Category: Programs

Meet Eric Opoku Agyemang & Katrina Peterson

Join us in welcoming Eric and Katrina, who joined Puget Sound Sage’s team this summer! They talk bowling, blueberries, and the necessity of building rooted, intergenerational communities.

Eric Opoku Agyemang (he/him/his) is the Program Manager of the Community Leadership Institute at Puget Sound Sage. Prior to joining Sage, Eric served as the co-founder and executive director of the Cheerful Hearts Foundation, a non-profit that uses community-based interventions to address child trafficking in the West African fishing industry. In addition, he served as the national coordinator of the Patriots Ghana, an international organization that promotes youth leadership and active citizen engagement in Ghana, West Africa. His work has been featured in national and international news, including the Guardian, BBC, and Al Jazeera.

Aside from serving on the city of Seattle’s “Our Best” Advisory Council, Eric recruits, trains, and deploys black male adults to mentor black youth in Seattle. In 2015, he served as a fellow of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Eric holds a Masters in Social Work from the University of Washington, and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from the Methodist University College, Ghana.

Tell us a little about your role. My role is to manage Sage’s Community Leadership Institute, a six-month fellowship program that resources, trains, and places emerging leaders from low-income communities and communities of color to serve on strategic municipal boards and commissions. “If you are not on the table, you are on the menu.” If communities of color and low income communities are not represented on the decision making table, others on the table will decide for them. The CLI seeks to address this gap through systemic change.

What might someone be surprised to know about you? I love to play the keyboard and bass guitar, and do play every weekend with a band in Seattle. And I am always looking for an opportunity to meet friends who like bowling! I played it once and wish I could always do it again.

What is a piece of advice that you’ve gotten over the years that has stuck with you? One thing I have learnt over the years from my grandparents is to be hardworking, be kind to everyone, and be patient in making decisions that require careful analysis. As a result, I love people unconditionally because I do not know the role of those people in my life. Additionally, I have learnt to not rush in making quick judgments or believing in mere assumptions without taking a step further to knowing the truth. “If you are patient, you can dissect the ant and see its intestines.” – African Proverb.

Katrina Peterson (she/her/hers) is the Climate Justice Program Manager at Puget Sound Sage. She provides advocacy, policy analysis, and strategic direction for the climate program.

Previously, Katrina worked at Washington Environmental Council and Climate Solutions, where she provided database support and feedback on racial equity and justice initiatives. She currently serves on Got Green’s Climate Justice Committee and has experience as an environmental educator and guide, chaplain, and counselor. Katrina holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard and a Bachelors in Political Science from Yale.

What does climate justice mean to you? Building rooted, intergenerational communities with control over their energy and food systems and access to clean air, soil, and water.

What’s your favorite part about summer in Seattle? Watermelon, blueberries, alpine lake plunges, and enjoying the sun from the shade of a tree.

What are some of your go-to food spots in the city? My kitchen. My partner and I have a prolific garden, which we are constantly trying to keep up with.

Meet Kim Powe, Interim Executive Director

By Kristen Wendt

We are pleased to introduce Kim Powe as Sage’s Interim Executive Director!

Kim comes to Sage with 18 years of experience in public service and grassroots development spanning youth and adult economic development, racial equity, sustainability and climate justice, food justice, health equity, affordable housing, restorative justice and international development. Most recently, Kim served as the Director of Social Equity and Inclusion for a local environmental organizationand as the Director of Sustainability for Multnomah County.

She knows that success is not a zero sum game and that true sustainability is not achieved when it is at the expense of others. She has a passion for working where sustainability and economic development intersect, which is often where people of color and low-wage communities converge.

Kim holds a Master’s in Business Administration in Sustainable Business from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (now Presidio Graduate School) in Seattle, a Master’s of Urban Studies, Community Development, from Portland State University, and two bachelor’s degrees from Georgetown University.

Kim has had the privilege to be Larry and Lynn Powe’s daughter, live on four continents, marry a wonderful partner and have a daily teacher in her daughter.

Kim can be reached at kim@pugetsoundsage.org or (206) 568-5000 ext. 11. Please join us in welcoming Kim to the Sage community!

– The Puget Sound Sage team

Staff Spotlight

How did you first get involved with Puget Sound Sage?
The first time I was involved with Sage was when I was in a giving campaign at the Social Justice Fund. I was blown away by the work I learned about in the application.

But I really got involved with Sage when we were co-hosts for the Climate Summit at Daybreak Star. It was a phenomenal day with dynamic speakers on the local, regional and national level. We were able to caucus and I got to meet some of the people I still get to work with today.

What was your first impression of Puget Sound Sage?
Before I worked here my first impression was: “Wow! These people are doing fantastic work, I hope that I get to work with them more.” After I started working here my first impression was: “Wow! These people are doing fantastic work, AND are absolutely amazing people. I am so lucky to get to work here.”

What does climate justice mean to you?
To me, climate justice means we all have a healthy, safe, comfortable and beautiful place to live, work and play on this earth.

It means that race, income, sexual orientation/gender, religious affiliation, region or nationality are not predictors of health, wellness, life expectancy, access to beauty and nature, or an overabundance of benefits or burdens, because we all live in a sustainably justice society. In such a society means we are not harming our soil, water and air, or the beings that depend on them; and, there is recognition that there are many valid and effective ways to achieve that society, not just ones proposed by dominant culture.

Describe a recent traveling experience.
Last summer I had the opportunity to travel to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, a place that I had driven through on my way to New Orleans before, but had never stayed. I was there to learn about some of the work that members on the reservation were hoping to do. Driving around with them as they described the history they had there, the truths, the hurts and the hopes that they had, energized me and gave me hope.

Under that expansive sky, with the Rockies in the distance I had a sense of openness and possibility that I don’t feel in the city. The spirit of my hosts was humbling as they told me of injustices that they experienced, while maintaining a level of authentic patience and determination that reminded me of the expanse of time.

I left there excited for the work that they were going to do (and did do, organize the FIRST EVER Native contingency to testify at the Wyoming state legislature to hold their elected officials accountable to promises made), feeling connected to their hopes and efforts in ours here, and vowing to return to in solidarity again.

What might someone be surprised to know about you?
I have moved over 24 times, lived in 17 different cities, 4 continents and speaks 4 languages.

New Study on Early Childhood Education: Between a Rock and Hard Place

King County’s youngest people, their families, and their educators are all suffering from our regions’ child-care crisis.

Rock-hard-place-graphic-1-620x563In this report, we shine a spotlight on early childhood education in King County, which is increasingly the most expensive in the nation.  Although child care can cost over $10,000 a year per child, the typical child care worker in King County earns poverty-level wages between $23,000 and $29,000 dollars per year. Insurance, rent, taxes, staff-to-child ratios, inadequate subsidy rates, and supplies make providing child care in our region extremely costly, and leaving little for workers.

Numerous studies show that low wages are one of the most significant factors contributing to high turnover in early educators. In King County, roughly 38% of teaching assistants are no longer in their positions just one year later. High turnover harms the stability and relationships our children need during their early developmental stages, disrupts the already rapidly changing child care environments, and costs child care centers significant resources to find high quality staff.

Key Findings

Early childhood education is unaffordable for many parents.

Market-rate, full time infant care at a child care center in King County costs parents on average $1,445 per month, roughly 52% of the median income of a single female parent in King County.  Child care subsidies are not sufficient to meet the high need, and high costs, parents at low and middle incomes must pay.

Early childhood providers operate on slim margins, forcing teachers and assistants to make low wages.

The typical family home provider in King County earns $35,000 in gross annual earnings. After taxes, supplies and overhead – family home providers have minimal means to pay staff, let alone make ends meet.  Centers typically employ more staff, but typically have higher overhead costs including insurance, rent, and fixtures. Combined with low staff-to-child ratios, there is little room to raise wages.

Low wages encourage high turnover, impacting the quality of care.

High turnover among teaching staff negatively impacts the quality of care a program can provide and affects children’s social-emotional and language development.  According to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at University of California, Berkeley, turnover discourages the development and maintenance of consistent relationships between children and their caregivers.