Building stronger relationships between diverse communities and Kent city officials looms as the primary goal for a new volunteer board.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mayor Suzette Cooke and the City Council appointed the 17-member Cultural Communities Board on July 19 at City Hall to help bring Kent and its diverse residents closer together.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are a bridge between their respective communities and the City Council and mayor as we serve the community to help inform us about what makes a difference in their lives and that we might improve what we do and how we do it,\u201d Cooke said at the council meeting. \u201cAnd they are to be a link to the communities to talk about how we operate as a city and a culture here in Kent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The mayor explained further the board\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really connecting people with people in helping to eliminate or prevent stereotypes from forming and to develop relationships based on true individuals and knowledge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
An initial meeting date hasn\u2019t been set yet, but board members can\u2019t wait to get started later this year. Each of them shared a few comments with the council last week.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I heard about this opportunity, I knew it was time to give back,\u201d said Josephine Karanja, a state social worker who moved here from Kenya 21 years ago.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI think we can all come together as one people and have a Kent culture. We can be a city that is an example to the rest of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Vaivao Semisi-Tupou, originally from Samoa, moved to Kent from Hawaii 19 years ago. He will represent Pacific Americans or Pacific Islanders.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to serve on this committee because diversity is beautiful,\u201d Semisi-Tupou said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to realize that each individual is unique and we\u2019ve got to embrace our differences.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Cooke described what city officials looked for in finding people to serve on the board.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking at appointing individuals to represent different cultures that are here in Kent as we as a whole city become one culture with all of the mix that\u2019s in it,\u201d Cooke said. \u201cWhile I can\u2019t appoint one individual to represent a whole culture, they are symbolizing that and helping us to learn from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The group includes individuals representing cultures from Iraq, El Salvador, Somalia, India, Ukraine, Bangladesh and Myanmar.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The mayor said city staff defined culture to mean:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cPractices, habits, patterns, customs, values and structures that are related to a common group experience,\u201d Cooke said. \u201cIt can include ethnicity, language, religion or spiritual beliefs, race, geographic origin, group history and life experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Goals for the board include increasing the diverse community\u2019s access to city government, to become more engaged with city policy decisions and to serve as a liaison between the cultural communities and the city.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Board member Sharnshoke Kaur, 19, was raised in a traditional Punjabi family. She competes in martial arts where she has watched cultures come together.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we want our kids to appreciate diversity, there has to be something out there that excites them,\u201d Kaur said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we do martial arts because it\u2019s cool and cool to watch. One of the things I want to accomplish on this board is I want to make diversity cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The members of the group are: Ted Schwarz, Rand Al Hammadi, Vaivao Semisi-Topou, Marvin Eckfeldt, Sonia Morales, Yusuf Bashir, Hussein Al Kinani, Josephine Karanga, Beabe Akpojovwo, Cesar Rangel, Satwinder Kaur, Yuriy Zaremba, Sharnshoke Kaur, Raymond King, Mizanur Rahman, Shamso Issak and Ta Kwe Say.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Building stronger relationships between diverse communities and Kent city officials looms as the primary goal for a new volunteer board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":12024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12023"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}