Seattle, WA. Although the COVID-19 crisis forced FEEST Seattle to pause nearly all of its usual activities, the youth-led, health justice organization quickly shifted gears to bring much-needed nourishment to the homes of students in South Seattle and South King County through a grocery delivery program. As Community Engagement Manager Leigh Thomas explained, pandemic-related school closures and job losses have amplified food insecurity, especially for the low-income, youth of color served by FEEST. “We saw a gap in families getting groceries,” Thomas said, “and we decided to bring the food to the students.”
Staff, donors, and volunteers rallied to fill this gap by purchasing and delivering groceries to over 600 families that requested assistance between March and June of 2020 (see above photo of FEEST staff and volunteers purchasing groceries). Currently, FEEST is offering grocery assistance in the form of pre-paid gift cards for eligible families in the Sea-Tac, South Seattle, Skyway, Tukwila, White Center, Burien, and Delridge areas. More information about this program can be found on the grocery gift-card page of the FEEST site and those who would like to contribute can do so through the donation link.
Youth gather around the table at a FEEST community dinner (pre-COVID-19).
Founded in 2008, FEEST is a non-profit organization focused on bringing Seattle youth of color together to build community and organize around issues of food access and health justice. Prior to COVID-19, community dinners, where young people prepared and shared a meal, were the heart of the organization’s mission “to set the table for young people to transform the health and equity of their community by gathering around food & working towards systems change” (see photo above of teens at a FEEST dinner). According to the organization’s leaders, “the FEEST kitchen creates space for young people to reclaim their health, celebrate ancestral food traditions, and share radical joy. In addition to the practical skills youth learn in the kitchen, breaking bread together builds lasting community connections that become a foundation for long-term organizing.”
In the past, this organizing has generated several successful youth-led campaigns. Motivated by the belief that “all students deserve to have access to fresh, hot, nutritious, and culturally relevant meals whenever they need them” (FEEST website), a group of FEEST youth leaders worked directly with school administrators to add new, healthy, culturally relevant foods like squash curry and lentil stew to the lunch menus at Highline Public Schools. FEEST youth also created two innovative healthy snack pilot programs that brought free, nutritious snacks to students at Evergreen and Chief Sealth High Schools. Watch FEEST youth talk about their participation in FEEST and their roles as “food justice leaders” in the video below.
This school year, Thomas shared that FEEST plans to continue the grocery gift-card program, and also to bring back some additional programs, beginning with a “youth fellowship program” where students will discuss social justice issues that concern them, and identify causes that they would like to rally around. The best way to support FEEST at this time is to donate, which can be done through the link here.
FEEST is an organization led by youth of color in South Seattle and South King County working to improve health in our schools. Focusing on the need for more healthy, affordable, and culturally relevant food at school, FEEST centers young people as leaders toward concrete changes in our food systems. Youth are in the lead at FEEST because change is not effective unless those most impacted by health inequities are the decision makers. When young people lead the way with creative solutions, the whole community benefits. Fierce youth who speak truth to power are essential in a time when our communities are constantly under threat by a political system that directly threatens our survival.
We seek health justice: the elimination of all barriers for people to live physically, mentally, socially, culturally healthy lives.
Our mission is to set the table for young people to transform the health and equity of their community by gathering around food & working towards systems change.
Seattle, WA. TeenTix has adapted its programming to accommodate for COVID-19. (Pictured above are some smiling teens at a TeenTix event before COVID-19.) One of TeenTix’s main offerings is the free TeenTix pass, which enables any teenager to purchase $5 day-of-show tickets to an event with any of TeenTix’s partner organizations in the greater Seattle area. The TeenTix Events Calendar shows all of the upcoming arts events that teens can attend with their TeenTix pass. Currently, the TeenTix Events Calendar contains all virtual events, many of which are free for the public to view. However, if an event requires a registration fee or ticket for viewing, these tickets will be available for $5 for those who have the TeenTix pass.
Through increasing access to local art events, TeenTix’s mission is to “build a bright future for [the Seattle region] by empowering young people to take an active role in shaping their arts community as audience members, critics, influencers, advocates, and patrons.” Despite the unforeseen circumstances COVID-19 brought about, including virtual events on the TeenTix Events Calendar has allowed the nonprofit to “go outside its usual partners,” even reaching as far as Philadelphia. Executive Director Monique Courcy shares that the organization has “thought more about geographical boundaries” and how TeenTix can “go even further with arts organizations” moving forward.
A TeenTix event before the COVID-19 pandemic
TeenTix’s New Guard program has also pivoted in new ways this summer. The New Guard: Teen Arts Leadership Society is a leadership program that allows teens to engage with teen arts audiences and assist with the development of TeenTix programs. The New Guard’s tasks include fundraising, planning teen-centric arts events, engaging in discussions about arts equity and social justice, and building a community of teens who love the arts.
The New Guard participants meeting prior to COVID-19
According to Courcy, “Zoom has been [the New Guard’s] best friend” this summer. Last spring, New Guard participants planned the Teen Arts & Opportunity Fair. More recently, participants produced a summer mentorship program that connected professional artists of color with groups of young artists of color. Members also have the opportunity to produce art for the upcoming Teeny Awards, an award show in which teenagers vote for awards to give to arts partners. This year’s Teeny Awards will be conducted online later this fall.
The TeenTix Press Corps has also transitioned its programming online. The Press Corps program allows teens to explore and practice art criticism and journalism. As a result of COVID-19, Press Corps participants are meeting through Zoom and finding virtual art pieces to review and critique. An essential part of the Press Corps is the TeenTix Newsroom, which consists of a group of teen writers who review events put on by TeenTix Arts Partners and publish their work on the TeenTix blog. The TeenTix Newsroom is led by the Teen Editorial Staff. The 2020-2021 Teen Editorial Staff is pictured below.
The 2020/2021 TeenTix Teen Editorial Staff. The top row from left to right features Mila Borowski, Triona Suiter, and Lily Williamson. The bottom row from left to right features Lucia McLaren, Eleanor Cenname, and Anya Shukla.
A TeenTix Newsroom meeting over Zoom. This year, 37 new writers and 6 new editors are joining the TeenTix Newsroom.
A TeenTix Press Corps workshop prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
This summer, TeenTix also conducted a free Arts as Activism series, in which black artists were invited to discuss their work or the work of other black artists. Courcy shares that this series was meant to “talk about how activism is related to art.” Each event in the Arts as Activism series focused on a different genre of art, including theater, dance, and performance art. Attendees learned about the history of social justice movements and how art is intertwined with both past and present ones.
From TeenTix:
To support TeenTix, people may donate today or provide monthly contributions by joining the TeenTix Honor Society.
TeenTix exists to break down the barriers that prevent teens from accessing art in our community, such as ticket or admission cost, not knowing where to look for events, navigating transportation around the city, and feeling insecure around arts-going if there’s no one in their lives already championing the arts.
TeenTix builds a bright future for our region by empowering young people to take an active role in shaping their arts community as audience members, critics, influencers, advocates, patrons, and leaders.
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