Community Connections
This community is packed with individuals with immense talent, creativity, generosity and intellect. During our community gatherings, have heard from an impressive group of presenters. If you were unable to attend these events, be sure to check our our meeting notes or watch the recordings to hear from these amazing individuals.
Brione Scott
Brione is a Leschi mother and native Central District resident. Bri shared her work with Clean Greens Farmers Market with us during our Community Connections kick-off. She is the host of Clean Greens Living Radio Show and shares knowledge about getting organic produce to ALL people and other issues related to food justice.
Gabriel Rapier - “Coach G”
Coach G has been a familiar face at Leschi Elementary school for many years and he continues to run his futsal program our school playground all year long. While presenting to our community, we learned about his programming that maintained consistency during the pandemic for many children who had no other outlets for sports or safe social activities. Coach G has a talent for teaching kids athletic skills that stick with them for years. He ensures that his offerings are affordable for everybody. Check out his summer programming this year!
Barney Hilliard
We were honored to hear from Barney during one of our community meetings. He shared his experience as a Black musician in the neighborhood and gave us insight to the changes he’s witnessed over the years he’s lived in this area. You can read more about his years at the hangout, The Birdland, which was located on Madison where the Safeway is today.
Barney is a member of the Garfield Golden Grads, which is made of alumni from Garfield. This group leads community service projects and they chose Leschi Elementary as a recipient of their fundraising efforts. The Golden Grads put on a Leschi community fundraising concert, which raises money for our school. In 2023, the event took take place on April 29th 1-3 in the Leschi cafeteria.
Stay tuned for the 2024 concert details!
Tai Mattox
Tai, another Leschi mother, joined us for our Community Meeting in April. Tai works for a non-profit organization called Space Between, serving schools throughout the Seattle area. Space Between shares mindfulness practices with school communities, including an in-classroom mindfulness curriculum, professional development opportunities for educators and staff, and workshops for families/caregivers. Space Between has offered mindfulness teachers and education for many years at Leschi Elementary School and many of our teachers and students are still practicing their techniques. We were fortunate to be able to share a short mindfulness practice with Tai, and all of us really enjoyed our time together. Tai also shares her mindfulness expertise independently, through Experiences by Tai. Through her small business, she facilitates several wellness offerings including sound baths, vibrational sound therapy, mindfulness workshops and more. Reach out and see if there is something that would be helpful for you or your community. She mentioned that, in addition to Space Between, Odessa Brown has many free online sources for families wanting to incorporate mindfulness at home and with their families
Angie Matthews
Leschi Elementary School neighbor, Angie Matthews, is a financial advisor with Edward Jones. We are fortunate to have Angie share a little bit of her financial expertise with our community members this year. Angie has gracefully offered to share important factors to consider when setting personal financial goals; balancing savings, spending and borrowing when striving toward financial goals; working on controlling debt and improving credit scores; and saving for retirement. Thank you, Angie, for sharing your time and for empowering our community in such a concrete way.
Would you be interested in presenting to our community? Do you know someone in our community who would like to share their talents, story, ideas, products, or services with us? Fill out the form below. Thanks!