The summer is going to be jam-packed with fun activities for the children and adults involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound programs.
The group has more than a dozen events planned in the King County area for their "Bigs" (volunteer adult mentors) and "Littles" (mentored children) over the next three months. ...

Thirty students and their parents from St. Joseph Catholic Church in Seattle will join forces with King County Elections this August to serve as poll workers to raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief.
The group is one of several already signed up for the recently launched Partnership in Democracy program that partners local businesses, non-profit organizations, and college and high school students in delivering democracy to voters at the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 19.
 Organizers say the program goes beyond simply recruiting individuals. Rather, it targets groups with an interest in promoting team building, civic pride and an opportunity to fundraise or earn community service hours. ...

Seattle Parks and Recreation and partners are sponsoring 11 glorious evenings of free outdoor dancing during July and August in Freeway and Westlake parks.
 Each evening will feature one hour of instruction from 6 to 7 p.m., and two hours of dancing, from 7 to 9 p.m. on a spacious portable dance floor.
"Dancing Till Dusk" in Freeway Park made its debut last summer, and this year's program is expanded to seven Thursdays, from July 17 to Aug. 28. ...

What's happening for you in Seattle this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your spare time. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below.

What's happening for you in Portland this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your spare time. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below.

Forty years after its debut on Portland's airwaves, KBOO Community radio has announced it is requiring all its programmers to re-apply for their shows.
Further, station management and volunteer leadership say significant changes are in the wings for the funky nonprofit station's schedule.
While the station's most recent Membership Drive made its modest goal last spring, it fell about $30,000 short in the 2007 spring and fall drives – a major shift from past years. ...

The Oregon League of Minority Voters is launching a campaign to combat some of the root causes of poverty. Undertaking a task that took the full weight and power of the federal government in 1964, Promise King, executive director of the OLMV, said he's going to take the fight to all the "corridors of power."
The basic tenets of the program plan to attack the root forces of poverty from two areas – provide workforce training and addressing disparities in health care.
"The systems today are not inherently strong enough to solve the poverty issues we have today," King told The Skanner. "It's diminishing people's hope to rise above their conditions."...

On Aug. 7, 2008, Sisters of the Road will hold a truth commission on the effects of the Sit-Lie Law on Portland's homeless community.  It will be held at Sisters at 133 NW 6th Ave at 5:30 p.m.
According to data submitted to the City by the Portland Police Bureau, the Sit-Lie Law has been enforced almost exclusively against homeless people.
"Enforcement of the Sit-Lie Law is not only inhumane and immoral, it's unconstitutional; the constitution says laws cannot be enforced against any one class of people ...

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NEW ORLEANS – Charles Steele Jr., president of Dr. Martin Luther King's old organization, said the slain civil rights leader left behind a "business plan" for Black economic success.
Opening the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) 50th convention here, Steele said: "If you listen closely to his last speech at Mason Temple [in Memphis], Dr. King was giving us a business plan. Dr. King was taking care of business. If you have taken the most elementary business course  -- and even if you haven't -- you know that the first thing you need when you go into business is a business plan."
The SCLC president mentioned the early struggles of the founder of Radio One and TV One media companies.
"Cathy Hughes talks about starting out in business and being asked, 'What is your business plan?' Her reply: 'I plan to stay in business.' SCLC plans the stay in business.
"Our business plan is straight out of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.  No, it's not about a dream, it's about economics. The part of the speech that you don't hear repeated every year around his birthday is the section related to economics. He declared, 'America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"
Steele said, "We're back here, where SCLC was founded, to say that we came back to get the check. Dr. King said 45 years ago, that America did not have enough funds in its bank account. They gave us a bad check. And today, we're back for a good one. If you can't give us a check, we'll take cash. But with your record, we need cash – and two forms of ID. We probably should ask for a DNA test as well."
Speaking at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in suburban Kenner, La., Steele said: "Nearly five years after announcing we got stuck with a bad check, Dr. King went to Memphis to outline a business plan, not just a plan to stay in business.
"Dr. King explained: 'We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails. ...