Category: Spark Grants

Aug
7

Laughter and Food Build Community at Kain Tayo! Filipino Fiesta

Filed Under: Spark Grants - Posted @ 1:50pm

 Tacoma-based arts organizer Clarissa Grace Gines and local chef Jan Parker struggled to find events in Pierce County that celebrated their Filipino heritage. After years of driving to Seattle > Continue Reading

Jul
10

Spark Grant Recipient Helps Provide ‘Showers of Dignity’ for Homeless Neighbors

Filed Under: Spark Grants - Posted @ 1:41pm

They say some of the best ideas come while you’re in the shower, but for Spark Grant recipient Christine Dodson, the shower itself was her big idea.  Her program, Showers > Continue Reading

Apr
10

GTCF Spark Grant Recipient Tackling “Period Poverty” at Local Schools

Filed Under: Spark Grants,Vibrant Community - Posted @ 10:16am

  Sharon Chambers-Gordon was first exposed to the issue of “Period Poverty” through her own daughter’s experience.  “She was in Middle School when it happened for the first time, and > Continue Reading

Feb
7

Sparking Change Starts With Seeing The Need

Filed Under: Spark Grants,Vibrant Community - Posted @ 12:07pm

  Seventeen year-old Caleb Kamalu was volunteering at  F.U.N Food Bank in his hometown of University Place when he noticed food bank staff struggling to explain something to a customer. > Continue Reading

Dec
10

Spark Grants Light Up Communities

Filed Under: Spark Grants,Vibrant Community - Posted @ 11:59am

 It all started with a conversation.  Sandra Smith, a real estate agent from Buckley, says she was talking with her teenage daughter and a group of classmates about a > Continue Reading

Sep
7

Local Girls Connect with Nature and Career Possibilities through Environmental Justice Camp

Filed Under: Expanded Learning,Spark Grants - Posted @ 5:20pm

When T’wina Nobles walked into her office on a recent Monday morning, she couldn’t wait to tell her co-workers about the Environmental Justice Camp she hosted for a group of > Continue Reading

Aug
8

Chalk Art Builds Community on Thea Foss Waterway

Filed Under: Spark Grants - Posted @ 1:11pm

“We didn’t even know all this was down here.” That’s the reaction Ian Wilkinson, General Manager of the Foss Harbor Marina, often hears when people first encounter the parks, restaurants, > Continue Reading

Jul
11

Spark Grants: Creative Solutions from Grassroots Leaders

Filed Under: Expanded Learning,Spark Grants - Posted @ 11:36am

 While volunteering with elementary school students in Tacoma’s Eastside neighborhood, Chelsea McElroy saw a lot of girls fighting and getting into trouble at school.  Wanting to help, she brought > Continue Reading