Newsletter: September 2025 Issue 1

Cultures Connecting
Sep 2
6 min read

Coming Up this Month: Learn to Speak Up with Shutting Down

When having difficult conversations, do you...

React impulsively instead of responding thoughtfully?
Lash out or withdraw when the conversation becomes tense?
Speak without listening?

We've all been there. Engaging in tough conversations with family, friends, and colleagues requires intentional effort, skill, and practice. At our workshop, Speaking Up without Shutting Down: Tools for Hard Conversations, you'll learn to lead conversations with purpose and learn strategies to...

Stay present,
Repair relationships when you cause harm,
Offer constructive feedback that promotes listening and understanding.

Facilitated by Dr. Caprice Hollins, this 2-day workshop will take place on Thursday-Friday, September 25th & 26th 8:30-12:00pm PT / 11:30-3:00 ET on Zoom.

Click the button below to learn more and register today!

Seattle Chinatown Book Club: A Third Place of Belonging for the AANHPI Community

Large group of Asian Americans posing after bookclub with YellowFace book in front of Mam's Books.

"I love the fact that this took a more intimate route and now we have a space where people can have these therapeutic discussions and be emotionally vulnerable and connect with each other in ways that is healing.”

-Mitchell Keo, Founder of SCBC

On the last Sunday of every month, Asian Americans form a long line at a small table in front of Mam’s Books in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. They’re there to participate in the Seattle Chinatown Book Club (SCBC) and are warmly greeted by Mitchell Keo, the book club’s founder.

SCBC was founded by Mitchell after a casual conversation with Sokha Danh, owner of Mam's Books, at its soft opening. As the only Asian American bookstore in the PNW, Mam's Books was intended to be a third place for the community. SCBC has helped Mam's create just that—a special space for the community to show up as their full selves and to connect with each other in meaningful ways.

Read the interview with Mitchell and his partner Molly Nguyen who helps run the club to learn more about how SCBC has become so much more than a place to talk about books. It's become a community hub focused not just on creating belonging for AANHPIs, but to bringing life back to the Chinatown-International District.

Read about SCBC on our Blog

Culturally Responsive Practices for Black Students with Delbert Richardson Part 1

Continuing the conversation about culturally responsive practices for Black students, our co-founder Ilsa Govan talks with Delbert Richardson of The Unspoken Truths, the American History Traveling Museum, about ways schools can be more culturally responsive to Black students. In part 1, Mr. Richardson talks about what's missing and what schools can do differently to support all, especially Black, students.

To watch the previous 4-part conversation Ilsa had with our co-founder Caprice Hollins about this same topic, visit our blog.

Jodi-Ann Burey's Authentic Book Tour

Jodi-Ann Burey spoke at Tedx Seattle in 2021 about the challenges professionals of color face when they "bring their authentic self to the office" and the backlash they face when they do (watch below). She has now authored a book titled, Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work and will be on book tour. She will be in conversation with Sonora Jha at Seattle Public Library, Central Branch on September 30 which you can register for here.

She will also be at Lit Lounge: The People's Art, a prose and poetry salon created by Jodi-Ann, on September 26th. Representatives from Mam's Books, where the Seattle Chinatown Book Club meets, will be selling physical copies of Authentic at the event before its public release.

Support Community Soul Feeding by Donating Hygiene Products

Community members serve soul food at a buffet. A close-up shows chicken, green beans, and mac 'n' cheese. Text: "Community Soul Feeding."

Hope Center Resources, in partnership with several other organizations, will be holding a Community Soul Feeding event on Sunday, September 7th at 1-3pm at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. There will be free hot meals, haircuts, hygiene packets, music, and resources for those facing housing or food insecurity.

As a community driven event, they are asking for your help to put together hygiene packets. You can visit this Facebook post with a specific list of items needed. Please contact Hope Center Resources for details.

Ways to Take Action for Change

Three people in colorful outfits raising fists.

Hire a Worker through Casa Latina

Casa Latina is a nonprofit organization that "advances the power and well-being of Latino immigrants through employment, education, and community organizing." In light of the ICE raids impacting the Latinx community, Casa Latina asks us to support them by hiring a worker through their Worker Center. You can either call at 206-956-0779 or submit a work order online.

Both Judy Lee and Ilsa Govan have used the service. Ilsa shares, "I used Casa Latina's database to hire someone to help me with yard work and landscaping. A man showed up fully equipped with his own tools and exceeded my expectations in the quality of work done."

Casa Latina will also be holding a Resilience Gala on October 4th called Rhythms of Resilience. The event "honors the strength, perseverance, and contributions of the Latinx immigrant community in Washington State." Learn more about the event here.

Attend an Event or Volunteer with Common Power

Common Power is a Seattle based organization that focuses on voting justice to create a more inclusive democracy. They do this through volunteer action to help improve voter turnout and educational opportunities for adults, students, and teachers. Action Academy, for example, is specifically for students to learn about and become equipped to engage in civics. Their Truth and Purpose Learning experiences for adults tour the south to learn about the Civil Rights Movement from scholars and foot soldiers who participated during that era.

Our Project Manager Judy Lee attended a learning session by Dr. Terry Anne Scott, director of the education arm of Common Power, about the history of the Voting Right Act on its 60th anniversary at the NW African American Museum and found it incredibly engaging and powerful. The next event by Dr. Scott will be on August 28th on "Till's Whistle: The Seventieth Anniversary of Emmett Till's Murder" which you can buy tickets to here.

Connect with Mobilize

Mobilize is a platform that aggregates events, petitions, and volunteer opportunities based on your areas of interest in order to help you stay connected and politically engaged. Visit their website and sign up for their newsletter here.

Get Involved with Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites (CARW)

CARW is a collective of White organizers based in Seattle that educates, organizes, and mobilizes white people in partnership with BIPOC-led movements to show up for racial justice and collective liberation. There are several ways to engage with them including:

Join their 2026 cohort to stay supported and accountable in community.
Contribute to their mutual aid drive to help neighbors in Greenwood, North Beacon Hill, Super Familia and West Seattle mutual aids group to stay cool this summer with cooling supplies. Venmo @Thomas-Eggert-4.
Sign up for the Freedom Project's Action Circle to get clear, actionable steps to push for policy change, attend a rally, and more.
Provide mutual aid for a Native elder Sweetwater Nannauck, director of Idle No More Washington to secure housing via PayPal at idlenomorewa@gmail.com or Venmo @Sweetwater-Nannauck.

It's a new month which means taking a look at our Diversity Calendar to look at significant dates to consider when planning meetings or events to create greater inclusion. Click on the name of the day to learn more.

9/04-05: Eid-e-Milad/Mawlid al-Nabi (Islam)
9/11: Enkutatash (New Year) (Ethiopian)
9/15: Central American Independence Day (Central American)
9/16: Mexican Independence Day (Mexican)
9/18-19: Fiestas Patrias/Independence Day (Chilean)
9/20-26: International Week of the Deaf
9/21: International Day of Peace
9/22: Mabon (Neo-Pagan)
9/22-24: Rosh Hashanah (New Year) (Jewish)
9/23: International Day of Sign Languages
9/30: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation/ Orange Shirt Day (Canadian)

Calendar with colorful push pins on a yellow background. Text reads "Social Justice DEIB Calendar," conveying organization and inclusivity.

Upcoming DEIB/Social Justice Events

For details on these and other events, workshops and conferences happening in the social justice space, visit our Events Calendar. If you have an event you would like us to share, please reach out to us!