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The Breakfast Group Celebrates 50 Years Of Mentorship And Community Leadership

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Seattle Medium
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Angela Poe Russell served as emcee for The Breakfast Group’s 50th Anniversary Gala. Staff Photo/Aaron Allen

By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium

The Breakfast Group celebrated 50 years of mentorship, community leadership and service to Seattle’s Black community Saturday, Oct. 17, bringing together civic leaders, business professionals and former program participants to recognize the organization’s history and its impact on generations of young people.

Incorporated in 1976, The Breakfast Group grew from informal gatherings of Black professionals seeking to support one another while navigating barriers in Seattle’s corporate world. Over the past five decades, the organization has expanded its mission to include youth mentorship, career development and community programs designed to help young people prepare for their futures.

The anniversary celebration provided an opportunity for members, supporters and program alumni to reflect on the organization’s contributions to the Pacific Northwest and the relationships that have sustained its work.

Judge Richard Jones, who attended the celebration, spoke about the organization’s importance to the community.

“It’s a fabulous event, and so many wonderful people here, and celebrating a powerful organization that’s so much for so many,” Jones said.

Former NFL player and University of Washington football standout Mario Bailey also reflected on the significance of a Black-led organization reaching its 50th anniversary while continuing to serve the community.

“It’s live as anytime a black organization can last 50 years, it’s always a wonderful thing. Especially if you’re giving back to the community and pouring into the community. I am just grateful to be here and have to witness these 50 years,” Bailey said.

The Breakfast Group’s origins date to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Black professionals entering management and corporate positions often faced isolation and limited opportunities for advancement. Informal breakfast meetings provided a space to exchange information, build professional relationships and support one another in navigating those challenges.

As the gatherings continued, members began looking beyond their individual careers toward the needs of the broader community. Their efforts eventually developed into an organization focused on professional development, community service and creating opportunities for younger generations.

During the anniversary celebration, Angela Poe Russell, who served as emcee for the event, emphasized that the organization’s commitment to young people remains central to its mission, highlighting the role of Project M.I.S.T.E.R. in supporting students academically, socially and emotionally.

“I want to tell you about projects M.I.S.T.E.R which stands for Male Involvement and Service To Encourage Responsibility. The Breakfast Group nurtures the social, emotional wellbeing, and academic success of young man of color. Pairing them with instructors, mentors, and members that provide whole models to power success,” Poe Russell said.

She also pointed to the program’s reported graduation outcomes and its longstanding presence in Seattle schools.

“More than 95% of Project Mister Students graduate from high school and continue on to college or apprenticeships. For decades, your breakfast group has impacted thousands of students in the Seattle public school system,” Poe Russell said.

Project M.I.S.T.E.R. is one of The Breakfast Group’s central initiatives, connecting young men of color with adult mentors who provide encouragement, academic guidance and practical advice about education, careers and personal responsibility.

The program has worked with students at Seattle schools, including Franklin, Rainier Beach, Cleveland, Garfield and South Lake. Through relationships with professional mentors, participants receive support intended to help them remain engaged in school, develop life skills and make informed decisions about their futures.

For former participants, the program’s influence can extend well beyond graduation.

Dewan Parker, who spoke during the anniversary celebration, described the lasting relationship he developed with a mentor who helped him navigate difficult personal circumstances and find a more stable path forward.

“He’s still in my corner to this day, and it’s been 15 years prior from when I first met him,” Parker said.

Peter Fan, another program alumnus, described how mentorship helped change the direction of his life after he experienced significant difficulties in school.

Fan said he had been expelled from multiple middle and high schools before attending South Lake High School in Rainier Beach. Through Project M.I.S.T.E.R., he developed a relationship with a mentor named Kevin, who encouraged him to establish goals and believe in his ability to succeed.

“Every week, our mentor, Kevin, has us write down our goals. No goal was too small. He believed in us when we had a hard time believing in ourselves. I’m the only one in my friend’s group to graduate high school. That’s the difference this program makes,” Fan said.

Fan went on to become an engineer and spent approximately a decade working for major technology companies, including Microsoft, Amazon and TikTok. During the anniversary celebration, he announced plans to become a mentor himself, extending the support he received to another generation of young people.

His decision reflects one of the organization’s longstanding goals: encouraging those who have benefited from mentorship to return and help others.

Former Seattle City Council member Mark Solomon, a longtime Breakfast Group member, spoke about the responsibility of established leaders to help prepare those who will follow them.

“One of the reasons I got back involved with the group is because I wanted to help groom our next generation of leaders. We need to step up. We need to be the example for those who are going to come behind us. And rather than trying to hold on, it’s like reach back and pull them up with us,” Solomon said.

Solomon also pointed to the organization’s interest in expanding its mentorship efforts through Project S.I.S.T.E.R., an initiative intended to provide similar opportunities and support for young women.

In addition to Project M.I.S.T.E.R., The Breakfast Group hosts its annual Tie One On Rites of Passage luncheon, which brings high school students together with professional mentors.

During the event, students learn how to tie a necktie while participating in conversations about personal presentation, professional expectations and the transition into adulthood. The ties, sometimes designed by the students themselves, serve as symbols of preparation, confidence and the relationships formed through mentorship.

The organization also supports career exploration through opportunities such as job shadowing and programs focused on science, technology, engineering, mathematics and the arts.

Its community involvement extends beyond educational and professional development. The Breakfast Group has helped coordinate the annual ROOTS Family Picnic, an event at Jimi Hendrix Park that celebrates the history and contributions of Seattle’s early Black families and community pioneers.

For local business owner Theo Martin, proprietor of Island Soul, the anniversary celebration was an opportunity to reconnect with an organization whose members have long been part of his professional and personal community.

“I am here at the Breakfast Club for their 50th year anniversary or gala. And this is actually my first time joining. I came, not because I was invited, because my spirit says, why has it been 50 years that I haven’t been here? I share business with these brothers. We break bread together, and now I get to break bread and celebrate with them. So 50 years is here. It is never too late,” Martin said.

Martin’s reflections illustrated the relationships The Breakfast Group has built among Black professionals and business owners throughout the region, including people whose connections to the organization extend beyond formal membership.

The anniversary also highlighted the role of community partnerships and the continued involvement of members who have supported the organization’s mission over several decades.

As The Breakfast Group looks toward its next 50 years, its leadership is developing plans to expand mentorship and career development initiatives. The organization’s strategic planning efforts include strengthening connections between its alumni network and young people interested in technology, skilled trades and corporate leadership.

Those efforts are intended to build on the organization’s existing programs while responding to the changing educational and employment opportunities facing younger generations.

For an organization that began as an informal gathering of Black professionals seeking mutual support, the 50th anniversary represents both a recognition of its history and a commitment to continuing that work.

Washington Attorney General Fights To Protect Medicaid Coverage For Vulnerable Residents

By
Seattle Medium
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Washington Attorney General Nick Brown

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown is seeking to join a federal lawsuit challenging Trump administration policies that threaten Medicaid coverage for nearly 1,000 legally present immigrants in Washington, including refugees, asylum recipients, seniors and people living with serious disabilities.

The state’s intervention would strengthen an ongoing legal effort to preserve health care benefits for some of Washington’s most medically vulnerable residents, many of whom depend on Medicaid for prescription medications, long-term care and other essential services.

Brown’s office filed a motion Oct. 16 in U.S. District Court in Seattle to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Seattle-based nonprofit Neighborhood House and Washington resident Mariia Matsai against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The legal action follows a Sept. 30 preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Zilly ordering the federal government to continue Medicaid funding for affected recipients while the lawsuit proceeds.

“We have a clear interest in protecting our neediest residents, many of whom fled warzones, and ensuring the federal government fulfills its financial responsibility to the state,” said Brown. “Many of these individuals are elderly, with significant medical needs, and would lose their healthcare or even their lives without this support that is now illegally threatened.”

At the center of the dispute is the federal government’s interpretation of H.R. 1, the sweeping 2025 budget legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The legislation restricted federal Medicaid funding for certain categories of legally present immigrants. However, according to the lawsuit, Congress did not eliminate existing federal protections that make qualifying noncitizens who receive Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, eligible for Medicaid.

SSI provides financial assistance to people 65 and older, people who are blind and people with qualifying disabilities who have extremely limited income and resources. Some refugees, people granted asylum and other qualifying noncitizens are eligible for the program under federal law.

For these residents, Medicaid can provide access to medical treatment, prescription medications, personal care and long-term support services that would otherwise be financially out of reach.

The dispute intensified in April 2026 when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidance directing states to stop claiming federal Medicaid funding for certain noncitizens beginning Oct. 1. Additional federal guidance followed in July.

The Trump administration’s interpretation would exclude some legally present immigrants from federally funded Medicaid benefits despite their continued eligibility for SSI.

Neighborhood House and Matsai challenged that interpretation in August, arguing that federal officials had exceeded their authority and misapplied existing law.

The federal court granted preliminary relief Sept. 30, temporarily protecting affected recipients across Washington while the underlying legal questions are resolved.

“We are grateful the AGO is joining in this fight to preserve critical, life sustaining services for the most vulnerable Washingtonians,” said Janice Deguchi, Executive Director of Neighborhood House. “HR1 will strip coverage and cause deep, lasting harm to consumers and providers that rely on Medicaid. Neighborhood House is proud to stand with the AGO, co-plaintiff Mariia Matsai, and partners Northwest Health Law Advocates and Barnard, Iglitzin and Lavitt to preserve coverage and care for hundreds of the most vulnerable legally present non-citizen SSI Medicaid recipients in Washington.”

Washington officials argue that the federal guidance threatens not only individual health coverage but also the state’s ability to administer its Medicaid program and meet its financial obligations.

According to the state’s proposed complaint, Washington’s Apple Health program provides health coverage to approximately 1.9 million residents. Federal funding covers an average of 67% of program expenditures for eligible enrollees.

The Washington Health Care Authority estimates that more than 1,000 noncitizens receive SSI benefits and several hundred receive long-term care services funded through Medicaid, according to the state’s court filing.

Without continued federal support, Washington could face the difficult choice of replacing lost federal dollars with state funding or allowing affected residents to lose coverage.

State attorneys say the Legislature has not appropriated enough money to fully replace the federal funding at issue. They also warn that interruptions in coverage could increase emergency medical costs and place additional pressure on hospitals and other safety-net providers.

For some recipients, Medicaid-funded long-term care includes assistance with everyday activities such as bathing, eating, taking medications and managing serious medical conditions. Losing those services could threaten their ability to remain safely housed or receive appropriate care.

In its motion, Washington argues that the existing plaintiffs cannot fully represent the state’s separate financial and legal interests, even though they are seeking substantially the same outcome.

The attorney general’s office wants the court to recognize the state’s right to participate directly in the litigation and challenge the federal government’s interpretation of Medicaid eligibility requirements.

The state is also asking the court to invalidate the federal guidance it contends conflicts with existing law.

Although the preliminary injunction currently protects affected Washington residents, it is not a final decision on the merits of the lawsuit.

The court must still decide whether to allow Washington to formally join the case and ultimately determine whether the federal government’s Medicaid guidance violates federal law.

Washington’s motion to intervene is scheduled for consideration on the court’s Nov. 6 motion calendar.

A New Chapter In Black Medical Education

By
Seattle Medium
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The Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine--the nation's newest HBCU medical school. Credit: Courtesy of Xavier University
The Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine–the nation’s newest HBCU medical school. Credit: Courtesy of Xavier University

by Jennifer Porter Gore

As of this week, the nation has only its fifth medical school at an historically Black college and university—and notably it’s in the largely Black city of New Orleans. 

The Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine has received preliminary approval from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting body for U.S. programs that grant the Doctor of Medicine degree.

The milestone clears the way for the college to begin recruiting its inaugural class of 50 students, which will enter in summer 2027. It also advances the vision for the nation’s next historically Black college of medicine—the only one in the Gulf South.

“This is a historic moment for Xavier University of Louisiana, for New Orleans and for the future of medicine in this nation,” said Dr. Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana. “For a century, Xavier has demonstrated what is possible when academic excellence is joined with a profound commitment to human dignity and service. The Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine is a bold extension of that legacy.”

Years in the Making

Verret believes the school’s mission extends beyond “simply opening the doors of a new medical school.” The mission, he says, is to expand “who will have the opportunity to become a physician, strengthening the communities those physicians will serve and helping to shape the future of healthcare for generations to come.”

That legacy runs deep. Katharine Drexel — a Catholic nun and educator who created the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, an order that served Black and Indigenous Americans — founded Xavier in 1925. Canonized in 2000, she was the first U.S.-born saint.

Xavier is the only HBCU that is also a Catholic university.

Over the past century, Xavier has built a reputation for excellence in STEM education. Forbes has named it a top HBCU, and it leads in sending Black students to medical school. Its alumni include Dr. Regina Benjamin, who served as the nation’s 18th Surgeon General under President Barack Obama.

Verret says conversations with Ochsner about opening a medical school began almost a decade ago. The college was formally established in 2024, earned candidate status in October 2025 and hosted an LCME survey visit in June 2026. Applications will open through the American Medical College Application Service in the coming weeks.

The new medical school builds on that foundation as well as decades of collaboration between Xavier and Ochsner Health on education, research and health care. Xavier’s health professions track has long included pharmacy and premedical training, along with the Ochsner-Xavier Institute for Health Equity and Research, Xavier’s physician assistant Program, and its genetic counseling program.

Pete November, president and CEO of Ochsner Health, said in a statement that his company’s partnership with Xavier University “is grounded in a shared belief that education, opportunity, and service can transform lives and provide our communities stellar healthcare for generations to come.”

Addressing a national physician shortage

Dr. Leonardo Seoane, Ochsner’s chief academic officer, was named the college’s president and founding dean. He says federal data shows the U.S. could be short  141,000 physicians by 2038, more than double the current gap of about 60,000 vacancies.

“There’s a physician workforce crisis in the United States” that’s been overshadowed by other national crises, Seoane says. “We’re not heading in the right direction and that shortage is not felt evenly,” he says. 

Rural areas, some urban communities and the South feel it more, Seoane says. In Louisiana, 60 of the state’s 64 parishes are federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas. 

“The number of physicians you have per population of a community directly correlates to the health and wellness of that community,” he says.

That gap is compounded by the underrepresentation of physicians of color. Although Black Americans make up 13.6% of the U.S. population, only 5.7% of physicians identify as Black. Experts say HBCUs play an outsized role in closing that gap.

“HBCUs trained 50% of the Black physicians in this country,” Seoane says. ”We also know the data is clear that Black and Hispanic physicians go back and serve in Black and Hispanic communities.”

Training physicians for the community

The college’s approach grows out of the health programs Xavier has built in recent years, such as the school of public health and specialized programs. Seoane says the programs Xavier started focused on “areas where we find there’s a lack of Black and Brown providers like genetic counseling and physician assistants.” 

The college plans to enroll 50 students in its first class, then grow to 75 and, eventually, 100 students a year.

Community impact and service will be central to their training, Seoane says. 

“One of our strategic pillars is to be community-informed,” he says. “A critical element of our curriculum is for students to understand that you’re not just treating a patient, you’re treating a family, and you’re treating a family within a community, and you need all of that context to provide the best care for your patients.”

Ochsner, for its part, brings more than 80 years of caring for its communities, more than 60 years of training residents and fellows and 17 years of medical student education, creating a model that connects rigorous academic preparation with real-world training.

Pete November, president and CEO of Ochsner Health, said in a statement that his company’s partnership with Xavier University “is grounded in a shared belief that education, opportunity, and service can transform lives and provide our communities stellar healthcare for generations to come.”

Tired of Being Tired? 7 Science Backed Ways to Sleep Better

By
Seattle Medium
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From changing your caffeine cutoff time to lowering your bedroom temperature, small tweaks can make a big difference in how well you rest.
From changing your caffeine cutoff time to lowering your bedroom temperature, small tweaks can make a big difference in how well you rest.

by Jennifer Porter Gore

Daylight saving time starts in a few weeks, ushering in the longer nights and shorter days associated with winter. But for many people, the extra hours of darkness aren’t necessarily more restful. 

Experts say sleep deprivation is on the rise in the U.S. And the combination of stress, shift work and the false bravado of “toughing it out” isn’t helping. 

A 2024 Gallup poll found that only 42% of adults said they get as much sleep as they need, while 57% said they would feel better if they got more sleep. Researchers at Yale University have found a greater number of U.S. adults sleeping less than the recommended seven hours per night, with Black adults missing out on sleep even more. 

Disparities were greatest among Black women, Black adults with middle or high incomes, and young and middle-aged Black adults. Work schedules and employment conditions, particularly shift work, were likely contributors.

“As an ER physician, I had to learn to value sleep differently,” says Dr. Pamela Buchanan, a board-certified emergency physician, founder of Strong Medicine and a healthcare influencer. “For years, working nights was simply part of the job. We almost wear sleep deprivation like a badge of honor in medicine.” 

As she aged, “I began watching what chronic sleep disruption was doing to people around me — and to my own health,” Buchanan says. “I had colleagues and friends develop serious health problems while living on chronically inadequate sleep. Eventually, I had to ask myself: ‘Why am I sacrificing my health to take care of everyone else’s?’”

Sleep is also deeply connected to mental health. A 2024 meta-analysis involving more than 5,700 participants found that sleep loss increased anxiety symptoms and reduced positive emotions. Another analysis found that improving sleep also improved symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. 

“When I talk to people about protecting their mental health, sleep is not an afterthought. It is part of the treatment plan,” Dr. Buchanan added.

Improve Your Sleep, Starting Tonight

DISCLAIMER: This guide is informational and is not medical advice. If you have persistent trouble falling or staying asleep, talk with a healthcare provider. 

1. Keep a consistent sleep–wake schedule

  • Go to bed wake up within roughly the same 30- to 60-minute window every day, including weekends.
  • Set a fixed wake-up time first; bedtime tends to follow
  • Avoid trying to play catch-up on weekends, which only shifts your body clock.
  • Give your stress a place to land before bedtime.
  • Don’t lie in bed fighting for sleep.

“Stress isn’t the enemy of sleep. Unprocessed stress is,” Dr. Buchanan said., adding that it can be helpful to write d “Take five minutes before bed to write down what’s on your mind and tomorrow’s to-do list. When it’s on paper, your brain can stop rehearsing it at 2 a.m. Then dim the lights and put the phone away. You’re signaling to your nervous system that the shift is over.”

If sleep doesn’t come, however, and “you’ve been awake for about 20 minutes, get up,” Dr. Buchanan says. “Go to another room, keep the lights low and do something calm until you feel sleepy. Lying there frustrated teaches your brain that the bed is a place for worry. Protect the bed for sleep.”

2. Get bright daylight during the day

Light is the main signal that sets the circadian clock. A study of almost 90,000 adults found that greater daytime light exposure was associated with lower risk of depression, PTSD, psychosis, and self-harm.

  • Spend time outdoors soon after waking. Even on cloudy days, outdoor light is far brighter than indoor lighting.
  • Take walks, calls or breaks outside during the day.
  • Work near a window when possible.

FOR NIGHT-SHIFT WORKERS

  • Recreate nighttime, even at noon.
  • Treat daytime sleep as optional.

“Wear sunglasses on the drive home so morning light doesn’t flip your internal ‘wake up’ switch,” Dr. Buchanan advised. “Then make your bedroom a cave: Blackout curtains, an eye mask, a cool room and a fan or white noise to drown out the daytime world. Put your phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ and let your household know that your sleep hours are protected time.”

3. Sleep in a dark bedroom

A controlled laboratory study found sleeping in a room with too much light kept the nervous system more alert and reduced the participants’ deep sleep. The results also found links to increased insulin resistance the next morning compared with sleeping in dim light.

  • Turn off overhead lights and lamps before sleep; use blackout curtains or an eye mask if outdoor light enters.
  • Cover or remove glowing electronics and clocks.
  • If you need a night light, keep it dim, low to the floor and use amber or red light rather than white or blue.

4. Set a caffeine cut-off time

Caffeine has been found to increase the time it takes to fall asleep and, once asleep, to decrease total sleep time by about 45 minutes. 

  • For a 10:30 p.m. bedtime, finish your last 8-oz. coffee by about 1:30 to 2 p.m.
  • Remember hidden sources of caffeine: Energy drinks, pre-workout powders, some teas, sodas and chocolate.
  • Caffeinated beverages larger than 8-10-oz. need an even earlier cut-off.

5. Limit alcohol, especially close to bedtime

Avoid the temptation to have a “nightcap” before bed. Just two standard-sized drinks, which vary by type of alcohol, have been found to reduce REM sleep. While a greater amount of alcohol may shorten the time needed to fall asleep, it can interrupt deep sleep.

  • Treat alcohol as a sleep disruptor, not a sleep aid.
  • If you drink, keep it to small amounts and finish well before bedtime.
  • Notice how you feel after alcohol-free nights versus nights with a drink.
  • Don’t use a glass of wine to wind down.

“Alcohol may help you fall asleep, but it fragments your sleep later in the night,” Dr. Buchanan said. “You wake up feeling like you never really rested.”

6. Exercise regularly — and finish vigorous workouts at least two hours before bed

Exercising intensely less than two hours before bedtime has been linked to trouble falling asleep and shorter periods of sleep. Exercising for 30- to 60 minutes, and more than two hours before bedtime, was associated with the best outcomes.

  • Build regular physical activity into most days; morning, afternoon and early evening all work.
  • Schedule hard workouts (running, HIIT, heavy lifting) to end at least two hours before bed.
  • Keep your exercise schedule consistent from day to day.

7. Create a screen-free wind-down before bed

Using electronic media too close to bedtime has been consistently linked to poorer sleep quality.

  • Stop scrolling, gaming and emailing 30- to 60 minutes before lights out.
  • Charge your phone outside the bedroom or set it to “Do Not Disturb.”
  • Replace screens with a calming routine such as reading a paper book, stretching, a warm shower or journaling.

FOR WOMEN IN MENOPAUSE:

  • Cool the room and your body.

“Hot flashes and night sweats are among the biggest sleep thieves in midlife. Keep the bedroom cool, around 65 degrees. Layer your bedding so you can adjust it during the night and choose moisture-wicking sleepwear. Cut back on alcohol and late-day caffeine, because both can trigger symptoms,” Dr. Buchanan adds.

  • Don’t suffer in silence.

“Poor sleep [during] menopause is common, but you don’t have to accept it as normal. Talk to your doctor. Hormone therapy, non-hormonal medications and cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, called a CBT-I, all help. Ask about sleep apnea, too. A woman’s risk rises after menopause, and it often goes undiagnosed because the symptoms don’t look like the textbook,” Buchanan notes. 

Philip Anthony Mitchell Draws 80,000 For A Texas Prayer Service

By
Seattle Medium
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From a small Atlanta congregation to an enormous prayer gathering in Texas, Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell's 2819 CHURCH has become a religious phenomenon, attracting thousands of young Christians seeking authenticity, community and a deeper connection to their faith. Credit: Facebook/2819 Church
From a small Atlanta congregation to an enormous prayer gathering in Texas, Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell’s 2819 CHURCH has become a religious phenomenon, attracting thousands of young Christians seeking authenticity, community and a deeper connection to their faith. Credit: Facebook/2819 Church

by Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware

A stadium best known for NFL football became a gathering place for a massive prayer service last weekend as Atlanta-based 2819 CHURCH brought its worldwide following to AT&T Stadium in suburban Dallas.

An estimated 80,000 people attended “ACCESS — That Powerful Hour of Prayer,” led by Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell, 2819’s charismatic founder, according to Praiseworld Radio. The free gathering marked the ministry’s largest prayer event yet, extending its reach well beyond its hometown congregation.

The turnout followed enormous demand: All 80,000 tickets were claimed well before the event. But Mitchell had emphasized that filling seats would mean little without a deeper spiritual response. He invited Christians everywhere to pray during the same hour, broadening the invitation beyond the confines of the physical stadium in North Texas. 

Salvation Invitation

The event announcement outlined three organizing themes: The Cross, The Warning and The Cry. Together, they framed an invitation to embrace salvation through Jesus Christ, repent and unite in prayer.

2819 CHURCH describes its mission as spreading the gospel and developing followers whose faith shapes how they serve others and live within their communities. 

“Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!” was featured in the announcement. Its explicitly urgent message asked participants to consider their spiritual readiness alongside their immediate needs.

For 2819, that invitation reflects the church’s stated purpose. 

Its name references Matthew 28:19, Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations. The congregation describes its mission as spreading the gospel and developing followers whose faith shapes how they serve others and live within their communities. 

“Just learned that a teenage girl was healed of deafness and removed her hearing aids last night at ACCESS in TX,” Mitchell posted on social media the next day. “This to the glory of God.”

Bigger than Atlanta

The Texas gathering came nearly a year after the larger-than-expected response to a 2025 ACCESS event in Atlanta, where an estimated 40,000 people filled State Farm Arena and a nearby overflow location. Thousands more who couldn’t get in remained outside, according to the church.

The explosive growth of Mitchell’s church has come with growing interest in his message. Praiseworld Radio reported that weekly attendance at 2819 CHURCH rose from fewer than 200 people in 2023 to more than 6,000, with an additional audience watching online. The Texas gathering demonstrated the ministry’s ability to bring that broader following together in person in a city far from the church’s home base. 

Mitchell’s concern for young Black men offers another dimension to the story of 2819 CHURCH. In a recent interview with The Dallas Weekly, Mitchell connected that concern to his own journey from the streets of Queens, New York, and incarceration at Rikers Island to leading a worldwide congregation in arguably the nation’s fastest-growing church.

“I want my life to be a testimony to them that God could do anything with a surrendered life,” Mitchell said.

Old-School Message, Youth Appeal

Asked about his phenomenal appeal to younger Christians, Mitchell said his congregants are seeking credibility and substance in a world full of corruption and inauthenticity in religious settings. He said his message centers on biblical teaching and openness about his own shortcomings. Those priorities place personal transformation at the center of his ministry’s expanding public profile.

On its website, the church’s published values pair prayer and passionate worship with community, generosity and service. Its understanding of discipleship includes gathering in smaller groups, strengthening relationships and supporting one another through ongoing spiritual growth. Those commitments provide a framework for what can follow a stadium gathering: Sustained participation in a community of faith. 

The huge crowd in Texas made ACCESS a striking public expression of religious commitment. Its lasting significance, however, remains an unfolding story — one that will be told through the lives of participants and the communities to which they return.

Can You Wear Greek Letters And Still Follow Jesus?

By
Seattle Medium
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Some Black Christians are abandoning their fraternities and sororities, arguing that membership conflicts with their faith. Others, including Rev. Jamal Bryant, say the Divine Nine's traditions and community service are compatible with Christianity. Credit: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Some Black Christians are abandoning their fraternities and sororities, arguing that membership conflicts with their faith. Others, including Rev. Jamal Bryant, say the Divine Nine’s traditions and community service are compatible with Christianity. Credit: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

by Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware

They pledged for the sisterhood. The brotherhood. The prospect of joining a new social network; others, the chance to serve a community. Still others followed relatives whose affiliation with Black Greek-letter organizations, colors and community commitments had been familiar since childhood.

Now some former members of the Divine Nine — the coalition of majority-Black fraternities and sororities that date back a century or longer — say they can’t wear the colors and follow Jesus at the same time. 

A growing number of fraternity brothers and sorority sisters who join churches or other faith communities say they are leaving those organizations they once embraced. But other Christians, including pastors who retain their memberships, reject the suggestion that their sorority and fraternity affiliations compromise their faith. 

‘Hazing is Not Holy’

The Rev. Jamal Bryant addressed both the departures and the objections in his Oct. 18 sermon, “I Renounce,” at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb. But before defending the organizations, Bryant acknowledged that some people whose experience in a fraternity or sorority had involved hazing others had caused lasting harm.

“Hazing is not holy,” he said.

Bryant condemned physical, emotional and spiritual abuse connected with Greek life. He also acknowledged deaths associated with hazing and said the church should provide safety for those who suffered. 

Whatever dehumanizes people deserves renunciation, he told the congregation.

I want to ask how you renounce your D9 affiliation, but you have not found enough Holy Ghost conviction or discernment to renounce not one Trump policy?

Rev. Jamal Bryant, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church

Then he turned to the community service performed by the nine historically Black fraternities and sororities, challenging critics to consider why their work remains necessary.

“Tell me how you curse the people who are doing the work, but you don’t curse the system that makes their work necessary?” he said.

A Decades-Old Debate

The disagreement has become increasingly visible through online testimonies, but Christian objections to Greek-letter membership predate social media.

The late Pastor James P. Tharrington’s “Should Christians Pledge Fraternities and Sororities?” was published in 1990. Minister Fred Hatchett’s “Coming Apart at the Seams,” which carries copyrights dating to 1999, explicitly urged Christians to separate from Black Greek-letter organizations. 

The Indianapolis Recorder reported on a former Delta Sigma Theta member identified as Nicole A. Griffin, who formally denounced her membership in 2018 after a spiritual turning point in 2012. 

Word In Black covered another departure in May 2024, when Howard University student Zora Sanders publicly renounced Delta Sigma Theta shortly after joining. Sanders said her research beforehand had not prepared her for initiation requirements she considered incompatible with Christianity. 

Although the available evidence establishes no predictable cycle, the controversy seems to return periodically. It documents a longstanding disagreement receiving renewed attention, without establishing how many members are leaving nationwide.

Why Christians Leave

For some who renounce, the conflict centers on what they believe they promised during initiation. 

They interpret oaths, ceremonial language and lifelong commitments as spiritual covenants that compete with allegiance to Christ. Others object to fraternity or sorority symbols associated with ancient deities, or language they believe improperly adapts Scripture. 

Christians who remain members dispute those interpretations. 

Sanders described an initiation involving an oath and kneeling or bowing at an altar. She characterized the experience as idolatry — her assessment of the ceremony, rather than a conclusion shared by all Christian members. 

For someone convinced that membership created an improper spiritual commitment, becoming inactive may feel insufficient. Public renunciation can become part of repentance and testimony, accompanied by warnings to prospective members. 

That helps explain why Divine 9 defenders pointing to scholarships or service projects may not settle the disagreement. The person leaving is questioning the spiritual meaning of membership itself.

Why Christians Stay

Members who remain challenge the assumption that organizational commitment amounts to worship.

Alpha Kappa Alpha member Jerilyn Lewis told the Indianapolis Recorder that her organization’s meetings included prayer and a chaplain.

“Rituals are simply ceremonies,” Lewis said. “Churches have rituals.” 

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture documents Divine Nine contributions to literacy, professional development, voter registration and community service. For defenders, those commitments represent an enduring investment in Black life. 

Bryant acknowledged former members’ freedom to leave, and insisted he was not asking them to return. He challenged, however, what he described as an inconsistency between critics’ public rejection of Greek affiliation and their silence about Trump administration policies.

“I want to ask how you renounce your D9 affiliation, but you have not found enough Holy Ghost conviction or discernment to renounce not one Trump policy,” he said.

Bryant also affirmed his own Christian faith and lifetime membership in Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. His response placed the disagreement within a larger question about Christian responsibility toward oppressed people.

Leaving can carry personal costs, too. Griffin told the Recorder that encounters with former sorority connections became strained after her departure. 

For those leaving, faith requires surrendering their letters. For those staying, membership remains an expression of service. Neither position excuses the harm Bryant acknowledged. 

12 Books That Show Why Black Women’s Stories Can’t Be Erased

By
Seattle Medium
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From Zora Neale Hurston to Toni Morrison, Black women have helped reshape American culture and history. These biographies reclaim their stories and offer a reminder that knowledge, creativity and resistance are powerful tools for change. Credit: Joseph Williams/Word In Black
From Zora Neale Hurston to Toni Morrison, Black women have helped reshape American culture and history. These biographies reclaim their stories and offer a reminder that knowledge, creativity and resistance are powerful tools for change. Credit: Joseph Williams/Word In Black

by Tracy Chiles McGhee

Reading a biography is an act of discovery. We get to learn how the protagonists thought, imagined, made core decisions and overcame obstacles within the context of their own lived experiences. 

But these biographies by Black women also offer blueprints for radical change centered around their stories and perspectives. They challenge injustice, preserve culture, advance knowledge or change how we see ourselves and our possibilities.

A week set aside to call out Banned Books by the American Library Association quickly passed. Yet stories by and about Black women — in bound books and in lived experience — are omitted and excluded from the public discourse every day. So we launched Power Read 25, a national initiative sponsored by Unerased | Black Women Speak, celebrating the lives, leadership, creativity, and legacy of Black women through biography. 

This collection of powerful biographies written by equally powerful biographers brings Black women’s lives and contributions into sharper focus. They feature lessons about imagination, self-determination, intellectual freedom and the courage to chart one’s path. Many of the women featured in the biographies are at the top of the Banned Book lists.

This is an invitation for readers to consider what these titles can teach, and how they can literally transform our lives and communities for the better. 

This collection of powerful biographies written by equally powerful biographers brings Black women’s lives and contributions into sharper focus.

As you reflect on each principle, answer these probes: Which title resonates with you? Which would benefit you, your community or the youth in your lives?  All engagement is helpful as we endeavor to create a world where we can be well, prosper and experience love, joy and peace — unbothered by the “theys”.  

Here are a dozen titles from our 25 biographies featuring stories, issues and truths that those who banned books don’t want you to read. 

  1. Build Power from the Ground Up 

Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision. Barbara Ransby. University of North Carolina Press, 2003 (Second Edition, 2023).

Ransby traces Ella Baker’s five decades of organizing, from the NAACP to her role in founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, where she championed grassroots, group-centered leadership over charismatic figureheads. For Black women who have carried movements without receiving credit, Baker’s life shows that the quiet work of building people up can be the most radical leadership of all.

  1. Turn Vision into Institutions 

A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune. Noliwe Rooks. W. W. Norton & Company, 2024.

Rooks shows how Bethune, the daughter of formerly enslaved parents, turned a small school for Black girls in Daytona into Bethune-Cookman University, founded the National Council of Negro Women, and became an influential adviser in the Roosevelt administration. Her story models what it means for Black women to build institutions that outlast them: dreams last longest when you build the structures to hold them.

  1. Find Poetry in Everyday Life

A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun: The Life & Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks. Angela Jackson. Beacon Press, 2017.

Poet Angela Jackson portrays Brooks, the first Black writer to win a Pulitzer Prize, as an artist who found her material in the kitchenettes and street corners of Chicago’s South Side. Brooks reminds Black women that their ordinary lives, neighborhoods, and voices are worthy subjects for great art.

  1. Turn Your Obsession Into Your Mission 

Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler. Susana M. Morris. Amistad, 2025.

Morris follows Butler from a shy girl in Pasadena to a groundbreaking science fiction writer and MacArthur “genius” grant recipient in a genre that rarely made room for Black women. Butler’s relentless dedication to her craft shows what is possible when a Black woman refuses to let anyone else define the limits of her imagination.

  1. Live Beyond the Rules of Respectability

Love, Activism, and the Respectable Life of Alice Dunbar-Nelson. Tara T. Green. University of North Carolina Press, 2024.

Green looks at the writer, educator, and activist behind the polished public image, including her troubled marriage to Paul Laurence Dunbar, her relationships with women, and her work for suffrage and anti-lynching causes. Her life speaks to Black women who feel caught between the expectations placed on them and the fuller, more complicated selves they actually live.

  1. Confront the Atrocities of Enslavement 

Driven Toward Madness: The Fugitive Slave Margaret Garner and Tragedy on the Ohio. Nikki M. Taylor. Ohio University Press, 2016.

Taylor reconstructs the 1856 escape of Margaret Garner, who killed her own daughter rather than see her returned to slavery, a story that later inspired Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The book asks readers to face the specific violence enslavement inflicted on Black mothers and to understand Garner’s act as a response to that violence rather than madness.

  1. Recognize the Power of Your Voice 

Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America. Keisha N. Blain. Beacon Press, 2021.

Blain centers Hamer’s speeches and ideas, showing how a Mississippi sharecropper with a sixth-grade education became one of the most powerful voices for voting rights and human dignity. Hamer’s legacy tells Black women that their voices carry authority without credentials or anyone’s permission.

  1. Let Your Art Reflect Your Convictions 

Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry. Soyica Diggs Colbert. Yale University Press, 2021.

Colbert presents the author of A Raisin in the Sun, the first play by a Black woman produced on Broadway, as a committed activist whose politics shaped every part of her writing. Hansberry shows Black women creatives that art and activism don’t have to be separate callings.

  1. Be Audacious in What You Demand 

My Face Is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations. Mary Frances Berry. Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.

Berry recovers the story of Callie House, a widowed washerwoman who led a mass movement in the 1890s demanding pensions for formerly enslaved people, and was persecuted by the federal government for it. House’s courage reminds Black women that demanding what is owed is not too much to ask, even when the powerful insist otherwise.

  1. Value and Preserve Your Culture 

Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston. Valerie Boyd. Scribner, 2003.

Boyd’s biography follows Hurston from all-Black Eatonville, Florida, through the Harlem Renaissance and her fieldwork collecting Black Southern folklore, which fed classics like Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston’s life argues that Black women’s language, stories, and traditions are treasures worth recording and celebrating, not leaving behind.

  1. Live Your Unapologetic Truth 

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde. Alexis Pauline Gumbs. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024.

Gumbs writes an expansive, poetic biography of the self-described Black lesbian feminist poet whose work on silence, anger, and self-care still shapes how we talk about identity and survival. Lorde gives Black women permission to name every part of themselves and to treat caring for themselves as an act of resistance.

  1. Use Your Influence to Open Doors

Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship. Dana A. Williams. Amistad, 2025.

Williams documents Toni Morrison’s years as a senior editor at Random House, where she championed writers such as Toni Cade Bambara, Gayl Jones, and Angela Davis before and alongside her own rise as a novelist. Morrison’s editorship shows Black women that reaching a position of power means more when you use it to bring others in with you.

To learn more about the Power Read 25 initiative and how to activate the list, visit  Power Read 25 – Unerased 

Tracy Chiles McGhee is a multi-genre writer and Project Director for Unerased | Black Women Speak.

Black Women Are Under Attack. Here’s A Blueprint To Fight Back.

By
Seattle Medium
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From widening unemployment disparities to maternal mortality and unequal pay, Black women face persistent systemic barriers. Dr. David Johns outlines how The Black Papers proposes policy reforms designed to turn those inequities into opportunities for change. Credit: Getty Images
From widening unemployment disparities to maternal mortality and unequal pay, Black women face persistent systemic barriers. Dr. David Johns outlines how The Black Papers proposes policy reforms designed to turn those inequities into opportunities for change. Credit: Getty Images

by Dr. David J. Johns

The world has zero love, affection, or appreciation for Black women. This is true broadly, and it’s certainly true in the United States.

Recently, Laura Loomer went on a racist tirade against Florida State Representative and U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon. Loomer was rattled because Nixon had the audacity to be Black and run for office. This attack isn’t an aberration.

It follows the routine and systematic criticism of Black women by the occupant of the Oval Office, who has regularly berated and attacked journalists, including Yamiche Alcindor and Rachel Scott. He’s also attacked and denigrated Black women elected officials, including Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and New York Attorney Letitia James.

Bigger Than Hurt Feelings

High-profile attacks on Black women are not limited to politics.

Acclaimed journalists Cari Champion and Jemele Hill have long recounted their own experiences with racism and sexism, including on their own show. Recently, the duo sat down with Stephen A. Smith for their Flagrant and Funny podcast and asked him why he is harder on Black women commentators than his white former colleagues. 

They pressed him on trashing Kamala Harris after the 2024 election, and running to Sean Hannity to protect himself after the National Association of Black Journalists called him out. They wanted to know why, with everything going on in the world, his commentary goes harder on Black women.

The attacks on Black women are emblematic of a nation that not only despises Black bodies but is out of sync with the challenges Black women face in particular.

Champion and Hill received a deluge of hateful comments in response — so many they shut down their comment sections. But let’s be clear: this is bigger than one man’s commentary. 

The challenges Black women face globally show up in Black women’s paychecks, as well as our jobs, our hospitals, and our children’s classrooms. The numbers are the receipts.

This is bigger than hurt feelings. The attacks on Black women are emblematic of a nation that not only despises Black bodies, but is out of sync with the challenges Black women face in particular.

That’s why works like the forthcoming “The Black Papers” matter. 

The project documents the attacks on Black women, putting the receipts and proposed responses in one place. The data doesn’t lie. In virtually all indicators and indices, Black women face a steep road that is littered with challenges.

By the Numbers

Consider jobs, for example: unemployment among Black women jumped from 5.9% to 7.3% in September 2026 alone while the unemployment rate for white women, Hispanic, and Asian workers fell. Additionally, Black women lost more than 30% of their federal jobs in 2025 compared to the 11.6% of non-Black women who lost federal jobs.

The data matters for many reasons, including that public service was a ladder into the middle class for Black families, including Black women. That ladder is being demolished, and the private sector is following suit. 

The losses are not about qualifications or effort. They’re part of a broader attack on Black America, with Black women as a proxy.

Even outside government, Black women lost professional and service jobs at three times the rate of all women in 2025. Black women have long been told to work twice as hard to be considered half as good. Black women did what the country told them to do. They got the degree. They pay more for it and are paid less for it.

Reduced earnings are particularly harmful as Black women carry the highest average student loan balances of any group. They earn less than white women, white men, and Black men despite having the same level of education, but are saddled with more debt.

For every dollar a white man earns, a Black woman earns 65 cents, resulting in more than $1 million lost over a career. This hurts as Black women are more likely to be heads of households.

The pain is deeper than money. When it comes to health, in 2024, Black women are more than three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women. In school, Black girls are suspended at 5 times the rate of white girls, starting in preschool.

As we note in The Black Papers, “Talking about gender inside our own house is precision, not division”. Naming what is happening to Black women does not divide us. It is how we win.

Pushing Back

Fortunately, The Black Papers outlines several solutions. Congress should pass the Momnibus, a wide-ranging bill that addresses the maternal mortality crisis, and the PRO Act, which would strengthen unions. Lawmakers must extend postpartum Medicaid leave to 12 months, and healthcare companies should pay for birth doulas. Schools must end zero-tolerance discipline in public schools, and philanthropies must fund Black women-led organizations.

For instance, eight chapters in The Black Pages speak directly to Black women. 

Chapter 10, “Confronting the Black Health Equity Crisis,” was written by Britt Weinstock, Linda Elam, and Dr. David Johns. Chapter 11 was penned by the National Women’s Law Center and focuses on reproductive justice at the crossroads; Ashley Brevil wrote Chapter 12, which focuses on Black Mothers and ending disparities in maternal health; and Chapter 13 focuses on gender equity and was written by Dr. Brittney Cooper, Shatema Threadcraft, Susana Morris and Melanye Price.

The remedy exists and our policy proposals work. What is missing is the will to fund them. If policymakers choose to invest in help rather than harm, we’ve combined the fixes into one accessible, easy-to-digest tome. 

The question is, will they engage with them?

Dr. David J. Johns is a sociologist, the CEO and Executive Director of the National Black Justice Collective, and the editor-in-chief of The Black Papers: A Policy Agenda for Black Liberation in the 21st Century (Routledge, 2026). He served as the first Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans and hosts the podcast Teach the Babies.

We The People Wear The Crown

By
Seattle Medium
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by Marc H. Morial

(Trice Edney Wire) – “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” — Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2

Many know this line as a metaphor for the weight of leadership in the face of adversity.

Despite the efforts of the White House and its devoted followers, the crown in America belongs to We the People, not the President. Not now and not ever.

To share the burden of this moment, when we must push back against tyranny, the theft of our civil rights, and the destruction of our democracy, I will join the Urban League movement at the No Kings Rally in Atlanta, Georgia, this Saturday, October 17.

We are answering this call, and urging you to answer yours by voting early in this midterm election.

In Georgia, where we’re gathering alongside Black Voters Matter, early voting began Monday, October 12. This is our chance to turn months of mobilizing, phone calls, door knocking, and campus canvassing into action before Election Day on November 3.

This is not an election to sit out, and this is not the time to wait.

The President himself has challenged the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, threatening the voting rights of members of the military, the elderly, people with disabilities, and working people who can’t always make it to the polls before they close.

The threats don’t stop at the post office. Some administration officials have even suggested that immigration enforcement will monitor polls to ensure an “honest election.” Even as a suggestion, this is intimidation, and it flirts dangerously with authoritarianism.

Calling voter suppression what it is, and standing united against it, is what No Kings is about.

That is why I am standing in solidarity, lending my voice, and representing this 116-year-old vanguard of freedom in southwest Atlanta this Saturday.

Now is not the time to sit silent while every right we fought for is eroded by a man unworthy of a crown, in a country founded on freedom.

Let’s protect our rights and our democracy by saying “No Kings” and by voting.

Seattle Public Schools Connects Students to Careers Through Hands-On Training

By
Seattle Medium
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Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Ben Shuldiner
Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Ben Shuldiner

By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium

Seattle Public Schools is providing students with hands-on career training through its Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, offering pathways into fields such as health care, construction, automotive technology and firefighting while students are still in high school.

The programs are designed to help students prepare for life after graduation by connecting classroom instruction with practical skills, career exploration and opportunities to work with industry professionals. For students considering careers that do not necessarily require a traditional four-year college degree, CTE offers another way to explore their interests and prepare for the workforce.

According to CTE officials, Seattle Public Schools’ Career and Technical Education programs are designed to prepare students for both college and careers after high school. Through hands-on, problem-based learning, students can explore career pathways that match their interests while developing practical skills and gaining exposure to industries that are seeking qualified workers.

A key component of the programs is their connection to industry partners, which helps students understand how classroom instruction applies to the workplace. These relationships also introduce students to career possibilities they may not otherwise encounter and provide opportunities to learn about the education, training and experience required for different occupations.

Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Ben Shuldiner said the district offers career and college preparation opportunities that many families may not realize are available, including programs that can help students transition from high school into the workforce.

“We have a ton of kids that are graduating, going to amazing colleges,” Shuldiner notes. “I think our CTE programs, we have a firefighter academy, we have medical programming. And these are high school kids that leave high school and immediately get to go into the workforce. We have building trades programs. Those are really cool and not a lot of people know about.”

The district’s approach to career exploration begins well before students reach high school. At the elementary level, students can be introduced to technical subjects through after-school activities such as robotics and computer science. As they progress through middle school, career exploration and educational planning help them begin identifying their interests and considering future opportunities.

The High School and Beyond Plan provides a framework for students to connect their academic experiences with their goals after graduation. By high school, students can pursue more specialized coursework and hands-on training in fields that interest them, building on the career awareness and planning introduced in earlier grades.

One of the district’s primary resources for advanced career training is the Seattle Skills Center, which provides specialized technical instruction to high school students at multiple locations throughout the city.

Shuldiner described the Skills Center as operating legally as a single school, with programs distributed across different campuses, including locations at Rainier Beach and near Washington Middle School. This arrangement allows students to participate in specialized training that may not be offered at their neighborhood high schools.

The Skills Center provides tuition-free career and technical training in fields such as automotive repair, medical sciences and firefighting. Through hands-on instruction, students can gain experience with industry-related equipment, workplace procedures and technical skills while continuing their high school education.

These programs give students an opportunity to explore career options before graduation, whether their next step involves entering the workforce, pursuing an apprenticeship or continuing their education at a college or technical institution.

For students interested in entering the workforce after graduation, career and technical programs can provide an introduction to apprenticeships, industry training and other employment pathways. Building trades programs, for example, can help students explore careers in construction and learn about opportunities to enter union apprenticeship programs.

Shuldiner said skilled trades can offer substantial earning potential as workers gain experience and professional credentials.

“When you get a kid who’s now a journeyman certified in the union, they’re gonna make more money than a teacher in their first year,” Shuldiner points out.

Although becoming a certified journeyman generally requires additional training and work experience beyond high school, exposure to the trades can help students understand the steps involved in pursuing those careers.

Career preparation is also taking on added importance as technological advances, including artificial intelligence, change the skills employers seek. By introducing students to different industries and allowing them to develop practical abilities, CTE programs offer opportunities to explore career options before making decisions about college, apprenticeships or employment.

The district’s approach to preparing students for life after high school extends beyond technical training. Seattle Public Schools also offers opportunities for students to earn college credit while completing their high school education.

Through College in the High School, eligible students can take courses that provide an opportunity to earn college credit, potentially giving them a head start on their postsecondary education.

Other options include Middle College at North Seattle College, an alternative high school setting that allows students to pursue their education in a college environment while exploring opportunities to earn college credits.

Together, these programs reflect the different routes students can take toward graduation and beyond. Some may choose four-year universities, while others may pursue community or technical colleges, apprenticeships or careers that build on skills developed during high school.

For Shuldiner, the district’s career and technical programs represent opportunities that deserve greater public awareness, particularly among families who may be unfamiliar with the training available to students.

As Seattle Public Schools prepares young people for an evolving workforce, programs such as the Seattle Skills Center provide students with opportunities to discover their interests, develop practical skills and consider what comes next after graduation.

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