By fall 2005 the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center was in a life and death struggle for survival. Mayor Potter had turned down a request for a one-time grant to haul the center out of debt. A possible merger with the up-and-coming music nonprofit Ethos had fallen apart. Staff left. Finally, with the prospect of insolvency looming, the board resigned.
Fast forward two years and IFCC looks better than ever. Filled with energy and life, the center is once again a key player at the hub of North and Northeast Portland's theater and arts community. Drop by and you'll find something going on any night of the week.  And from next month the center will be booked through July 2009 – at least for Thursday through Sunday nights. 
"Portland is beginning to be known on a national level as a place to produce new original work and IFCC is definitely a part of that ...

Climbing all the stairs on a half-built building is the most difficult part of Dashia Fontleroy's job. The carpenter's apprentice isn't bothered by the math, or cutting wood with high-powered saws, or working in a male-dominated field. She does hate lugging a 60-pound tool belt to the job site. Working outside has even become somewhat welcoming.
"The first winter was difficult," she said. "But now I'm used to it."
Fontleroy is a fairly recent graduate of the Portland Housing Authority's ETAP program or Evening Trade Apprenticeship Preparation. The program celebrated the graduation of 32 students on Thursday night – students who spent the last 10 weeks preparing for a number of careers in the construction trades.
ETAP, like many other pre-apprenticeship programs provided to ...

Earlier this week, President Bush signed into law a reauthorization of Head Start, the education program that gives low-income children a boost before beginning Kindergarten.
The bill, sponsored by Michigan Democrat Dale Kildee and 26 other members of congress, passed both the House and Senate by wide margins, and expands the program to cover more kids, provide higher salaries to teachers, and does away with a standardized testing system that Head Start officials said was cumbersome and ineffective. ...

James Kelly, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle listens to the remarks made by Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire at the Urban League's 8th annual Benefit Breakfast on Dec. 14 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.  Over 1,300 people attended the breakfast which included remarks by former Mayor Norm Rice, King County Executive Ron Sims and the governor ...

Seattle Public Schools' Garfield and Roosevelt High Schools were recently both awarded silver medal distinction by U.S. News and World Report magazine.
From a pool of over 18,000 high schools, the magazine annually ranks the top 100 "gold medal" high schools based on their college assessment readiness index.
Described as one of the "Most Likely to Succeed," Garfield High School and Roosevelt High School serve as the nation's best example of how students across the board perform on state tests and are provided college-level coursework. Both schools received a certificate of recognition from the Seattle Public School Board on Dec. 5th for the caliber of education provided to their students.
"First of all, Roosevelt High School and Garfield  ...

When FRESH Start Director Shawn Benning was working as one of the teachers for the child care Head Start program, he found some problems. He noticed there was a lack of fathers involved in their children's lives and the educational system, and he felt First A.M.E. needed to create a fatherhood program that encouraged that involvement.
Thus, the First A.M.E. Child and Family Center's FRESH Start program "The Men's Workshop," was born.
"The Men's Workshop," aims to improve low income fathers' parenting skills and involvement in their children's lives. The program, which began in March, offers men the opportunity to learn valuable parenting skills and practices. It also offers counseling, mentoring and mediation as well as domestic violence and child abuse prevention classes.
FRESH Start classes are free and participation is voluntary ...

The Seattle Seahawks will be sending six players to this year's Pro Bowl. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, tackle Walter Jones, defensive end Patrick Kerney, linebackers Julian Peterson and Lofa Tatupu and cornerback Marcus Trufant were selected Tuesday to represent the club in the 2008 Pro Bowl. All but Hasselbeck were named starters.
For Jones, this will mark his seventh consecutive trip to the NFL's annual all-star game, tying a club record with his eighth overall (1999, 2001-07). Cortez Kennedy also made the trip to Honolulu eight times during his 11-year playing career.
Hasselbeck will make his third trip to the Pro Bowl and has already set the club's single-season record for completions (319) and is on pace to set the mark for attempts and yards. ...

By adopting 12 minority ownership proposals and putting 13 more proposals out for comment, the FCC marked December 18, 2007 – coincidentally MMTC's 21st birthday -- as one of the best days in the history of minority media ownership. 
The day was marred only by the FCC's use of a poorly defined "small business" eligibility criterion for three of the proposals it adopted.  Apparently only about 8.5% of small business-owned commercial radio stations are minority owned – barely more than the 7.8% of all commercial radio stations that are minority owned.  MMTC will act promptly to secure a correction of the FCC's unfortunate mistake. 
The FCC's minority ownership decision was taken separately from its decision to relax its broadcast-newspaper crossownership rule, and is not contingent on the crossownership decision. ...

The Cities of Bellevue, Bothell, Issaquah, Kenmore, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Sammamish, Shoreline,…