Category Archives: Business

January Community Events

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My apologies for not getting this out sooner. Below is a list of the January events that I am aware of that are still remaining. There are speakers, movie screenings, marches, and community discussions. Something for everyone. It’s a fairly long list, so please take the time to read to the bottom. Happy New Year.

Sandy Williams

JANUARY 12

JAMAL JOSEPH – MLK SPEAKER

“Growing Up in America as a Black Panther, Poet, Professor, and Prisoner”: The youngest spokesman and leader of the Black Panthers New York Chapter. Author of the book, “Panther Baby- A Life of Rebellion and Reinvention.” Featured on Def Poetry Jam and BETs American Gangster.

10am – 11am – Coffee and Book Signing  (Hagan Center, Bldg 16, 2nd Floor)

11:30am – 12:30pm – Presentation (Lair Auditorium, Bldg 6) 

Spokane Community College1810 N Greene St, Spokane, WA 

 Free and open to the public. For more information call (509) 533-7032

JANUARY 12

CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS – RACE AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Hosted by University High School Students. A community member forum about real issues pressing Spokane.

5 – 8pm University High, Commons Area 12420 E 32nd Ave, Spokane Valley WA

Food provided – Questions and conversation encouraged!

JANUARY 14

13TH – DOCUMENTARY VIEWING AND COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

The Black Lens and the Spokane Minister’s Fellowship are teaming up to host a viewing and discussion of the documentary 13th. The thought provoking film, directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma), features scholars, activists and politicians analyzing the criminalization of African Americans, mass incarceration and the U.S. prison boom. Join us for this important conversation!!!

10am – 1pm Bethel A.M.E. Church 645 S Richard Allen Court, Spokane, WA

Free and open to the public.

JANUARY 14

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. GALA

Presented by the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm H.R.E.I. Center 414 Millan Rd, Coeur d’Alene, ID

For more information and cost call 208.765.3932 or visit http://www.idahohumanrights.org.

JANUARY 16

MARTIN LUTHER KING ANNUAL MARCH AND RESOURCE FAIR

10am – 2pm Spokane Convention Center 334 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane

For more information contact the MLK Center at (509) 455-8722 or visit www.mlkspokane.org

JANUARY 16

NAACP MONTHLY MEETING

Join the NAACP for our monthly general membership meeting

7:00pm Community Building – Lobby 35 W. Main Street, Spokane WA

For more information contact the NAACP at 509-209-2425 (ext 1141) or visit the website at http://spokaneNAACP.com

JANUARY 16 & 17

BLACK HISTORY 101 MOBILE MUSEUM

An innovative traveling table top exhibit depicting Black memorabilia spanning slavery to Hip Hop. Artifacts in this unparalleled mobile collection represent items from the categories of slavery, Jim Crow era, music, sports, the Civil Rights and Black Power era, and popular culture.

1/16/17 – can van be viewed before, during, and after the MLK March and Resource Fair, at the Spokane Convention Center, Downtown Spokane

1/17/17 – 10:00 am-3:00, lecture at 4:00 pm, be in the HUB MPR on the Whitworth University campus

Cost: Free, open to everyone

For more information contact David Garcia at 509.777.4572 or visit their website at ww.whitworth.edu. The exhibit on the 16th is in partnership with the MLK Center.

JANUARY 16

POETRY RISING – PRODUCED BY STEPHEN PITTERS

Poetry by Randy Harnasch & Kathleen Schrum and Music by Brown’s Mountain Boys

6:30-7:30pm Barnes & Noble Bookstore – Northtown Mall 4750 N Division, Spokane WA

JANUARY 18

DONISHA RITA-CLAIRE PRENDERGAST – 1 DREAM 1 LOVE

The SFCC Black Student Union presents their MLK Celebration speaker Donisha Rita-Claire Prendergast, a filmmaker, poet, and granddaughter of Bob and Rita Marley.

11:30am – 1pm

Spokane Falls Community College (SUB – Lounges A,B &C) 3410 W Ft George Wright Dr, Spokane, WA 99224

For more information contact The Mosaic Center at (509) 533-4331.

JANUARY 20

THIRD ANNUAL INLAND NORTHWEST FEMALE SUMMIT : UNBREAKABLE

The 3rd Annual Inland Northwest Female Summit (INWFS) is a free leadership program serving all young women, specifically first-generation, low-income, and multicultural women populations in the greater Inland Northwest.

9AM – 3PM Eastern Washington University, Hargreaves Hall 526 5th Street, Cheney, WA 

For more information contact Randy Corradine at rcorradine@ewu.edu or 509.359.4879.

JANUARY 21

WOMEN’S MARCH ON SPOKANE

Over 2,000 people are expected to march through the streets of Spokane, joining communities nation-wide as part of a day long coordinated Women’s March, which will begin in Washington DC.  Citizens of Central and Eastern Washington, North Idaho, Western Montana, and British Columbia are invited to gather in Spokane, Washington. We are reaching out to all defenders of human rights to mobilize with us.  This march is the first step towards unifying our communities, grounded in new relationships, to create change from the grassroots level up. This is a 100% inclusive event, welcoming all genders, races, ages, religions, and sexual orientations. March participants will be inspired and supported, and will leave with a new or renewed sense that “We Are America” and will not be silenced.

Spokane activities start at 11:00 a.m. with a rally at the Spokane Convention Center, where guests will hear inspirational speakers from national and local human rights, justice, and women’s advocacy groups, as well as musical entertainment. Beginning at 1:00 p.m., there will be a peaceful but powerful march through downtown Spokane, followed by a volunteer fair after our return to the Convention Center.  The Volunteer Fair will provide guests the opportunity to learn about, support, and volunteer for a constellation of agencies and organizations.  

11am – 3pm Spokane Convention Center 334 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA

For information contact walkwithme2017@outlook.com or visit WomensMarchOnSpokane.org  or Facebook at “Women’s March on Spokane”

JANUARY 21

PEOPLE RISE UP! A COMMUNITY INVITATION TO ACTION

Peace & Justice Action League of Spokane (PJALS) and our partners are organizing a grassroots power action festival to say from day 1: We are paying attention, we are reaching out, we are mobilizing, we are turning up the heat! This is a family-friendly, kid-welcoming event. 

2-5 pm Peace & Justice Action League of Spokane (PJALS) 35 W Main Ave, Spokane 

For more information contact PJALS at (509) 838-7870.

JANUARY 22

BLACK LENS SECOND ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

We made it to our second year.!!! Join The Black Lens for cake, punch and some yummy appetizers as we celebrate our 2nd year of publishing and look forward to year number three.

3-5pm CHKN-N-MO 414 1/2 W Sprague Ave, Spokane, WA 99201

Cost: No charge

For more information call The Black Lens at (509) 795-1964 or sandy@blacklensnews.com

JANUARY 24

SPOKANE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY JOB FAIR

Join us for this public event All are welcome. Representatives will be available from various departments. On site interviews available for current job openings. Job seeking

seminars will be provided.

5 – 7pm Ready to Serve Ministries 404 N. Argonne Road, Spokane Valley, WA

Cost: No charge

For more information call (509) 354-7265 or visit www.spokanschools.org

JANUARY 24

LINKS ANNUAL MAMMOGRAM PARTY

Hosted by Inland Imaging and the Links, Inc.

For women over 40 who are due for their routine exam or those aged 35-40 who wish to be screened. While you wait for your mammogram, enjoy refreshments, a relaxing massage, and assorted gifts.

5:30 – 7:30pm Inland Imaging (Located inside Holy Family Hospital)

5715 N Lidgerwood St, Spokane, WA 99208

**IMPORTANT: Space is limited! Please contact your insurance company ahead of time and ask if they will cover the 3D imaging. You will need to know and bring with you the following information: Physician’s Name, Personal ID, Insurance Card.

It is highly recommended that participants send in the following information prior to coming (to help things run smoother) : Date of Birth; Full Name of your Primary Care Physician / Practitioner; Name of your insurance carrier. Information should be sent to Faith Washington prior to arrival at the party at fwashington@inland-imaging.com. This information will be

confidential and HIPAA protected.

JANUARY 28

2017 EASTERN WASHINGTON LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE

Taking Responsibility: Acting Together in Faith – Featuring a panel on Poverty.

9 a.m.-3 p.m. St Mark’s Lutheran Church 316 E. 24th Avenue, Spokane WA

Organizers include The Fig Tree, Catholic Charities Spokane, the Faith Action Network and the Inland United Methodist District.

To RSVP: Send suggested donation of $20 To The Fig Tree • 1323 S. Perry St. • Spokane WA 99202 call (509) 535-4112 or email info@thefigtree.org For information, call 535-1813 or email mary@thefigtree.org. Fliers are available at thefigtree.org/FigTreeEvent.pdf.

—

Sandy Williams

Eastern Washington Representative

Washington State Commission on African American Affairs

http://www.caa.wa.gov

509-795-1964

Mission: To improve the well-being of African Americans by ensuring their access to participation in the fields of government, business, education, health care, and other areas. 

Sandy Williams

Commissioner – Eastern Washington Representative

Washington State Commission on African American Affairs

http://www.caa.wa.gov

sw9876@aol.com

Life After Trump Starts January 1,

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THURSDAY December 1st bring ideas for the life after DONALD. Drop in ANY coffee house and start A  DISCUSSION don’t wait on me! I am with Jay, Ron, Idris and Jim will be having are usual Thursday discussions at 10am the same place on the Spokane South Hill. We can make changes one cup at a time. Report back after you meeting. (Message me Robert Lloyd on Facebook for my coffee spot)

first-thursday-coffee-bob_a

Machakos Governor Dr Alfred Mutua’s Big Break

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Standard Digital November 29, 2013

Spokane graduate’s big breaks lead to large accomplishments

He grew up in Nairobi’s Kibera slums, living inside a Timber house. He dropped out of school in form two since his parents could not afford the fees. However, he was lucky as his pastor paid for his education. He later became Kenya’s first government spokesman and now has an ambitious dream for his county.
Dr. Alfred Mutua graduated from Whitworth University and attended Eastern Washington University. He was the editor of the Spokane African American Voice.
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See video interview

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What has Dr. Mutua’s big break lead to? He started by planting 5 acres of trees in Mahakos County, hiring local women to water them and donating property so the community could build a sub police station.

See what he is bringing to Machakos only 8 years later…..

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Don’t Soak The Brother

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Lonnie Johnson

Johnson Research and Development Co. founder Lonnie Johnson has been in a royalty dispute with Hasbro since February, when the company filed a claim against the giant toy company. According to King & Spalding, which along with the A. Leigh Baier P.C. law firm represented Johnson, Hasbro underpaid royalties for the Nerf line toys from 2007 to 2012. From ajc.com

Super Soaker Creator Gets a Whopping $73 Million Dollar Settlement!

 “In the arbitration we got everything we asked for,” said Atlanta attorney Leigh Baier. “The arbitrator ruled totally in Lonnie’s favor.” The attorney also said Johnson “is very pleased” with the outcome.

Who is Lonnie Johnson, African American born October 6, 1949 in Mobile, Alabama?

At Tuskegee he was elected into the Pi Tau Sigma National Engineering Honor Society and graduated with distinction in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation? ON and UP. Read bio at The Black Inventor.

See what making toys can do. Let us stop playing with toys when we can make them!

Spokane Helps the Development of the African Continent

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Spokane  also has its share of those who are part of the African Diaspora, including Ugandans, Kenyans and South Africans. Quoting the article below “… many of her nationals went overseas to earn an education or seek greener pastures. Today, all these Ugandan sons and daughters are mockingly referred to as “Nkuba Kyeeyo”or Kyeyoists” crudely translated as “menial workers cleaning foreign streets for a living after leaving Uganda.” The author makes the point that this is not true. Some may have begun at such menial levels but many have taken advantage of every opportunity and become pharmacists, bankers, politicians, ambassadors, health administrators and media producers. They certainly are not “Nkuba Kyeeyo”!

SEE ARTICLE

Shiosaki Family Arrives in Spokane

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By Patricia Bayonne-Johnson

Kisaburo Shiosaki

Railroad and mine companies in the West had a severe shortage of laborers in the 1880s and 1890s so they reached across the Pacific to Japan to solve their problem. Thousands of healthy, strong, young Japanese laborers were recruited.  Kisaburo Shiosaki was of the laborers who came to America and eventually ended up in Spokane.

Click here for full story of Kisaburo Shiosaki.

INTERNS WANTED

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WANT TO WORK FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA?

AFRICAN AMERICAN INTERNS WANTED FOR 2013
WHITE HOUSE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Washington, DC (BlackNews.com) — The 2013 White House Initiative’s Year-round Internship Program provides current undergraduate and graduate students with an opportunity to learn about African American-focused education policy communications, and outreach at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Collecting and compiling research and data on African American education, institutions and communities; Performing data entry and managing the office database; Greeting and escorting visitors to meetings; Participating in strategic planning and staff meetings and other Department policy briefings and meetings relevant to the work of the Initiative; Responding to constituent inquiries verbally or in writing; and more.
Throughout the course of their internships, students will have the opportunity to attend and potentially lead in the planning and management of meetings, briefings and other special events on the Hill, at the White House and in other federal agencies.
To apply for the 2013 White House Initiative’s Year-round Internship Program, visit:
www.findinternships.com/2013/04/white-house-initiative-year-round-internship-program.html
To search hundreds of other internships, visit:
www.FindInternships.com

-END-

This information has been distributed through BlackPR.com andBlackNews.com, properties owned by Diversity City Media, but the content or opinions expressed within are those of the author and/or represented company or organization.
Need A Black Expert to Interview? Visit www.BlackExperts.com

City of Spokane Meets Mobile Food Vendors

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There is a growing Community Culture of mobile food vendors. They are small business entrepreneurs serving our community in a variety of festivities and life-celebrating events. We at 4comculture.com will support you as you develop your business and association with each other.

Bob Lloyd

Mobile Food Vendor Meeting at Spokane Public Library Tuesday April 23, 2013

Mobile food Vendor Project 1

Mobile food Vendor Project 2

City Planners and Mobile Food Vendors Met

85 licensed mobile food units were invited by e-mail to an Open House.

20 vendors werre interviewed prior to the meeting.  If you have additional questions regarding the draft plan please contact Andrew Worlock (509) 625-6991 or e-mail aworlock@spokanecity.org

20120911_0990Please read the WHITE PAPER Mobile Food Vendors at this link.

With proper design and management, mobile food vending can be a great way to add vitality to the street, encourage walking, and promote local economic development.

In response to increasing local interest in mobile food carts and food trucks as a business opportunity, the City’s Planning and Development Services Department is leading an effort to research, evaluate and develop a system to better support and provide regulations for mobile food vendors on public rights of way and as a transitory use on private parcels.

The open house was for the purpose of discussing ideas and generating comments on possible changes to City code that could create a more consistent, predictable and stream‐lined system for the local mobile food vendor industry.

For more information read the following documents prepared by the Spokane City Planning and Development Services Department.  If you wish to give the city feedback do so as soon as possible as decisions are being made now.

About the Mobile Food Vendor Project

Food For Thought: Questions to think about in regards to comments on the proposed Mobile Food Vendor Project

Mobile Food Vendor Project: Framework being considered for new regulations

Northwest Black Pioneer: Peter Barnabas Barrow

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By Patricia Bayonne-Johnson

Peter Barnabas Barrow was one of many African Americans who migrated to the Pacific Northwest and made a tremendous contribution to the development of the Spokane area.

 Born a slave near Petersburg, Virginia in 1840, Peter was taken to a plantation near Cosita, Alabama. He ran away when the Union Army came through the area early in 1864 and enlisted in Company A, 66th U.S. Colored Infantry on March 11, 1864 when they reached Vicksburg, Mississippi. Peter was appointed Sergeant on November 1, 1865. He served in Louisiana and Arkansas during the remainder of the war. He remained in the Union Army until March, 1866.

After the war, Peter married Julia, settled in Vicksburg and became active in politics.  Peter served as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives and afterwards as a senator from the district of Vicksburg during reconstruction. Sensing that life was not going to get better in Mississippi, Peter moved his family to Deer Park, Washington, in 1889.  Expressing his fondness for the Northwest at a black voters’ meeting in 1890, Peter announced, “I jumped out of hell and landed in heaven on both feet.” Peter Barrow’s political activities included founding the John Logan Colored Republican Club and being nominated for office by the Populist Party.

Peter became one of the first black landowners in Stevens County, cultivating a huge irrigated apple orchard and was a leader in the Farmers Alliance movement.   Under his direction, the Deer Lake Irrigated Orchards Co. was formed. It was the largest operation of its kind in the Inland Empire and employed about 100 black men. Winter apples were grown and were exported all over the country.

In 1890 Peter Barrow became one of the founders and pastors of Calvary Baptist Church, Spokane’s first black church. He served as pastor from 1895 to 1906. The church is currently located at 213 E. Third Ave.

In 1892 Rev. Barrow moved his family to a house he built at E 2417 Second in Spokane. He and his wife, Julia, had six sons and one daughter.

The Barrow family gave the black community The Citizen, a newspaper published by Charles Barrow, which chronicled the history of Spokane’s black community.  Charles and Olive Barrow are the parents of Eleanor Barrow Chase, wife of James Chase, Spokane’s first and only African American mayor.

Reverend Peter Barnabas Barrow was killed in a streetcar accident on July 28, 1906 while attending a church convention in Tacoma.  He is one of the 12 bronze busts honoring early business and community leaders on the east side of the Spokesman-Review printing building at 1 North Monroe Street in Spokane, Washington. On the installation, “Builders and Leaders” also known as The Spokesman-Review Bronzes, Rev. Barrow is identified as a Pastor, Entrepreneur and a Publisher. I would add Politician and Civil War Veteran.

Note: This story was re-enacted at the 3rd Annual Walking with Ancestors at the Greenwood Memorial Terrace in Spokane on September 22, 2012. Walking with Ancestors is a program presented by the members of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society who tell the stories of the people buried in the cemetery.  This year’s theme was “Remembering Our Civil War Ancestors.” I requested an African American man for my presentation and my “ancestor” was Peter Barnabas Barrow. I told Peter’s story as Eleanor, Peter’s granddaughter. Eleanor did not know her grandfather because he died in a tragic accident before she was born.

Sources:

Franklin, Joseph, All Through the Night: The History of Spokane Black Americans, 1860-1940 (Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1989)

Taylor, Quintard, Barrow, Rev. Peter (1840-1906) The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. Black Past.org (an online Reference Guide to African American History)

Peter B. Barrow, Deposition A, April 22, 1895, Civil War Pension File, NARA, Washington, D. C. , Fold 3.

HistoryLink.org; Jim Kershner