Meeting JSON
Layered meeting payload combining source, parsed, summary, and hindsight references.
Meeting JSON
JSON
x175646
generated inline payload
Layered meeting payload combining source, parsed, summary, and hindsight references.
{
"city": "seattle",
"canonicalVideoId": "x175646",
"source": {
"meeting": {
"fileName": "x175646.json",
"path": "data/cities/seattle/source/meetings/x175646.json",
"sourceStem": "x175646",
"variantCount": 1,
"variantFiles": [
"x175646.json"
],
"metadata": {
"videoId": "x175646",
"title": "Mayor announces Every Child Ready initiative, renewal of Seattle’s education levy",
"date": "2025-07-22",
"committee": "General",
"videoUrl": "https://www.seattlechannel.org/explore-videos?videoid=x175646",
"description": "Meeting summary available...."
}
},
"transcript": {
"fileName": "2025-07-04_general_mayor-announces-every-child-ready-initia_x175646.srt",
"path": "data/cities/seattle/source/transcripts/2025-07-04_general_mayor-announces-every-child-ready-initia_x175646.srt",
"sourceStem": "2025-07-04_general_mayor-announces-every-child-ready-initia_x175646",
"size": 68770,
"variantCount": 2,
"variantFiles": [
"2025-07-04_general_mayor-announces-every-child-ready-initia_x175646.srt",
"2025-07-22_general_mayor-announces-every-child-ready-initia_x175646.srt"
],
"rawHash": "cd0fc5f003def426fdecef7fae96b55e2355a9447420d2541927e790b6cfc19b",
"textHash": "19cbebec94aa867450b981aea78462f4f401b96bceef464ff8f348a42b38a764",
"entryCount": 860,
"wordCount": 6109,
"speakerCount": 0,
"speakers": [],
"urls": {
"srt": "/seattle/api/source/transcript/x175646.srt",
"text": "/seattle/api/source/transcript/x175646.txt"
}
}
},
"parsed": {
"persistedAt": "2026-04-08T05:49:31.985Z",
"canonicalVideoId": "x175646",
"meeting": {
"title": "Mayor announces Every Child Ready initiative, renewal of Seattle’s education levy",
"date": "2025-07-22",
"committee": "General",
"videoUrl": "https://www.seattlechannel.org/explore-videos?videoid=x175646",
"sourceVideoId": "x175646",
"sourceFileName": "x175646.json",
"metadataVariantCount": 1,
"metadataVariantIds": [
"x175646"
]
},
"transcript": {
"sourceFileName": "2025-07-04_general_mayor-announces-every-child-ready-initia_x175646.srt",
"sourcePath": "/Users/thedjpetersen/code/seacc/data/seattle/transcripts/2025-07-04_general_mayor-announces-every-child-ready-initia_x175646.srt",
"variantCount": 2,
"variantFiles": [
"2025-07-04_general_mayor-announces-every-child-ready-initia_x175646.srt",
"2025-07-22_general_mayor-announces-every-child-ready-initia_x175646.srt"
],
"entryCount": 860,
"wordCount": 6109,
"speakerCount": 0,
"speakers": [],
"hash": "19cbebec94aa867450b981aea78462f4f401b96bceef464ff8f348a42b38a764"
},
"tags": [
"org:seattle-city-council",
"meeting:x175646",
"committee:general",
"year:2025",
"month:2025-07",
"date:2025-07-22"
],
"text": "♪♪\n♪♪\n-Good morning. Good morning, everyone.\n-Good morning. -Good.\nThank you all for joining us today.\nI want to first start --\nI'm going to start first by thanking Mayor hero,\nnot just for adjusting my mic,\nbut for his leadership\nand his commitment to Seattle's children and families.\nMy name is Dwane Chappelle.\nI'm the proud Director of the Department of Education\nand Early Learning.\nI also want to thank the amazing team here at Tiny Tots\nfor hosting us today.\nAnd let's give them a round of applause.\n[ Applause ]\nAnd the Odessa Brown's Children's Clinic,\nwhich is right upstairs.\nI also must acknowledge our city staff, our educators,\nand community partners,\nthis moment is possible because of your shared dedication.\nSince 2018,\nthe citizens of Seattle have shown their commitment\nto the children of our community by passing the FEPP Levy.\nTo date, that commitment has helped\nmore than 70,000 young people across the city.\nThat's right.\n70,000 young people across the city access\nhigh-quality life-shaping opportunities.\nToday marks the next step in that commitment\nas we launch the next phase of that commitment\nwith the Every Child Ready initiative.\nThis is a commitment to ensure every child in Seattle\nis ready to start for kindergarten,\nevery child is ready to start learning in K-12,\nand it's also to ensure every start is ready to launch --\nevery child is ready to launch into college and careers.\nThis bold new investment strategy\nthat reflects what we know to be true,\nwhich is the earliest years of a child's life\nare the foundational.\nThe more we can do to ensure every child is set up\nfor success before they start school,\nthe greater the impact we will have on the rest of their life.\nEvery Child Ready initiative ensures that more families,\nespecially those who don't qualify for federal\nor state funding but still need support,\ncan access free or affordable childcare and preschool.\nThat includes extended daycare for working families,\nservices for children experiencing homelessness,\nand culturally responsive early learning rooted in community.\nBut this initiative is also something bigger,\naddressing the entire continuum of support\nthat spans through a child's\nentire educational journey in our community,\nfrom free preschool and childcare\nto K-12 enrichment and health supports,\nand tuition-free college through the Seattle Promise.\nThat's right.\nEvery Child Ready is about creating a strong,\nseamless pathway for every child\nfrom cradle to college and career.\nOur investments are designed to remove barriers\nand advance racial equity,\nand surround young people with caring adults and opportunities\nthat they need to thrive.\nThe initiative includes renewing the Families,\nEducation, Preschool, and Promise Levy,\nwhich makes transformational investments\nin our youth and families.\nWe're seeing a real impact from the investment\nwe've made in our students' lives and learning.\nLast year,\nwe served more than 2,100 children were served\nthrough the Seattle Preschool program\nand most of them were children of color.\nAnd nearly two-thirds of the black girls in the program\nstarted Kindergarten Ready fully ready to learn.\n[ Applause ]\nIn K-12, over 19,000 students participated in DIL-led --\nin DIL-funded after-school and summer programs,\nand students receiving extra academic help\nmade real progress in math and reading.\nAnd through our Seattle Promise,\n1460 Seattle Public School graduates enrolled\nin college tuition-free,\nand nearly 70% of them were students of color.\nWe believe in a Seattle where every child is ready,\nnot just for kindergarten, but for life.\nAnd we invest in families early when we stay with them\nthrough every stage of learning,\nwe create stronger communities, stronger outcomes,\nand a stronger city.\nSo thank you for being part of this vision,\nfor continuing to make it real. So with that said,\nwhat I'm going to do is introduce our phenomenal mayor.\nBut before I call him up, I just want to share,\nas a councilmember,\nMayor Bruce Harrell championed the 13th year\nPromise scholarship which guaranteed\nthat every graduate could attend\nSouth Seattle Community College tuition-free in their first year\nand inspired the creation of the Seattle Promise Program.\nHe is a strong advocate for Seattle youth,\ncreating opportunities for them to thrive.\nWorking to expand mentorship programs,\nyouth employment opportunities,\nand mental health supports through investments\nand the Reach Out initiative. Without further ado,\nlet's give a warm welcome to Mayor Bruce Harrell.\n[ Applause ]\n-Thank you, Dwane.\nThank you, Dwane.\nSo, I'm very excited.\nThis is my excited face if you haven't seen it before.\nIt sort of looks like my serious face\nbut this is my excited face.\nI had a chance to talk to a few Cleveland Eagles,\na few Franklin Quakers, a few Rainier Beach Vikings,\n20-25 champions, kids going to Stanford and Rutgers.\nI read about that.\nThere's a few Bulldogs roaming around.\nBut I want to say that yesterday I spent some time\nat Denny International School. And these sixth, seventh,\neighth graders were asking me questions about tariffs.\nI kid you not.\nAnd I said when I was your age,\nI didn't even know what a tariff was.\nWe are a nation in crisis.\nMake no mistake about that.\nBut what we're doing here in Seattle\nwith this Levy is life-changing.\nIt has to be. I'll ground us in a quote.\n\"Education is the passport to the future.\nFor tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.\"\nThat comes from Malcolm X, a civil rights leader.\nSo I want to thank a few folks off the bat --\nLet me tighten this up a little bit.\nBy the way, I'm going to say everything\nthat Dwayne Chappelle said,\nbut I'm just going to say it differently so it sounds new.\nHe didn't leave me much to say in my notes.\nDeputy Mayor Tiffany Washington,\nyour work on this initiative has been a champion\nfor the kids and families.\nI want to thank you for all the work that you've done.\nCouncilmember Maritza Rivera, who you'll hear from,\nher partnership in shaping this Levy package\nand her shared focus on childcare access for families,\nshe is very thorough in what she does.\nAnd when she supports something, you have to earn it.\nAnd that is why she is a strong Councilmember.\nThank you, Councilmember, for your work.\n[ Applause ]\nSo, I'd like to sort of describe this package in three buckets,\nif you will.\nEvery Child Ready. Every Child Ready.\nI have to -- you know, I have to deviate sometimes.\nI see my adopted daughter\nwho babysat my kids now in a leadership position.\nI see my niece out here looking at me,\nseeing is my uncle going to mess up on what she says.\nThis is a community here,\na community of educational warriors.\nAnd, the young folks, it's all about you.\nOkay. I'm going to go back to my notes.\nYou know, many families cannot keep up with the inflation\nand the rising cost of childcare and preschool.\nSo this is a critical moment\nfor us to invest in health, safety,\nand success of Seattle children, our youth, and our families.\nI saw those Tiny Tots,\nwhat you're doing here\nis nothing short of magic and beauty and brilliance,\nand every good thing I could think of,\nevery adjective I could think of\nto describe what you're doing to save\nand create optimization in human beings, you are doing here.\nSo our first sort of bucket if you will\nis about what we're doing in our childcare and pre-K work.\nAttendance and test scores are lagging after the pandemic.\nWe have to look at the data.\nNow this is a challenge we need to address head-on\nwith strong academic supports\nand creating a healthy school environment.\nSo not a day goes by, literally,\nwhere I don't have to look at funding issues.\nI'm not the only one.\nCities across this nation\nare looking at what's coming out of the Trump administration\nand looking at the budget woes that we have\nand the county has and the state has.\nWe hear about that every single day.\nBut this initiative is our collective bold vision makes\nSeattle one of the best cities in the country\nto start and raise a family. That is in our DNA.\nWe have to recreate Seattle such\nthat people will say this is the go-to place to bring families.\nYou hear that, Dr. Jones?\nThe go-to place in our Seattle Public Schools.\nI am a Seattle Public School graduate.\nMy mother and father\nwere Seattle Public Schools graduates.\nIt's in my DNA.\nBut when I see these young folks,\nthis is why we're doing it.\nWe have to be a city\nthat accepts the gifts of every young person,\nand we have to nurture them to reach their full potential.\nAnd this is regardless as to who they are,\nwe are a welcoming city.\nWe welcome your talents.\n[ Applause ]\nSo to achieve this lofty goal,\none that everyone here is committed to,\nmy proposal is for a six-year $1.3 billion renewal\nof the Families, Education, Preschool, Promise.\nIt's building on the 35-year legacy\nof this transformative investment in Seattle youth\nand every one of our kids\nand every one of our families are worth every penny of that.\n-Yes, they are.\n[ Applause ]\n-This initiative will represent the largest investment\nin Seattle children and family\nsince the Levy was first passed in 1990.\nIt's bold.\nThat's how we get down here in Seattle.\n-That's right.\n-It's a bold commitment to our youth\nthat we will support them at every stage of life.\nThe first bucket, Ready to Start.\nWe'll more than double access to affordable care\nby adding 800 new subsidized childcare seats\nserving now 1,400 children a year.\n[ Applause ]\nTiny Tots shows us when you invest, it works.\nWe'll expand the nationally-acclaimed\nSeattle Preschool program by 600 new seats.\nWe'll serve 3,100, 3,100 of our youngest learners every here.\nAnd the people doing this work are so precious, so committed.\nWe will support the childcare workforce\nby providing direct payments to 5,000 workers\nsupporting retention in this critical field.\n[ Cheers and applause ]\nWe are messaging to you that we value you,\nwhat you do for our society, and that is important work.\nThe second phase, if you will, Ready to Learn.\nYou know, a child cannot learn\nwhen they're experiencing trauma or fear\nwhen they have to look to their left and right every single day,\nwhen they have to figure out a way\nto cope with something they've seen or something\nthey've experienced.\nWe will establish five new school-based health centers\nfor a total of 34 centers in Seattle schools.\nWe will expand access to medical, dental,\nand mental health services to 51,000 students.\nNow, we'll also expand free learning supports\nand enrichment programs, including after-school\nand summer programming to serve 19,000 youths so they're safe,\nhealthy, and engaged.\nAnd this learning supports and enhancement program,\nI want to get a special shout-out to Allison Shobe.\nIf I'm saying it right, Shobe.\nAlice, where are you, Alice?\nRight there, thank you, Alice.\nSo Amazon and the Right Now Needs Fund\nis a big partner in this space.\nAnd so we recognize this is a best practice\nand so thank you for your leadership\nand thank you for Amazon's participation.\nAnd the last bucket, if you will, will be Ready to Launch.\nWe do the pre-care. We do the childcare.\nWe do the nurturing. We do the inspiration.\nOur Seattle Promise program\nthat Dwane Chappelle talked about\nwill now provide free tuition for up to two years\nat Seattle Colleges, now serving 1475 scholars a year.\nThat's nearly 1,500 lives\nthat will be permanently positively affected by this.\nWe'll prepare the next generation of the workforce\nwith investments in career pathways,\nincluding creating a new path to the trades program\nwith apprenticeships and skill-building\nopportunities for graduates looking to enter skill trades.\nLet me explain that a little better than what I just read.\nWe are a port city. We are a maritime city.\nWe're also high-tech and biotech.\nWe have a lot of things going on.\nBut first and foremost, we've always been a port --\nwe're an international city.\nTrading partners like in Korea and Japan and Canada,\ndare I say, with some of the tariff issues\nwe're dealing with.\nBut in this maritime city, there are good union,\nwell-paying jobs that we want everyone to take part in.\nSo this program now allows this next generation of workforce,\na workforce to pipe into these jobs.\nAnd we think that could be a very viable route for people\nthat want an opportunity that they may not ordinarily see.\nThe last piece of the Ready to Launch bucket,\nif you will, is helping Seattle College scholars transfer\nto the University of Washington to continue their studies.\nWe'll have over 100 students\nand we'll find out who wants to be a Husky.\nA few Huskies out here. All right.\nBut these three buckets that I describe,\nquite honestly, thank you for being here\nbecause we cannot do it without you.\nWe realize that right now we -- are -- are those fans of mine?\n[ Laughter ]\nWe realize there are -- there's a lot of uncertainty,\nsometimes a lot of fear. But we are messaging to everyone\nthat our kids and our educators and our childcare workers\nand our pre-K instruction -- instruction -- instruction.\nI'll put it on a -- instruction doers.\nInstruction doers. That they really matter.\nAnd I bring a little levity to this\nbecause this is us at our best.\nWe're going to get this across the finish line.\nWe're going to do it with you.\nWe're going to advocate loudly for our kids.\nWe're going to advocate -- there's a future your mayor,\ngovernor, possible president right here to my left.\nSo I'll hand it over back to Director Chappelle\nbut I need to thank this educational community here.\nMany of you I've known for 20, 30, 40 years,\nyou're old like me.\nWe're going to get this past the promise line\nbecause we are on the right side of history\nwhen we do this kind of work.\nThank you very much.\n[ Applause ]\n-Thank you, Mayor.\nNow you all see how fantastic our mayor truly is\nand it's been a pleasure working for you,\nbut also a pleasure for your commitment\nof everything you've done.\nSo thank you, Mayor.\nSo now what I would like to do is introduce someone\nthat I've also had the pleasure of working with\nfor quite some time and it's been very rewarding,\nCouncilmember Rivera.\nShe is the chair of the select committee of the FEPP Levy.\nShe's also a mom of two teenage daughters\nand was inspired to take action to become a city leader\nafter the tragic shooting at Ingraham High School.\nAgain, as I just mentioned,\nI've had the pleasure of working with her for quite some time.\nAnd she has truly been a passionate voice\nfor more affordable childcare options.\nWithout further ado,\nlet's give a round for Councilmember Rivera.\n[ Applause ]\n-All right. Let's see. I'm not quite as tall as our mayor.\nThank you, Mayor.\nSee, this is how we help each other.\n-Yes, yes. Yes. -Thank you, Mayor.\nThank you, Director Chappelle, and thank you,\nMayor Harrell, for including me here today.\nThis is an amazing day.\nIt cannot be more fitting that the sun came out in Seattle\ntoday because this is something to truly get excited\nand inspired about.\nWhat more inspiring than looking at these kids here today\nand the babies that are here,\nand I saw earlier Ms. Hicks in your Tiny Tots Center.\nThank you to all the amazing providers at Tiny Tots\nfor welcoming us here today. For 35 years,\nvoters have invested in our children and our families\nwith the families and education levies in Seattle.\nWe know that these investments are even more important today\nin light of the federal administration's\nunconscionable attacks on our working families\nand our children. As a city,\nwe cannot replace every federal program that is being cut\nor dismantled,\nbut here is what we can do with this important levy renewal.\nWe can build on Seattle's decades-long legacy\nof investing in our children's academic futures\nby doubling our childcare investment\nand increasing enrollment and preschool by 600 slots a year.\nThis will help our working families\nwho are struggling to make ends meet,\nespecially as childcare costs continue to rise.\nThese high-quality early learning programs will set\nchildren up for a lifetime of success.\nThis has been very well-researched.\nWe can help our K-12 students thrive\nby giving them the academic and health supports\nthey need to be successful in school.\nThis includes significant investments\nin mental health care,\nboth in-person and online, for our kids\nwho are still grappling with the learning losses\nand the social challenges associated with living\nthrough a global pandemic.\nWe can pave the way to a bright future\nby providing universal access to a two-year college degree\nor a Path to Trades\nwith our successful Seattle Promise program.\nThe Path to Trades is especially meaningful to me.\nThe daughter of a welder in a factory\nwhose good union job was the reason\nmy family could have a roof over our head and food on our table.\nI want our Seattle Public School graduates\nto have access to post-secondary opportunities of their choice,\nwhether that's a college degree or a career in the trades\nthat provides well-paying union jobs.\n[ Applause ]\nAnd most importantly, we can work together,\neven as this administration is trying to tear us apart.\nI want to highlight the partnership and collaboration\nthat has resulted in this levy proposal.\nThis truly has been a joint effort.\nMayor Harrell, I want to thank you\nfor this strong collaboration and for including my priorities\nand those of my colleagues in this package.\nWe know that we serve our children and families\nbest when we truly engage and collaborate in one Seattle way.\nAnd in particular,\nI want to acknowledge Deputy Mayor Washington\nfor her incredible partnership.\n[ Applause ]\nI look forward to leading this proposal\nthrough the City Council\nand working with my colleagues\nto put a levy renewal package on the ballot this November\nthat we can all be proud of.\nThank you.\n[ Applause ]\n-Thank you, councilmember.\nThank you, councilmember Rivera.\nSo, next up, what I would like to do,\nthough, I'm going to read a little bit\nabout this individual.\nMany of you know her from being embedded\nin this community for decades.\nShe is the leader of the community.\nBut now I'm going to be introducing the CEO\nof Tiny Tots, Mrs. Angelia Hicks-Maxie.\nMs. Maxie is the CEO of the Tiny Tots Development Center.\nTiny Tots was founded by her mother, Helen Hicks,\nwho is on the mural in the hall right out here, in 1969.\nDeeply rooted in the family legacy,\nMs. Maxie began working at Tiny Tots as a child\nand is now leading it as a CEO.\nTiny Tots is a long partner with the City of Seattle,\nboth through our preschool program\nand our childcare assistance program.\nSo without further ado, let's give it up for Ms. Maxie.\n[ Applause ]\n-Thank you so much, Mr. Chappelle,\nwho has been such a strong advocate for us\nin the community.\nWe would not make it without the partnership of DIL\nand we are so pleased.\nThere's a couple of things I want to just say off of the bat,\nwhich is I am a Rainier Beach graduate, an alumni.\nMy granddaughter is currently a student there now,\nso thank you, Principal Patu.\nAnd she is also a part of the Seattle Promise program.\nI really didn't even connect it until you all\nstarted talking about that.\nAnd I said, \"Oh yeah, Tamia goes to college right now.\"\nShe does.\nSo, that is what she's doing as well.\nI want to also thank the Mayor for his leadership\nbecause the Seattle Preschool Program,\nwhich we are a part of,\nnot only does it fund a number of the slots\nthat allows the children to attend here,\nbut the program also supports our teaching staff.\nOur teaching staff are able to go back to school\nto get their degrees through this program.\nThey're able to take time off of work\nand the program is able to fund me a substitute\nwhile my staff is getting educated to educate\nthese little learners.\nSo it's a full-circle program that works so well for us.\nFinally, I want to say that my staff made this for the Mayor.\nIt says, \"Teaching is a walk in the park.\"\nAnd it's a Jurassic Park theme cup.\n\"When you have the support from Mayor Bruce Harrell.\"\n[ Cheers and applause ]\nWe also want to thank him on behalf of all of the employees\nbecause our staff just recently received\nSeattle Childcare Retention bonuses.\nTeachers work so hard every day what they do.\nAnd during the pandemic,\nthe city recognized that and the Mayor has continued\nto keep that program going.\nAnd I thought I heard that it's still going to keep going.\nSo we're excited about that\nbecause the teachers need to just know a little bit\nthat the community respects the work that they do.\nSo, Mayor, we respect you.\nThank you.\n[ Applause ]\nThank you.\n-All right.\nAll right, one more time for Ms. Maxie.\nY'all, let's give it up for her. Okay.\nSo now what I'm going to be doing,\nI'm going to introduce Nisreen.\nNisreen is the School-Based Health Program Manager here\nat Odessa Brown's Clinic.\nAnd Odessa Brown is a health provider\nat three school-based health centers,\nwhich provide critical medical, dental,\nand mental health services in schools,\nreducing barriers to access.\nSo let's give Ms. Nisreen a round of applause.\n[ Applause ]\n-Thank you, Mayor Harrell,\nand all involved in today's celebration.\nMy name is Nisreen El-Saadoun,\nand I work at Odessa Brown Children's Clinic\nas a school-based health program manager.\nSchool-based health care plays a critical role in individual\nand community health.\nVaccines, ongoing mental health therapy sessions,\ndental care,\nand well-child checks can all take place at school\nduring the day without disruption to a family's\nwork schedule or a student's attendance.\nOdessa Brown Children's Clinic currently operates\nthree school-based health centers\nwithin the Seattle School District.\nThis year, more than half of our appointments\nwere for mental health counseling,\nwhich includes elementary and high school students.\nLast year,\nthe 29 different school-based health centers\nacross Seattle Public Schools\nhad over 32,000 appointments by students,\nwith more than half of those visits\nalso being for mental health therapy sessions.\nBy reducing stigma\nand fostering open communications\nabout mental health and substance use,\nwe empower young people to make informed decisions about\ntheir health and well-being with safe, caring adults.\nSchool-based health is not transactional care,\nit is community care, it is cultural.\nIt is relationship building and it involves trust.\nI've seen teens swing by their school-based\nhealth center just to say hi.\nI've witnessed our staff make sure students\nget properly fitted and receive free helmets or life jackets\nbefore summer break.\nI've witnessed how quickly\nand intentionally school-based health center staff wrap\ntheir care around patients\nwho are experiencing a crisis to ensure a safety and care\nplan are in place.\nI've seen multidisciplinary teams find innovative solutions\nto support a student's\nlife-saving medication management\nat their school-based health center\nafter the team learned they could not make it\nto their medical appointments outside of school.\nSchool-based health centers celebrate each student's\nsuccesses and growth\nand aim to address any challenges a student, family,\nor school community may be facing holistically,\nfrom in-classroom workshops to one-on-one\npatient care to free resources and program connections.\nWith five new school-based health centers opening\nin Seattle,\nthousands of kids will have access to the quality care\nthey deserve,\nmaking our communities healthier and stronger.\nThank you.\n[ Cheers and applause ]\n-Thank you, Nisreen.\nSo now what I would like to do is introduce a parent,\nor should I say a proud parent, of the Tiny Tots program.\nLauren Bogert has one,\nand one child will soon be attending Tiny Tots so,\nMs. Bogert, please come on up say some words.\n-Thank you. Hi, my name is Lauren.\nThis is my newest baby who will soon be a member of Tiny Tots.\nI just want to talk about what a wonderful experience I've had\nas a parent having my child at Tiny Tots.\nThis is her very first year of preschool here\nand just watching how much she's grown\nand developed over the last couple of months\nhas been amazing.\nI mean, educationally, I see her doing so well.\nI see her recognizing letters.\nI see her like really, really interested in books and reading\nand singing songs, and importantly,\nlike her social development has been incredible.\nShe was such a shy child,\nand now I see her going up to other kids\nat the park asking to play.\nIt's been so critical for her social development\nas well as her educational development.\nI think the biggest thing I've noticed\nis my mother was a public school kindergarten teacher\nfor nearly 40 years, and she was in town visiting very recently.\nAnd it was just fun to have her kind of interact\nwith my daughter, and she was telling me things like, wow,\nat three and a half,\nI'm seeing her more prepared for kindergarten\nthan some of the kindergarten students I've had in the past.\n[ Applause ]\nIt's just been such a positive experience\nand I can say with a lot of confidence\nI am not worried about her going to kindergarten at all\nand we have a full another year of preschool\nso thank you, Tiny Tots.\nThis has been a wonderful experience.\n-Thank you, Lauren.\nSo next up, I'm going to introduce --\nyou heard the Mayor earlier talk about Huskies, future Huskies,\nso I am introducing a Husky by way of the Seattle Promise,\nby way of Cleveland Eagles High School,\nwho will be graduating high school -- excuse me --\nwho will be graduating in a few weeks.\nSo her name is Fathima Garcia.\nFathima is a Seattle Promise alumni\nand also serves as a Promise Ambassador,\nhelping more Seattle students realize\nthat going to college is an option in reach for them.\nShe also interned at the City of Seattle,\nand we are excited to have her speak today\nabout her experience\nas a first-generation college student.\nCome on up, Fathima.\nLet's give her a round of applause.\n[ Applause ]\n-Good morning, everyone.\nMy name is Fatima Garcia.\nI'm a senior at the University of Washington.\nYes.\nI'm studying Human Resources Management\nat the Foster School of Business,\nwhich is really a proud moment in my journey,\nbut my journey to this moment began at Seattle Central College\nwhere I earned my associate degree in business\nas a Seattle Promise Scholar. Just two years ago,\nwhich is crazy, time flies,\nI was preparing to wrap up my time at Seattle Central College\nand take the next step in my academic journey.\nI look back on that time with so much joy and gratitude\nbecause I felt so deeply supported in all aspects,\nfrom my retention specialist to the Seattle Promise team,\nand overall the Seattle Promise program.\nI'm actually -- this is a fun fact,\nthe second Seattle Promise student in my family,\nI love to say that we're a Promise family.\nMy older brother Anthony started at South Seattle College\nin 2018,\nhe later graduated from North Seattle College\nwith a bachelor's degree in international business.\nYes.\nAs a proud Latina\nand a first-generation student raised in South Seattle,\nBeacon Hill area,\nI've always known that higher education was key not only\nto reach my professional goals but also\nto accomplish something that my parents didn't have access to.\nThey grew up in Guatemala and education\nwas a lot harder to achieve.\nI grew up watching my parents working tirelessly\nand physically demanding minimum wage jobs in the hotel industry\nto support both our family here in the US\nbut also our relatives in Guatemala.\nThey often worked seven days a week,\ncoming home exhausted\nbut I never saw them complain\nand their sacrifices taught me what true resilience looks like.\nAnd how much of a privilege -- thank you.\nAnd how much of a privilege\nit is to pursue higher education in this country,\nbut also in Seattle. Even with that motivation,\nthe cost of college felt overwhelming.\nThe last thing I wanted was for my parents to take on debt\nor for me to begin adulthood burdened by the cost of college\nand the financial stress of paying back student loans.\nBut Seattle Promise completely changed that\nand removed that barrier.\nIt allowed me to attend college without the weight of tuition,\ngiving me the freedom to fully focus on my studies\nand I worked on the weekends\nto be able to save for the education\nthat I'm finishing up now.\nThank you.\nSeattle Promise gave me more than just financial support,\nit gave me confidence in the community.\nFrom my first days in college, through transferring to UW,\nthe program was with me every step of the way,\nincluding through the path to UW program.\nWhen I was thinking about transferring,\nI didn't even know that UW Foster was capacity-constrained,\nbut the team really helped me navigate that\nand I'm really glad that students have that bridge\nfrom Seattle Central or Seattle\ncolleges to the University of Washington\nas we know is such a prestigious university.\nNow as I prepare to graduate\nfrom the University of Washington,\nI can say with pride\nthat becoming a Seattle Promise student\nwas one of the best decisions I've ever made\nand I think it is the best.\nIt laid the foundation for everything I've accomplished\nand for everything I still hope to achieve.\nAnd I'm so glad that future generations have\nthe opportunity for accessible education here in Seattle.\nThank you.\n[ Applause ]\n-Thank you.\nSo what I'm going to do is close by saying everything\nyou heard today would not be possible\nif we didn't have a strong and amazing mayor.\nIt wouldn't be possible if we didn't have very supportive\nand collaborative council members such as\ncouncilmember Rivera,\nbut it also wouldn't be possible if we didn't have our community\nand an amazing city to make sure\nthat we're going to support every child\nfrom their beginning of their journey to the end.\nSo we want to thank you all for being here.\nThere are snacks and water in the back.\nAnd with that being said,\nlet's give it all a round of applause, y'all.\n[ Applause ]\nWe're good. Oh, that's right.\nAnd if there's questions, feel free.\nThank you.\nOkay. Oh, yes.\n-Mayor Harrell, this is a pretty big levy,\nit's the third year in a row where we have a pretty big levy.\nConsidering the budget picture,\nis there a concern\nthat the city budget is becoming too dependent\non these property tax levies?\n-So, David, thanks for the question.\nThere's always a concern when we're going to the public\nand asking people to invest.\nWe're always concerned about this.\nAnd so we try to calibrate.\nWe try to balance, make the right balance.\nAnd I think what you saw through Fathima's story is,\nthat's an investment.\nOur childcare instruction -- instructors was the word\nI was looking for.\nYou guys didn't bail me out, by the way.\nOur instructors, these are investments.\nThese kids are investments.\nSo we think we reached the right amount.\nAnd when I talk about Seattle,\nonce again, redefining itself as a world-class city,\nwe think this is a good investment.\nAnd so, again, with the Trump volatility,\nwe think this is a good investment.\nSo we are going to advocate every chance\nwe get out there complying with the ethics rules.\nWhen the council gets it, they will evaluate it.\nWe look forward to that robust process.\nAnd hopefully, the voters will look favorably upon it.\n[ Applause ]\nAnd if there aren't any other questions,\nI will -- did you have another one, David?\n-Can you say anything more\nabout what your administration is doing\nabout the sort of negative budget forecast\nthat came in recently, next steps?\n-Yeah, so -- and I'll give some context for those\nthat aren't following it.\nSo, right now we're projected in a roughly an $8 billion budget,\nwe're projected to --\nwe're looking at maybe $240 million deficit.\nWe're also looking at what can be from the federal government,\n$300, $400, $450 million that could be withheld\nbecause of our values.\nWe are a welcoming city.\nWe're also looking at another possibly $700\nor $800 million that goes to the county and other organizations\nthat we are the beneficiary of. So every day we monitor this,\nand we're working with our colleagues in Olympia\nto understand our plight.\nAnd we also realize the price of a carton of eggs\nand a gallon of milk is high.\nSo we don't make these decisions arbitrarily.\nWe calibrate and we talk to people.\nWe talk to communities.\nI use the term investments\nbecause that's what we have to do.\nWe have to invest in these young folks\nto make sure we become the city we want.\nSo we monitor.\nWe're going through the budget discussions.\nNow again, Councilmember Rivera talked about collaboration.\nThese are tough decisions we have in front of us.\nBut this decision we believe --\nI got to put a little disclaimer here.\nThere's some ethics rules on how much I can talk about the levy.\nSo I have to sort of just be general.\nI'm used to being a little punchy.\nSo we're going to give it to the council.\nBut we're always concerned about the impacts on everyone.\nI'll just put it that way.\nI'll give you a third shot too, Dave, if you want.\nNo. -I mean, sure.\n-No, no, I was just joking, be careful,\nbe careful what you're asked for.\n-This is more specific to the levy, which is the safety piece.\nDoes that include school resource officers\nor police officers?\n-Good question, David.\nWe are being very intentional on not saying police officers,\nschool safety officers, care officers\nbecause we're going to work\nwith the school district and Dr. Jones on his --\nand congratulations on your departure,\nI guess, soon, and your wife's great career.\nWe're going to work with the students.\nWe're going to be in the schools and asking,\nwhat does safety look like for you?\nWho would you like to talk to? I have talked about,\nwhen I was at Garfield,\nmy football coach was a police officer,\nand I was able to talk to police officers.\nWe realize the stakes have changed.\nSo we're going to work with the school district leadership\nand the students and the community and the parents\nand say, what does this collaboration looks like?\nWe want these kids to be safe.\nWe want them to go out and recreate and be safe.\nWe want them to be able to walk home\nor catch the bus and be safe.\nThat's why in our transportation levy,\nwe put in $9 million for transit safety.\nWe don't want them to be around the remnants\nof fentanyl or opioids,\nor anything else like that.\nSo we're going to work with these students\nand let them tell us what safety looks like for them.\nI personally do have a strong preference\nto develop relationships with my police department.\nI want every one of our police officers\nbe able to look everyone in the eye and say,\n\"I'm here to protect you.\nI'm not here to harm you. I'm here to protect you.\"\nSo that's the work we're doing with our police department\nand I'm very confident we're going to reach\nthe right balance.\n[ Applause ]\nOkay. Everyone have a great -- what is today?\nTuesday? Wednesday?\nSee, all my days just blend together here.\nEveryone have a great rest of the Wednesday\nand thank all of you community.\nThank you very much."
},
"summary": null,
"hindsight": null,
"urls": {
"meeting": "/seattle/meeting/x175646",
"raw": "/seattle/api/meeting/x175646/raw.json",
"sourceMeeting": "/seattle/api/source/meeting/x175646.json"
}
}