Author: senco253

We have seen a lot of new faces, heard a lot of great ideas, and still have a lot of work to do to help make the South End Neighborhood a better place for all. Come join us!

SENCo will hold our annual General Elections on November 16^th, 2019. This year there are 5 positions available for election/re-election to the South End Neighborhood Council. Interested? See below for a description of board member responsibilities.

South End Neighborhood Council Board Responsibilities/Description

A Board member is the representative of the community, SENCo, and the public at large. Board members assist the community and SENCo in accomplishing its goals and its mission within the SENCo boundaries.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop the policies and programs that guide the organization.
• Participate regularly in Board meetings.
• Review and vote on issues that are within our goals and plans to support the community and achieve our mission.
• Review and approve our strategic plan and goals of our Board.
• Serve actively on one or more committees and assist the Board in the accomplishment of its mission.
• Review annually the Board’s performance and take steps to improve its performance through education, outreach, and other great ideas you initiate.
• Assist the city in its efforts to support the community, and in building relationships that strengthen the objectives and mission of our community and SENCo.
• Assist in fundraising and community representation activities.
• Seek the support of others within our boundaries, and participate in responding to the community’s concerns.
• Act in the best interest of our community.
• Seek community input for decisions.
• Encourage the growth and development of other community groups.
• Appropriately use City and Government Agencies’ information and resources to help address issues.
• Support services that strengthen youth, family, and community.
• Advise and support community on pertinent issues.
• Work for the quality of life within our community and city.

Who Is Eligible?

All residents, property owners, business owners, and employees within the Neighborhood Council boundaries are members of the Neighborhood Council. All members of the Neighborhood Council may actively participate in its activities. However, members must be 18 years of age to vote and therefore, must be 18 years of age to hold a position on the Board of Directors. Those under the age of 18 can hold special positions on advisory committees such as Student Advisory.

If you want to get involved in local politics on a neighborhood scale, this is a great opportunity to learn, grow, and give back to your community. Please complete an application found under the Get Involved tab of the SENCo website (senco353.org) and email to senco253@gmail.com or through the mail and postmarked by November 6, 2019 to the address below.

South End Neighborhood Council

4911 South Alaska Street

Tacoma, WA 98408

Please join us in welcoming Tyler Whitemarsh to the SENCo Executive Board as our new Vice Chair! Tyler has served on the Board since May of 2018, and has been an engaged member on the SENCo team in advocating for the community in the South End, serving on both the Election and Bylaws Committees. He is also active in the neighborhood as the local leader of the HAWCS Safe Streets group, where he recently organized the National Night Out BBQ for the neighborhood, as well as the Giaudrone Neighborhood Clean-up here in the South End.

We are grateful Tyler has stepped up to take on the roll of Vice Chair for SENCo, where his skills as a community organizer and advocate for residents in the South End will be a great addition to the Executive team.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our recent meeting for this vote, and to all the nominees who volunteered for the Vice Chair position.

Congratulations, Vice Chair Tyler Whitemarsh! 

You’re all invited to join us at our upcoming August General Meeting where we will not only provide a lovely array of Teavana teas for you to enjoy during the meeting (courtesy of our friendly neighborhood Starbucks here in the South End, thanks to Store Manager Larissa Yuhasz and her team!) but we also have two fantastic guest speakers joining us this month:

Dan Enbysk from Earth Corps will give updates on current projects, and a representative from the Health Department will tell us about a Tacoma Creates initiative here in the South End.

We’re also looking forward to supporting the backpack drive at Giaudrone Middle School this year, and we will be collecting school supplies during the meeting if you’d like to contribute by bringing a donation in any amount of the following five items:

• 24-count crayons (Crayola required at many schools)
• #2 Ticonderoga pencils
• Composition notebooks
• Elmer’s glue (and/or glue sticks)
• Erasers (pink large and regular erasers, as well as pencil toppers)

All this in addition to regular reports from our local City of Tacoma liaisons who keep us all informed and are available to address any questions and/or concerns you may have. It’s going to be a great meeting, and we hope you will join us!

Kiddos are always welcome; coloring station in the room available for all to enjoy.

Your SENCo Chair, Athena Brewer

Photo credit: Athena Brewer, 2019

Your hardworking neighborhood council volunteer board members of SENCo have an exciting agenda planned for our upcoming Candidate Forum at our General Meeting on July 15th at 7pm. As always, our meetings are held every month on the 3rd Monday at Fire Station #8 located at 4911 South Alaska Street. Please come and join us! Hot tea donated by our local Starbucks at 38th & G is provided for us all, and children are always welcome; there’s even a coloring station set up in the back of the room.

This month we have quite an impressive line-up of guest speakers! Along with our own 27th Legislative District Representative Jinkins, who will be giving her constituents here in the South End a report on the most recent session, we will also have seven candidates running in four races that have a direct impact on SENCo neighborhood residents:

• City Council At-Large Position 7
• City Council At-Large Position
•  Tacoma Public Schools Position 2
• Civil Service Position 3

So far, we are pleased to announce the following candidates will be joining us Monday: Courtney Love for At-Large Position 7, Kristina Walker and John O’Loughlin for At-Large Position 8, Kristopher Kerns, John Marsden, and Incumbent Enrique Leon for TPS Position 2, and Amy Heller for Civil Service Position 3. All candidates will have five minutes to introduce themselves, followed by a question and answer period for community members at the end. It should be a lot of fun, and we hope you’ll join us in getting to know these candidates for our very important primary election coming up on August 6th.

You can sign up to vote until 8pm on election day if you go into the Auditor’s office at 2401 S 35th St #200, and you can sign up in advance online, or by mail (call 253.798.VOTE and they’ll send you a ballot) until July 29th, eight days before election day.

Thank you all and we look forward to seeing you this Monday at 7pm!

Your SENCo Chair, Athena Brewer

Photo credit: Athena Brewer, 2019