The Seattle Public Library Presents 'Love Is the Message': a Black Pride Celebration June 25

During Seattle's Pride weekend, The Seattle Public Library will co-host "The Family Hour," a spoken word program to kick-off the Black Pride party "Love is the Message" from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, June 25 at Velocity Dance Center, 1621 12th Ave, Suite 100., 206-325-8773.

Library events are free and everyone is welcome. This event is appropriate for all ages. Tickets and registration are not required for the Library-sponsored portion of this event; paid tickets will be required to attend after 8:30 p.m.

This event will celebrate Seattle's queer and trans people of color. The spoken word program will include recent videos highlighting local black queer luminaries such as The Lady B and DJ Riz Rollins. There will also be youth activities, art by Kelli N. Wimbley-Dinh and dancing.

This event is presented in partnership with Groundswell Arts Collective, Equal Rights Washington, Velocity Dance Center, Queer Black Alliance of the South Sound, Center for MultiCultural Health, Pride Foundation and Seattle LGBT Commission.

For more information, call the Library at 206-386-4636 or Ask A Librarian.

Free Summer Meal Program for Youth Starts June 29

Thousands of Seattle children ages one through 18 will enjoy free breakfasts and lunches this summer through the Seattle Human Services Department’s Summer Food Service Program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded program, formerly known as “Summer Sack Lunch,” is open to children at qualifying sites. From June 29 through Aug. 26 meals will be served at approximately 100 sites across the city—including designated community centers, Seattle park playgrounds, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs and YWCAs, and other community sites throughout Seattle and parts of King County.

The majority of sites will offer meals to the public and all children 18 years old and younger can come to have a meal.

Some of the meal sites (about 30) offer the food program to children enrolled in specific activity programs, where free meals will be served to all children enrolled in the program.
Families who think they may meet the income criteria are encouraged to apply at http://www.seattle.gov/humanservices/services-and-programs/nutrition.

Better Business Bureau Warns Groups Not to Fall for Vanity Scam

Better Business Bureau serving the Northwest has received numerous reports of an email scam targeting small businesses across the country. In the past 24 days BBB Scam Tracker has received 23 reports from potential victims in the Northwest region. This ploy is known as the vanity award scheme —one we’ve reported on in the past.

The email informs small businesses and nonprofits they are a recipient of a “Best of (insert city name) Award.” But in order to claim their trophy, they have to pay up. Business owners report being asked to pay anywhere from $149 to $229 to claim the honor and receive a personalized plaque. Some of these emails list a Seattle address as the place of business, however BBB investigators believe that is likely false information meant to deceive potential victims.

The names attached to the emails include: The Award Program, Business Recognition and Award Connections. The websites the email recipients are being directed to are awardconnections.org, existial.org, cortist.org and encountry.org.

BBB serving the Northwest recommends the following tips to avoid falling for these types of scams:

• Ask questions. Learn everything you can about who is giving the award. If it is coming from a mystery company, chances are they simply want your money. Businesses and organizations that offer legitimate awards will usually be willing to provide detailed information on why a specific company received the award.
• Know the nomination process. Find out who nominated your business for the award. If you didn’t apply for it or the group cannot tell you how you were nominated, chances are the award is not legitimate.
• Don’t pay. Most legitimate awards do not come with costs to the recipient. If there is a cost, scrutinize it closely. If there is a fee for winning or for receiving a certificate or plaque it could be a scam.
• Do your research. Check the company's BBB Business Review at bbb.org to ensure the offer is legit. Many of the business owners who reported the scam to BBB did their own investigating and found we’ve reported on this scam in the past.

Companies that have fallen victim to these or other scams are encouraged to report their experience to Better Business Bureau at 206-431-2222 or at bbb.org.

HHS awards $4,244,999 to Health Centers in Washington to Expand Oral Health Services

This week, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced $4,244,999 in funding to support 12 health centers in Washington. The funding will increase access to integrated oral health care services and improve oral health outcomes for Health Center Program patients. Nationwide, today’s announcement includes nearly $156 million in funding to support 420 health centers in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. This funding enables health centers to expand integrated oral health care services and increase the number of patients served.

With these awards from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), health centers across the country will increase their oral health service capacity by hiring approximately 1,600 new dentists, dental hygienists, assistants, aides, and technicians to treat nearly 785,000 new patients.

Oral health problems can be a sign of illness elsewhere in the body. Additionally, lack of access to preventive and routine dental care for underserved populations can result in dental conditions requiring more costly emergency dental treatment.

Today, nearly 1,400 health centers operate approximately 9,800 service delivery sites in every U.S. state, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Pacific Basin; these health centers employ more than 170,000 staff who provides care to nearly 23 million patients. In 2014, health centers employed over 3,700 dentists, more than 1,600 dental hygienists, and over 7,400 dental assistants, technicians and aides. They served about 4.7 million dental patients and provided nearly 12 million oral health visits.

To view the list of the awardees, visit http://bphc.hrsa.gov/programopportunities/fundingopportunities/oralhealth/fy16awards.html

To learn more about HRSA’s Health Center Program, visit http://bphc.hrsa.gov/about/index.html

To find a health center in your area, visit http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/

To find more Seattle and Portland area events, see the Community Calendar.