated at La Plaza, located at 23311 Pacific Highway South in Kent, from 3pm – 7pm.

According to the website Mexico Insights:

“Children’s Day has been a big deal in Mexico with parties, piñatas, outings, and gifts since its 1925 inception. How big a deal? The last Walmart advertising flier devoted the center 6-8 pages to Christmas-like displays of toys and games – this in a country where most children in working families receive just a couple of gifts for Christmas instead of the mountain of presents north of the border kids have come to expect.”

“And in some schools they give the day free or let the kids wear shorts and a colored shirt,” adds Wikipedia.

Here are the event details:

WHAT: Children’s Day!

WHEN: Saturday, April 30th from 3pm – 7pm.

WHERE: La Plaza, located at 23311 Pacific Highway South in Kent.

INFO: It’s FREE and open to the public, and will include:

• Balloons
• Games
• Pin?atas
• Prizes
• Cakewalk

The 25-year old man who was shot and killed in Burien Sunday night by a King County Sheriff’s Deputy was identified by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office as Anthony Ourada, of Kent.

Ourada died of multiple gunshot wounds on the scene.

As we reported Sunday night, police say that Ourada eluded officers on April 10th, when a deputy tried to stop a dark Honda after he saw the car speed through a red light. He tried to pull the car over at S. 120th and Des Moines Memorial Drive, but the driver refused to stop.

On Sunday, a different deputy saw the same Honda Accord in the area of SW 108th and 1st Ave SW. The driver was spinning his tires doing a “burn out” with smoke coming from the tires. Ourada saw the deputy, but continued the burn out in reverse.

A chase ensued over several blocks. At South 128th and 24th Ave South other deputies set out spike strips but the suspect driver saw the spikes and turned off at the last moment. The chase was terminated shortly thereafter. At one point the deputy estimated the Honda reached a speed of 100 mph.

The deputy was unable to identify the driver, but based on the license plate, it was the same Honda Accord involved in the April 10th chase.

At 8:05 PM Sunday night, the deputy from the case earlier in the day spotted the Honda in the parking lot of the Arbor Court Apartments, 2225 S. 112th St., which is in the city of Burien. The car was unoccupied.

The deputy called for plain clothes detectives to assist. Several responded in unmarked cars to stake out the suspect vehicle. If the driver returned, the plan was to box the vehicle in and not let it leave the apartment parking lot.

At about 8:20 PM a male got into the car and a female into the passenger seat. Just before the exit from the complex onto S. 112th, police cars including at least one fully marked unit tried to keep the suspect from leaving the lot. However the suspect driver struck three cars trying to get out and around the police cars, and shots were eventually fired by one deputy. Deputies gave CPR until a medic unit arrived. The man was pronounced dead at the scene by medics at 8:56 PM.

The woman passenger was not injured. However shortly afterwards she became unresponsive and was taken to Highline Hospital for treatment. Methamphetamine was found on her person during treatment. She was released from the hospital about 5:00 AM and booked into King County jail for possession of drugs and several arrest warrants.

According to police, Ourada had two felony convictions on his record, including theft and possession of stolen property.

The passenger was also a twice-convicted felon (drugs and theft) and had a felony arrest warrant for Escape from Community Custody, as well as three misdemeanor warrants.

The deputy who fired the shots was placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure. He is 42 years old and has been with the Sheriff’s Office for just over 14 years. He is assigned to a neighborhood crime unit.

Jorge Lizarraga

Late last week, the King County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against Jorge L. Lizarraga, 19, of Burien, who is accused of the shooting death of Devin Topps, 18, last Halloween at a party in Kent.

According to police reports, Lizarraga was with a group of young men gathered in the home’s driveway, and that he shot Topps after firing a pistol into the air. Topps was a top recruit for Eastern Washington University’s football program.

Detectives say that witnesses claim that Topps got in a fight with another man just prior to the fatal shooting. That fight was apparently continuing when Lizarraga came up and shot Topps in the back.

Police later searched Lizarraga’s motel room, where they found two pistols, and one, a 9mm gun stolen in a burglary four days before the Topps shooting, was determined to be the murder weapon.

Lizarraga remains in jail on $1.8 million bail, and a status hearing is scheduled for April 28 at 1 p.m. at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center.

Lizarraga is also facing several other current charges, including Unlawful Possession of a Firearm First Degree, Taking a Motor Vehicle Without Permission Second Degree, Vehicular Assault, Felony Hit and Run, Rape of a Child Third Degree, Communication With a Minor for Immoral Purposes, Residential Burglary, Theft of a Motor Vehicle and Possession of Methamphetamine.

Here’s more from our sister site The Waterland Blog (for Des Moines) posted Dec. 22, 2010:

Topps was shot outside an east Kent home while leaving a private Halloween party on Oct. 31st of this year. He was a coveted football recruit for Eastern Washington University’s football program.

The arrest culminated an early evening cat-and-mouse surveillance effort by police. Working with information developed by Kent Police Detectives, undercover officers went to the Kings Arms Motel in Des Moines on a tip that evidence of the crime would be located there. Shortly thereafter detectives identified and followed two cars associated to the crime leaving the area. One of those cars was stopped a short time later without incident. When Detectives attempted to stop the second car, the driver sped into a nearby residential neighborhood before abandoning the vehicle.

Police surrounded the area and while searching for the two occupants, saw another car driving away quickly. When they tried to stop that car, officers saw a passenger jump out and run away. A Kent Police canine team was called in to assist. It was during that search that an alert Kent Detective driving through the area noticed a man crossing a parking lot a short distance away. That man, wearing only a t-shirt and jeans, was contacted and eventually identified as the suspect.

“Our Detectives have been working on this senseless murder without rest,” said Kent Police Chief Steve Strachan. “It’s good to finally have a suspect in jail and see this case moving forward toward prosecution.”

When they arrived in SeaTac three years ago from a refugee camp, the Burundians spoke no English and had no job skills for the modern world.

Today they share a ten-acre parcel in Kent with farmers from the Bantu tribe of Somalia.

Their goal has been to grow crops for their own families and to sell at local farmer’s markets, and they’re being helped toward those goals by the Children’s Home Society of Washington and Burst for Prosperity.

As they began their second season of farming, the cold spring weather and the heavy rains set them back, but they persevered and have just begun to harvest crops for the market. Unfortunately, there has just been another setback. On Wednesday, June 30th, at approximately 4 a.m., someone broke into their produce shed, stole their farm tools, their pump, two rototillers, their seeds, and even their work boots. They were shocked and dismayed, but they are determined to continue. In East Africa, they carried water from the creek to the fields by bucket and they were prepared to go back to doing that here if they had to.

With the warm weather, a water pump was a pressing issue. Local writer Richard Glaubman arranged for a pump via Jim’s Honda in Port Townsend. Glaubman didn’t want the farmers to wait for enough donations to come in to pay for the pump in order to get it, so he paid for it himself, hoping that subsequent donations from the community might help him recover those costs.

Glaubman’s generosity was quickly repaid through donations from the Port Townsend community, and excess funds are to be divided between the Burundi and the Somali Bantu to be used toward replacing the remainder of the stolen equipment.

To help forestall further problems, new, sturdy locks have also been donated.

A recent article about Glaubman’s donation in the Peninsula Daily news prompted an outpouring of support; a farmer in Olympia to offer to donate a rototiller and the Port Townsend community provided replacement hand tools.

Donations are still being accepted to help replace the remaining missing items and for general support of the fledgling project, and can be made through the Children’s Home Society of Washington (a direct link to the donation page is here), and please be sure to indicate in the appropriate box that your donation is intended for the Refugee Farmers Project.

Here’s Francis Zera’s Sound Slideshow of the farmers (be sure to turn your speakers on):

Click to Play Francis Zera’s Photo Slideshow

Rep. Dave Upthegrove will be holding “drop-in hours” at various area locations once a month through August, starting Tuesday, June 22nd in Burien.

Upthegrove, who serves the 33rd District and lives in Des Moines, is doing this so he can “meet informally with Highline-area constituents.”

“I’m always happy to meet one-on-one with people, and they can call my legislative office to make an appointment,” Upthegrove said in a statement. “But in addition, I wanted to give constituents from the Highline area a chance to simply drop by and talk to me about legislative issues and concerns.”

He’ll be available to meet on each fourth Tuesday during June (the 22nd), July (the 27th) and August (24th), and will hang out at the recently-opened Infusion Tea & Coffee Shop at 15607 First Ave South in Burien, from 1:30pm – 2:30pm.

Additional “drop-in” hours will be held June 14, July 12, and August 9 (second Tuesday of each month) at the following South King County locations and times:

• 11:00 a.m. to Noon
  Kent City Hall lobby
  220 4th Avenue South, Kent
• 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
  Highline Community College Student Union Building – second floor information table
  2400 S. 240th Street, Des Moines (at Pacific Highway South)

Appointments are not necessary, which will allow for area residents to just “drop-in” and speak with him.

Upthegrove notes that these “drop-in hours” are in addition to his standing offer to meet with constituents at a time and location of their convenience.

Here’s a press release with more details:

With the 2010 Legislative Session now concluded, Rep. Dave Upthegrove (D – Des Moines) has returned home to Des Moines and has set aside specific dates and times to meet informally with Highline-area constituents.

On each fourth Tuesday during June, July, and August (June 22, July 27, and August 24), Upthegrove will be available at the newly-opened Infusion Tea & Coffee shop at 15607 1st Avenue South in Burien (corner of 156th and 1st Avenue South) from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. This will enable people to meet with him without having to schedule an appointment in advance.

Upthegrove notes that these “drop-in hours” are in addition to his standing offer to meet with constituents at a time and location of their convenience.

“I’m always happy to meet one-on-one with people, and they can call my legislative office to make an appointment. But in addition, I wanted to give constituents from the Highline area a chance to simply drop by and talk to me about legislative issues and concerns,” Upthegrove said.

Additional “drop-in” hours will be held June 14, July 12, and August 9 (second Tuesday of each month) at the following South King County locations and times:

11:00 a.m. to Noon
Kent City Hall lobby
220 4th Avenue South, Kent

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Highline Community College Student Union Building – second floor information table
2400 S. 240th Street, Des Moines (at Pacific Highway South)

The South King County Genealogical Society is presenting a spring mini-seminar called “Seattle’s Pioneer Women: More Than Pretty Petticoats” on Saturday, March 20th from 9am to Noon, at the First Baptist Church of Kent.

Here are the details:

WHAT: South King County Genealogical Society spring mini-seminar “Seattle’s Pioneer Women: More Than Pretty Petticoats”

WHEN: Saturday, March 20, 2010 – 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon

WHERE: The First Baptist Church of Kent, 11420 SE 248th St., Kent, WA 98030

TICKETS:

• General Admission: $20.00
• SKCGS Members: $15.00
• Students (18 & under) $10.00
• Cash or Check at the door

SCHEDULE:

Session 1 – 9:00 – 10:00: “Patch-Work Pioneers,” Seattle’s First Bride, Louisa Boren Denny

Debbie Dimitre will be presenting Louisa Boren Denny, the Sweet Briar Bride of Seattle. In costume and in character and by the glow of her kerosene lamp, Debbie will bring to life the story of pioneer Seattle through the eyes of its first bride, who on January 23rd 1853, was married to one of Seattle’s founding fathers, David Denny.

Session 2 – 10:45 – 12:00: “They Called Them The Mercer Girls,” Washington Territory’s Cargo of Brides

Peri Lane Muhich: In 1864 Seattle’s ratio of men to marriageable women was nine to one. Asa Mercer had an idea to help correct the situation so he went east to appeal to New England’s single “ladies of refinement” to come west. Eleven responded to his call. Learn who these women were and what became of them.

INFO: Full details can be found on their website: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~waskcgs/.

The Kent Police Department has created a website showcasing photos of 160 recovered stolen items including electronics, wallets, purses, backpacks, stereos, baby clothes and even a wedding dress; some of which may have been originally swiped in the Burien/South King County area.

According to police, a man and woman who are suspected of breaking into more than 100 cars have been busted. Now, they want to return the stolen items to their rightful owners.

The suspects were apparently caught when they used stolen credit cards at local businesses. Police then followed their trail and recovered the stolen stuff in a storage locker as well as at local pawn shops.

According to the website:

Suspects Mode of Operation:

Type of crime: Vehicle prowls (car break ins)

Method of entry: Break window or force door lock

Types of vehicles: Different types and styles but they favored FORD F-series trucks

Property targeted: luggage, purses, laptop computers, GPS units, assorted tools, backpacks, cameras, MP3 players, I-Pods, cell phones, CD players, car stereos, jewelry, anything of value.

Estimated time range of criminal activity: Past 3-4 months

Focus area of vehicle prowl activity: Kent, Tukwila, Renton, SeaTac, Burien, South Seattle, Unincorporated areas of South King County. Collateral areas that may have been impacted as well are: Des Moines, Federal Way, Auburn, Bellevue.

If you were the victim of a car break-in between Oct. 1, 2009 and Feb. 4, 2010, your stolen items may be in police custody – check this website now and see if you recognize anything; if you do, contact Officer Bateman at (253) 856-5894 or via email: kbateman@ci.kent.wa.us.

The recovered stolen property includes (click on links below to see individual pics):

Is this your Pirate Stuff? The Kent PD might have it...

• Laptops
• Cell phones
• MP3 players
• Car Stereos
• Unusual, miscellaneous stuff like:
  • Baby clothes
  • Wedding dress
  • Ford Truck Manuals
    
  • “Pirate Stuff“
  • Swords
  • “Aiming for Barcelona” Belt Buckle

Some items have been claimed and returned, but most are still in evidence and awaiting rightful return to their owners – so check out the website here.

Burien Photographer Jennifer Leone’s first public showing of her work will start this Sunday, Feb. 21st and run for seven weeks at the Fireside Cafe and Gallery in Kent.

The showing kicks off with an open house this Sunday from 3pm to 6pm at the cafe and gallery, which is located at 12010 SE 240th Street on Kent’s East Hill (adjoining Kent Covenant Church). A number of mounted and framed large-format prints will be on display, as well as a selection of matted prints.

Jennifer’s photos will be on display through April 9th.

The Fireside is open Monday through Friday 9am – 5pm, and Sundays 8:30am – Noon. Baristas are on hand Monday through Thursday, from 9am – 11am.

Samples of Jennifer’s work can be found online at http://jennslens.zenfolio.com/.

Through the end of February, online orders are eligible for 10% off the entire order in celebration of the Fireside opening – use coupon code FIRESIDE221 at checkout.

Here’s Jenn’s “artist statement” from her website:

My photography has been an on-and-off thing until this past year, when my life was uprooted and I was left to dig myself out of my own dirt. It’s taken on a life of its own, as I learn more and practice more it yields me better results. I’m hoping to fill out my skeletal portfolio with more than just scenic and personal-interest shots (my two tabby/torbie kitty sisters, Grynne and Bearrett, butterflies, flora, and light capture) with people and abstract/action shots… In short, something more than personal eye candy.

Here’s a sample of Jenn’s work:

Life Among Death, © Jennifer Leone.

State Representatives Dave Upthegrove and Tina Orwall, both Democrats from Des Moines, along with Senator Karen Keiser (D-Kent), will host a Community Jobs Forum on Saturday, Feb. 20th from 10am to Noon at the Kent City Hall.

Stepping out of the traditional “town hall” format, the three lawmakers put together a Community Jobs Forum to give constituents an opportunity to connect with state and nonprofit agencies that do job placement, training, counseling, and similar services.

Legislators will speak briefly about state efforts to spur job creation and get the economy back on track. The rest of the event will be free time for attendees to visit tables from the participating agencies and speak one-on-one with the legislators.

Here are the details:

WHAT: 33rd District Community Jobs Forum

Rep. Tina Orwall

WHEN: Saturday, February 20, 2010 from 10:00 a.m. to Noon.

WHERE: Kent City Hall – Council Chambers, located at 220 Fourth Avenue South, Kent

WHO: 33rd District legislators: Rep. Dave Upthegrove, Rep. Tina Orwall and Sen. Karen Keiser.

Confirmed participating agencies include:

• WorkSource
• Port Jobs
  
• Highline CC
  
• Green River CC
  
• Renton Technical College
  
• The Veterans Conservation Corps
  
• US Census Bureau

This Community Jobs Forum is a free event, and all South King County job seekers are encouraged to attend.

The 33rd Legislative District includes SeaTac, Des Moines, Normandy Park, and parts of Kent and Tukwila.

For more information, please contact Jennifer Waldref at (360) 786-7201 or Waldref.Jennifer@leg.wa.gov.