A Mexican dinner will be provided, and they’re asking people to please RSVP by Thursday, Jan. 26 – by e-mail at info@plnwa.org, or by phone at (206) 241-7900.

If you’re not familiar with Para Los Niños, here’s some info from their website:

“Para Los Niños is a grassroots community organization founded by members of the community it serves—the growing immigrant, Spanish-speaking population in South King County.”

For more info, check out their website here, or their Facebook Page here.

Burien non-profit Para Los Niños has been selected as a 2011 Grant Award Finalist by the Latino Community Fund, and they’re asking our Readers to help them by voting for them.

Only one vote is allowed per e-mail account, and you’ll automatically be added to a newsletter. However, you can opt out by choosing “unsubscribe” in the first newsletter you receive.

The link to vote is included in the note below:

Dear Friend of Para Los Niños,

We are happy to announce that Para Los Niños has been selected as a 2011 Grant Award Finalist by the Latino Community Fund!

As a finalist, Para Los Niños needs your vote to be selected as a 2011 Grant Award winner. Please consider taking the time to login and vote for Para Los Niños through the LCF website with the following link:

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5832/signup_page/grant2011

We thank you for your continued support of Para Los Niños and its programs here in our community!

If you’re not familiar with this organization, here’s some info from their website:

Para Los Niños is a grassroots community organization founded by members of the community it serves—the growing immigrant, Spanish-speaking population in South King County.

In 2003, a group of Latino parents gathered to talk about education. As a result of this meeting, Para Los Niños was born with the following priorities: to support the education of Latino children, with a focus on early childhood development; to maintain and promote their culture and language; and to teach English as a second language in order to develop leadership and civic engagement for parents in the community.

To support these priorities, the founding group of parents knew they needed to address the particular barriers they faced as immigrants. The barriers are many. They include economic challenges, language and cultural barriers, and discrimination.

In addition, school systems function differently in our parents’ home countries than in the United States. Therefore, a lack of information and understanding of how the educational system works in the United States presents an additional challenge as well as creates isolation from the broader community. In response to these particular challenges, Para Los Niños was organized.

With input from the community, it developed programs that met the needs of the community. These programs range from providing school readiness and ESL education to helping parents develop the skills and motivation for community involvement. In all its work, Para los Niños and its programs represent the desire of a community change that can support all immigrant families in their complex journey through the educational system in the United States.

What do the artist Renoir, Rhode Island Reds, and Washington State Representative Joe Fitzgibbon all have in common?

They will all be part of the Bicycle Scavenger Hunt at the B-Town Bike Fair on Saturday, June 18th!

You may have heard that, in association with Burien’s Wild Strawberry Festival (we’re Sponsors), the B-Town Bike Fair will be offering a full suite of fun bike activities for kids to build their cycling skills at Town Square Park. But there are also several opportunities for youth and adults to partake in the fun, and one of the most popular activities last year was the Bicycle Scavenger Hunt.

The idea is to lead participants through a 3-4 mile excursion following clues to businesses and historic sites in order to get answers to secret questions. Event organizers suggest you bring a helmet but leave your spandex at home. The hunt is all about taking advantage of Burien’s flat terrain and using the quietest, most enjoyable routes for getting to popular places. Even a fat-tired single speed cruiser should get you through this in less than an hour.

The Scavenger Hunt is free, and will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. starting from Burien Town Square. Parents with kids in seats or trailers are encouraged to participate. Prizes may be involved, but you’ll have to ride to find out.

For a full list of the B-Town Bike Fair activities including Friday evening’s Bicycle Night Out charity event for Para Los Niños (we’re Sponsors of that too!) go their website: www.btownbikefair.org

Click image to download PDF of Poster.

B-Town’s ”Tour de Friends Ride’ Bicycle Night Out will be held Friday, June 17th, starting at Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub, then biking on to your choice of ten participating restaurants and pubs.

This is a benefit for Burien’s Para Los Niños, and the cost will be $10 per Rider, or $20 per Family.

There will be special deals at each stop, so this should be a fun night out for a great local cause.

Here are the details:

WHAT: B-Town’s Bicycle Night Out ‘Tour de Friends’ Event Fundraiser for Para Los Niños.

WHEN: Friday, June 17th, from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.

WHERE: Start at Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub (435 SW 152nd Street), then bike on through your choice of ten participating Burien restaurants and pubs.

COST: $10 per Rider, or $20 per Family.

INFO: Help spread the word – download the beautiful poster here, then print and post it!

Participants will have a chance to win an Alaskan Amber Custom Cruiser Bike, which looks really cool.

Don’t forget to bring:

• Helmet
• Bike Light
• Safety Vest
• Friends
• Family

Be sure to “Like” the Event’s Facebook Page here.

More info on the Facebook Event Page here.

Legendary Seattle Mariner Edgar Martinez will be returning to Burien’s The MARK Restaurant & Bar to promote his ‘El Zacatecano’ mezcal, as well as help raise funds for local non-profit Para Los Niños on Thursday, May 12th.

Martinez last appeared in B-Town on Sept. 16, 2010 (see our previous coverage and photos here), and will appear at the Mark beginning at 6 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. on behalf of El Zacatecano, the line of mezcal he and hairstyling legend Gene Juarez are bringing to the United States.

Autographed Martinez memorabilia will be offered at the silent auction, which will benefit Para Los Niños, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation headquarteredin Burien whose mission is to increase the academic success of Latino students. Para Los Niños is extremely grateful that Edgar Martinez and El Zacatecano have agreed to allow the nonprofit group to hold the fundraiser during the promotion. The auction will consist of Martinez-autographed items plus items donated from throughout the community, such as gift cards, baskets and so much more.

AUCTION ITEM DONATIONS NEEDED
Items are needed for this evening’s silent auction – local businesses who want to help out can donate to the silent auction. If you can help with donations, or want to volunteer to procure items, please call Debra George at (206) 941-7199.

Edgar at his Sept. 16, 2010 appearance at The MARK. Photo by Nicholas Johnson.

As part of the evening’s events, Martinez will be available to sign bottles of El Zacatecano purchased at the liquor store or the shot glasses customers receive with any El Zacatecano shot, drink or tasting flight. Please note that Martinez will not be autographing any baseball memorabilia. Instead, a limited number of items autographed by Martinez will be presented at the silent auction. Martinez will also visit each table in the dining room participating in the El Zacatecano promotion, so get in early and get a table.

Here’s more on Edgar’s El Zacatecano:

“Mezcal is a stronger, smokier relative of tequila, and El Zacatecano is one of the oldest and best-selling mezcal brands in Mexico.

El Zacatecano has an unwavering devotion to quality. Now in their third generation, the family’s secret process continues to produce its line of artisanal mezcals with the same uncommon elegance. The family has 100 years of experience creating 100 percent organic mezcals from 100 percent Highland Weber Blue Agave of the highest quality.

One hundred years of tradition guarantees that only the expert hands of jealous guardians, seeking optimum conditions and the best raw materials, have access to these most precious types of Highland Weber Blue Agave. From the hand-selected ingredients to the autoclaves used to roast the hearts, to the grinding and distillation process, every step is carefully crafted to extract the delicate flavors and aromas this line is famous for.”

The MARK Restaurant & Bar is located in Olde Burien at 918 SW 152nd Street. The phone number is 206-241-6275.

And now, just for old time’s sake, here’s Edgar’s (and the Mariners) defining baseball moment from 1995:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And a nice tribute to him:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is your opportunity to support Para Los Niños’ programs, while at the same time enjoying some delicious homemade Mexican tamales!

But you’d better act fast – the deadline to place orders is this Friday, March 4th.

Tamales will be ready to pick up on Monday, March 7th, from 10am-8:00pm at their office, which is located at at 425 SW 144th Street in Burien.

Two options are available:

• Chicken tamales with green sauce
• Vegetarian tamales with poblano peppers,vegetables and cheese

They are asking for a minimum $25 donation for a dozen tamales.

You can make your payment on their website using the PayPal button, or make checks payable to Para Los Niños or bring cash when you pick them up.

Please email your orders to info@plnwa.org, or if you have any questions call (206) 241-7900.

About Para Los Niños
Para Los Niños is a non-profit community-based organization with the mission to increase the academic success of Latino students through parent and community engagement.

For additional information about Para Los Niños please visit their webiste: www.plnwa.org.

Para Los Niños, a Burien-based non-profit organization committed to “fostering academic success for every Latino student through parent and community involvement,” has moved its offices.

Executive Director Sharonne Navas announced last week that Para Los Niños is now located in the old Burien Community Center, known as ”The Annex,” at 425 SW 144th St.

The phone number remains the same: 206-241-7900.

The website is at www.plnwa.org.

Burien’s Para Los Niños is seeking to hire an “imaginative, friendly, out-going and compassionate bi-lingual teacher,” for a part-time contract tutoring children ages 7 to 19 from within the Highline School District.

If you’re not familiar with Para Los Niños, it’s “a grassroots community organization founded by members of the community it serves—the growing immigrant, Spanish-speaking population in South King County. Para Los Niños builds a healthy community with a focus on Latino immigrants. It supports holistic, family-based educational opportunities and builds lasting community networks.”

The job pays $13 – $15 per hour DOE, and here’s the full listing:

“Fostering academic success for every Latino student through parent and community involvement.”

Para Los Ninos has a part-time contract opportunity for an imaginative, friendly, out-going and compassionate bi-lingual teacher. 

Para Los Ninos is offering after school tutoring for children ages 7 – 19 years old from within the Highline School District. 

The hours available are Monday and Wednesday, 5:30 to 8:30 pm and Friday 12:30 to 3:30 pm.

The candidate will be responsible for homework tutoring as well as a Spanish Literacy component, in an effort to maintain (or increase) the newly arrived immigrants understanding and fluency in both English AND Spanish. 

The position responsibilities include:

• Conduct ongoing outreach to students and families identified by the DISTRICT
• Provide tutoring to children from within specific schools in Highline School District.
• Provide monthly reporting on the attendance to tutoring
• Develop and maintain contact with students’ teachers and families
• Provide pre and post assessment data as determined with the Highline School District to demonstrate student growth in the English language as well as Mathematics and Reading.
• Provide requested information for reporting on the Immigrant Competitive Grant by dates assigned
• Provide 1.5 hours of weekly English tutoring for a minimum of 15 students meeting the qualifications defined by the Immigrant Competitive Grant during at least 15 weeks during the 2009-2010 academic year
• Provide 1.5 hours of weekly Spanish tutoring classes for a minimum of 15 students meeting the qualifications defined by the Immigrant Competitive Grant during at least 15 weeks during the 2009-2010 academic year

This a CONTRACT PART – TIME POSITION.

Qualifications:

• Bi-Lingual Spanish and English are required!!
• Must have or be in the process of attaining Teaching Certification in the state of Washington
• It is possible to consider Experience in Education over post-secondary Education
Reliable Transportation is required.

To inquire or submit your resume, please email info@plnwa.org or call 206-241-7900 ext 17.

4 – 5 month contract

by Ralph Nichols

Organized just six years ago by a group of Latino parents concerned about the education their children were receiving, Burien-based Para Los Niños today operates three programs in seven Highline schools.

And in January, Para Los Niños – “For the Children” – will begin yet another program “to add arts and culture in an education environment,” says executive director Sharonne Navas.

Funding for the new program comes from a $1,500 Latino Led Arts and Media Grant, which was presented to the group at last month’s Latino Community Fund Summit and Awards Ceremony at Bellevue Community College.

Para Los Niños received the grant “for their work to enhance art projects through Aprendamos Juntos (“Let’s Learn Together”), which integrates child and parent learning to boost academic success, build children’s emotional development, and support parenting.”

Aprendos Juntos is one of the three programs already conducted in the schools by Para Los Niños.

The new arts program will focus on Latino art and culture so students from 24 different countries don’t lose their cultural heritage. Participating students will work on perfecting their bilingual skills, Navas says.

“We encourage (Latino students) to be bilingual and bi-cultural,” Navas added. “Studies show that bilingual students do better academically, with life skills, and in standard testing if they don’t avoid their primary language while learning a secondary language.”

Activities in the art program will include dance, ceramics, and literature that takes stories from Latino cultural history and transfers them to painted art.

“We’ll try for about 100 kids and build from this, including more children as they get more funding for this program,” she adds.

One of the ideas behind this program is that it’s easier “to bring the similarities of both cultures to non-Latino kids if Latino kids do this and make it for others to see and experience.”

Para Los Niños’ other programs already underway are Descubrlendo Nuestra Cultura – “Discovering Our Culture” – and the New Immigrant Literacy Program.

Two programs are in grades K-6 and the third is for high school students. And student participation is growing.

“Last year we had about 1,200 students in the primary program in elementary schools,” Navas notes. “This year we have about 1,600.”

There is also an ESL (English as a Second Language) component for the parents of these children. As many as 98 percent of them speak only Spanish.

“The parents have a harder time learning to be bi-cultural and we teach biculturalism to them too.”

Navas says Para Los Niños, a local community based organization, started in 2003 “when a group of Latino parents got together about concerns they had about the education system and their children.” The organization incorporated in 2006.

Their objective is “fostering academic success for every Latino student through parent and community involvement.” And it’s working.

Today, she says, children participating in programs through Para Los Niños “are excelling in their classrooms.”

Burien’s Para Los Niños was named a 2009 Community Matters Campaign winner by the Seattle CityClub, and will receive their award at the 2nd Annual People’s Choice Awards on Monday, Nov. 16th.

The ceremony will take place at the Bertha Knight Landes Room at Seattle City Hall, located at 600 Fifth Avenue, downtown Seattle.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Seattle CityClub’s 2nd Annual People’s Choice Awards, featuring Burien’s Para Los Niños

WHEN: Monday, Nov. 16th. Registration: 5:30 p.m. / Program: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Bertha Knight Landes Room at Seattle City Hall, located at 600 Fifth Avenue, downtown Seattle.

INFO: Hosted by Eric Liu of The Guiding Lights Network, featuring Norman B. Rice, President and CEO, The Seattle Foundation; Special Welcome by the Honorable Sally Clark.

More info on this event, including how to register, available at the CityClub website.

According to their website, “CityClub informs, connects and engages citizens to evaluate complex issues, make sound judgments and contribute to solutions that address issues vital to our region.”

From their press release:

Eric Liu will host the close of CityClub’s Community Matters Campaign as we unveil the winners of our People’s Choice Awards! Hear from Eric about his work and from Norman B. Rice, President and CEO of The Seattle Foundation and their great work to further educational and economic opportunities for everyone in our community.

CityClub’s 2009 Community Matters Campaign (CMC) focused on education and economic opportunity – two issues of particular urgency in our community today. In partnership with The Seattle Foundation, we hosted public dialogues grounded in the findings of the Foundation’s newly released Healthy Community Report (www.seattlefoundation.org). 

Over the course of CMC, we convened hundreds of participants – both online and face-to-face – to discuss what we can and need to do individually and communally to overcome barriers and achieve positive results. We invited participants to vote for their top-priority community investment to make educational and economic opportunities available for everyone in King County. They responded 2-1 in favor of the following two strategies outlined in the Healthy Community Report:

Involve families and communities in student achievement and aspirations

The CMC Steering Committee – made up of representatives from CityClub, Communities Count, Executive Service Corps, The Seattle Foundation, Seattle Works, The United Way of King County, and the YMCA of Greater Seattle – chose 6 winners based on these two strategies.

Our winner selection demonstrates the ecology of community engagement needed to make a difference. The 2010 People’s Choice Awardees represent a spectrum of organization format, scale and focus. One is a recently emerged organic and quickly changing organization formed by and for youth. Another unites youth and parents. Others bring diverse community sectors together to foster change and opportunity. Still others work on the systemic level through policy development and advocacy. It’s together – across these various modes of organization and action – that change can be created and sustained in our community.

We invite you to join us in celebrating the diverse and dynamic organizations that make up the 2009 People’s Choice Award winners on the evening of November 16 from 6-8pm at City Hall in Seattle. For more information visit www.seattlecityclub.org.

2009 People’s Choice Award Winners:

MAD (Making A Difference) – MAD is a newly emergent youth led non-violence group whose mission is to advocate for victims of violence.

Puget Sound Off (PSO) –Eighteen area teens came together in the Summer of 2007 to design the Puget Sound Off website after gathering input from 180 peers, including the Mayor’s Youth Council. PSO’s mission is to provide youth with a forum for discussion, artistic expression, and action as a way to empower and encourage youth to have a strong voice. The project aims be a catalyst for increasing youth involvement and engagement within the community while encouraging expression of one’s beliefs, respect for others, and commitment to public service.

Para Los Niños – Para Los Niños is a grassroots community organization founded by members of the community it serves—the growing immigrant, Spanish-speaking population in South King County. Para Los Niños builds a healthy community with a focus on Latino immigrants. It supports holistic, family-based educational opportunities and builds lasting community networks.

4C Coalition – 4C is an acronym for Clergy, Community, and Children/Youth Coalition. In partnership with King County Superior Court, 4C provides mentors to young persons involved in the juvenile justice system. The 4C Coalition is not a program to solve a problem, but a process to provide possibilities: mentors to youth, church and community resources to families, and a united voice to the community and government agencies to educate and effectively address youth issues.

SOAR – A community coalition dedicated to building partnerships that support the healthy development and success of children, youth and families in King County. SOAR connects, convenes and catalyzes communities around common goals and strategies and strives to create alignment between systems, sectors, organizations, providers and practice.

League of Education Voters – The League works to improve Washington’s public schools through a grassroots statewide network of advocates. Its mission is to make Washington’s preschools, public schools, and colleges the best in the nation. Its goals are:

• Every child reads by the third grade, with more attention to early learning and the role of parents.
• Every child is taught by an excellent teacher. Like all professionals, teachers deserve ongoing mentoring and training.
• Every child graduates from high school ready for college, work, and life. Standards for high school graduation must align with college entrance requirements.
• All students master the math and science they need to succeed in our technology-driven economy.

More investment in our children’s education, but also more accountability to ensure all children succeed.

More info on Para Los Niños is available at their website.