Quarterly Progress Report

Person Completing Form: Quyet Huynh

Agency Name: International District Housing Alliance
Program Name: King County Food & Fitness Initiative, Youth Engagement Coordination
For Quarter Ending: July 1, 2008 – Final Report

1. Youth Participants: Meetings / Activities

ƒ Grocery Audit, May 24, 2008 from 10:00am – 2:00pm
Meet at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
The KCFFI youth, along with other youth from the community, worked with Branden Born,
Assistant Professor at the University of Washington’s College of Architecture & Urban
Design, to audit grocery and corner stores in the Delridge and White Center communities.
After a short orientation, Branden sent youth out in pairs to a total of 20 stores, with $5.00 to
purchase food from each store, to donate to the West Seattle Food Bank. One pair was asked
to leave from two major grocery stores in the middle of data collection. Two other pairs were
each told that they could not collect data in the corner stores.

ƒ Detroit Conference Planning, June 5th, from 5:00pm – 6:00pm

Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
With the Youth Networking Conference in Detroit quickly approaching, the youth wanted to
meet to discuss what to expect at the conference, as well as to distribute necessary forms.
There was discussion around rules & expectations, who the other attendees would be, and the
communities that would be participating. The youth also brainstormed ideas for using the
mini-grant from the California Center for Civic Participation and created strategies for
making Wednesday Night Dinners more appealing to young people in the community.

ƒ Pre-conference Preparation, June 17th, from 5:00pm – 6:00pm

Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
The youth engagement coordinator met with youth participants prior to departing for the
Food & Fitness Networking Conference to collect necessary forms, finalize plans and answer
questions. Conference rules & guidelines set out by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the
California Center were reviewed. The group was also asked to create an ice breaker to
facilitate with all 200 conference attendees.

King County Food & Fitness Initiative Page 1

WSU KCE Youth Coordination Subcontract Report
Contract Period: 2/1/08 – 6/30/08
ƒ Food & Fitness Networking Conference, June 22nd – June 26th
Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan
Though the majority of the conference attendees were adults, the Youth Engagement
Associates built in youth-focused sessions to ensure that youth maximized their experience
and learning. Each day started and ended with a youth check in, where the youth discussed
their expectations and impressions of the day. Youth were also organized into tracks, so that
their time was spent focused on learning about communications (Cham & Emma), youth
engagement (Kamilah & Jennifer), evaluation, multiculturalism (Thomas), built environment
or food systems. Each day provided an opportunity for the youth to learn about something
that they found interesting and relevant to themselves and their track.

ƒ Monday, June 23rd: The first morning, all youth participants spent time reviewing
the Food & Fitness Initiative and their role in it. Also reviewed were
rules/guidelines, expectations and the schedule for the week. Youth were
encouraged to speak their mind, even when intimidated by the number of adults
present. The late afternoon was left open for the youth to explore the area
surrounding the hotel, including the River Days Festival on The Riverwalk. A
welcoming dinner concluded the day with all attendees from all nine communities
and W.K. Kellogg Foundation representatives.

ƒ Tuesday, June 24th: Following a speech by Majora Carter titled “Creating Social
Change – Community in Action,” attendees broke out into one of the eleven
sessions. The afternoon was reserved for site visits throughout Detroit, with the
Seattle youth visiting: The Riverwalk and Earthworks Urban Farm; Catherine
Ferguson Academy and Adams/Butzel Recreation Complex and Garden; and
Calder Dairy & Farm.

ƒ Wednesday, June 25th: Twenty three sessions were offered throughout the day
covering information pertaining to scaling up to sustain change, the impacts of
federal policies on local environments, advocacy, and skill building in the areas
ranging from youth adult partnerships to creating change on the policy level. The
youth attended sessions that were interesting and relevant to their youth track,
including “Youth Adult Partnerships and Engagement Part 1” and “Persuasive
Messaging: How to Use and Create Effective Messages to Motivate Action.”

ƒ Thursday, June 26th: On this final morning of the conference, time was reserved
for participants with similar roles in the initiative to discuss the conference and
what their next steps will be in their communities. All of the youth participants
attended the “Youth Leaders” affinity group with the Youth Engagement
Associates.

King County Food & Fitness Initiative Page 2

WSU KCE Youth Coordination Subcontract Report
Contract Period: 2/1/08 – 6/30/08
2. Youth Participants
Meetings or Activities Attended

Networking
Conference
Conference
6/5 Detroit

6/22-6/26
6/17 Pre-
Grocery

Meeting

Detroit

Hours
Youth
Audit
Youth Name Specific Comments

Total
5/24
1. Ben Kieu + .5 hours for participation at 5/31/08 4 4.5
2. MyCham Ba 4 1 1 29 35
3. Emma Henderson + 2 hours for participation at 5/5/08 4 1 29 36
4. Danny Huang + 2 hours for participation at 5/5/08 4 1 7
5. Kamilah Debnam 1 1 29 31
6. Thomas Green, Jr. 4 1 1 29 35
7. Jennifer Cortez 1 29 30
8. Sang Huynh Grocery Audit Volunteer 4 4
9. Elvis Vo Grocery Audit Volunteer 4 4
10. Dat Nguyen Grocery Audit Volunteer 4 4
11. Virak Mao Grocery Audit Volunteer 4 4
12. Chi Vo Grocery Audit Volunteer 4 4
Total youth participants: 12 Total Hours participated: 198.5

3. Outcomes & Lessons Learned of Youth Participation

ƒ Grocery Audit
The grocery and corner store audits received mixed reactions. Many of the youth saw the
value in knowing what is available in their neighborhood grocers, and some even thought
the audit was interesting, but most thought the audit was frustrating and tedious. Some of
the youth were frustrated by the fact that they were not prepared to be completely honest
with store owners and managers about their presence in the store, making them feel
dishonest and “sneaky.” The youth also felt that the list of food items was too long,
saying that they were at some of the major grocery stores for over one hour. When asked
if they would do it again, most said that they would not. However, everyone felt good
about being able to purchase foods to be donated to the West Seattle Food Bank.

ƒ Food & Fitness Networking Conference, Detroit, MI

Overall, the youth had positive feedback about the conference. Most exciting was the
opportunity to meet youth from across the nation who are working on the same initiative
in their communities through different projects. For those who attended the Youth
Networking Conference in Tucson, meeting in Detroit was another opportunity to further
develop relationships with each other. Also important were the relationships built with
the Youth Engagement Associates, as they are adults dedicated to including and
promoting youth perspectives and contributions. In interacting with both the youth and
adult participants, the Seattle youth were able to see the possibilities for future
programming and community and personal growth.

King County Food & Fitness Initiative Page 3

WSU KCE Youth Coordination Subcontract Report
Contract Period: 2/1/08 – 6/30/08
 ƒ Communications
The ability to share information in an effective manner is important. The most popular
sessions at the Food & Fitness Networking Conference were ones dealing with how to
share messages and information. The youth particularly enjoyed working with the Youth
Engagement Associates and Pyramid Communications, as they talked specifically about
creating a message that is interesting to varying populations.

4. Youth Serving Organizations: Meetings / Activities

ƒ Meeting of Youth Serving Organizations, May 5th, from 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
In preparation for the Food & Fitness Networking Meeting in Detroit, youth-serving
organizations met to establish expectations for participation this summer for youth who are
selected to attend the conference. Also covered were principles of engagement and guidelines
for participation, established and mutually agreed upon by the group in the same manner as
youth led programs. Finally, possible assessments available for youth participation were
presented, including Delridge Day, grocery audit, walking audit, and a Photovoice or video
project.

ƒ Delridge Day, May 31st, from 11:00am – 4:00pm

Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
Organized and led by Branden Born, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington’s
College of Architecture & Urban Design, this event was a great opportunity to meet and
discuss with local residents the grocery and food needs of the community. Several residents
discussed in great detail the need for a grocery store to be located on Delridge Way, also
speaking to rumors that a Trader Joe’s or Uwajimaya would be built on the Seattle School
District’s Louisa Boren Junior High School site. Residents were excited that people from
outside of their community had begun to look at the needs of the Delridge neighborhood.

ƒ Event Updates, June 2nd, 2008

Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
With the grocery audit and Delridge Day events completed, youth-serving organizations were
updated. Feedback from the youth regarding the grocery audit was presented. None of the
youth were able to attend Delridge Day to survey visitors, but a few were present with other
organizations. The majority of the time was spent discussing details of the Wednesday Night
Dinners, and figuring out how to most efficiently use that time to gather useable data for the
community action plan. Finally, the mini grant was presented to the youth serving
organizations, highlighting the youth led process of this grant, with the money to be used to
further support youth engagement.

King County Food & Fitness Initiative Page 4

WSU KCE Youth Coordination Subcontract Report
Contract Period: 2/1/08 – 6/30/08
5. Youth Serving Organizations
Meetings or Activities Attended

Hours
5/31/08

Total
5/5/08

6/2/08
Organizations Participants
1. Youth Media Institute ƒ Marissa Chavez 2 1 3
ƒ Estevan Munoz-Howard 2 1 3
2. Youngstown Cultural Center & ƒ Randy Engstrom 2 1 3
Delridge Neighborhood ƒ Alberto Mejia 2 2
Development Association
3. International District Housing ƒ Joyce Pisnanont 2 2
Alliance ƒ Quyet Huynh 2 5 1 8
4. Public Health Seattle King ƒ Erin MacDougall 4 1 5
County ƒ Roxana Chen 2 2
5. Washington State University ƒ Sue Lerner 2 1 3
King County Extension ƒ Maggie Anderson 2 5 1 8
ƒ Brad Gaolach 1 1
6. Cascade Bicycle Club ƒ Serena Lehman 2 2
7. Austin Foundation ƒ Vanisha Duggal 2 1 3
ƒ Willie Austin 1 1
8. YMCA ƒ Amy White 1 1
ƒ Shalimar Gonzales 1 1
9. KCFFI Youth – Hours counted ƒ Emma Henderson 2
in youth hours ƒ Danny Huang 2
ƒ Ben Kieu .5
Total Organizations: 8 Total Participants: 19 Total Hours: Hours: 48

6. Reflections of the Youth Engagement Coordination Team

In preparation for the transition of the youth engagement coordination subcontract, much time
has been dedicated to wrapping up work with the youth and preparing for the Food & Fitness
Networking Conference. I thoroughly enjoyed my time getting to know the new youth at the
conference, and watching them build relationships with other youth, the Youth Engagement
Associates, Pyramid Communications representatives and adults from across the nation. I look
forward to seeing the work that comes out of the group under the leadership of Randy Engstrom
(and team) at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.

Though I agree that shifting the youth engagement coordination over to a coordinator with more
experience and resources would be in the best interest of the youth, I also struggled with how the
youth would perceive this shift. Prior to departing for Detroit, I informed the youth that I would
no longer be the Youth Engagement Coordinator, but I was not prepared to give them any more
information. Given that I was unable to provide the youth with information regarding who would
be taking on the youth coordination piece, it is understandable that the youth might start to
disengage. The King County Food & Fitness Initiative is very much in the beginning stages, and
it is important that we all keep the youth as informed as possible as the initiative continues to
grow.
King County Food & Fitness Initiative Page 5
WSU KCE Youth Coordination Subcontract Report
Contract Period: 2/1/08 – 6/30/08