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November 2004

Vol. III, No. 5

Learning Disabilities Video Wins National Award

Regional WDCs Meeting a Smashing Success

“Learning Disabilities: Learning from the Source,” a new video developed by the WDC of Seattle-King County, recently won first place in a nationwide competition sponsored by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. It was also a finalist in the 2004 Telly Awards—the premier awards honoring non-broadcast video and film productions.

The video features eight people—ranging from a 17-year-old to a young professional woman to an older man who is learning to read—who discuss their learning disabilities and the strengths they are building on to achieve success. A second video features more in-depth training for professionals.

“It's hard to find people who will talk openly about their learning disabilities,” says WDC planner Beth Blanchard, who worked on the video with the Instructional Broadcast Center of Seattle Public Schools. “But coming from them, the message that you can succeed with a learning disability is very powerful.”

“Learning from the Source” can be ordered from the WDC of Seattle-King County for $40; click here to go to the order form, or call or email the WDC at (206) 448-0474 or info@seakingwdc.org . For more information on the video, see our press release.

2003 Western Avenue Suite 250
Seattle WA 98121-2162
206.448.0474 www.seakingwdc.org

The WDC is an Equal Opportunity Employer and provider of employment and training programs. Auxillary aids and services are available uopn request to persons with disabilities.
WTRS 800.833.6384

It was a historic moment: the state's first-ever meeting of board members from four regional workforce development councils.

The themes were just as significant: the power of solving workforce issues as a region, instead of as individual areas—while coordinating with economic development efforts.

In a Convention Center banquet room filled to capacity, board members from the WDCs of Snohomish, Pierce and King counties and from the Olympic WDC (representing Kitsap, Clallam and Jefferson counties) enthusiastically affirmed both themes. Their gathering was also the setting for the unveiling of the Prosperity Partnership, a regional economic development effort that pledges to add 100,000 new jobs to the region's economy by 2010.

More than 135 attended the breakfast event, including 80 to 90 board members. From the welcome by WDC board chair Mic Dinsmore to the closing remarks of John Knutsen, Snohomish board chair, the air of excitement was clear.

“Board members appreciated this chance to come together,” said CEO Kris Stadelman of the WDC of Seattle-King County. “They really saw how their decisions and strategies with their workforce dollars affect the region's economy.”

Board members heard a string of illustrious speakers, beginning with Bob Watt, vice president for government and community affairs for the Boeing Company, who stressed the need for the region to unite in competition with other regions. Bill Kamela, senior staff to Sen. Patty Murray in Washington, D.C., discussed federal Workforce Investment Act legislation and the effectiveness of local workforce boards.

To unveil the Prosperity Partnership and its ambitious job-creation goal, several of the partnership's six co-chairs—including Microsoft's top lawyer, Brad Smith, YWCA executive director Rita Ryder and Uwajimaya CEO Tomio Moriguchi—also addressed the room. They pledged to keep the partnership focused on outcomes, rather than getting bogged down in studies and analysis.

For more information on the Prosperity Partnership, see the Puget Sound Regional Council's website at www.psrc.org or click here .

WDC Seeks Input on
New Three-Year Plan

As part of the process for developing the WDC's next strategic action plan, stakeholders and partners of the WDC of Seattle-King County are invited to offer their comments at a meeting to be held:

Thursday, December 2, 2004
3 to 4:30 p.m.

WorkSource Renton
919 S.W. Grady Way, Ste 125 Room F
Renton, WA.

Click here to read the current three-year plan, which will reach its end in June 2005.

• The WDC office will be closed over Thanksgiving Weekend, November 25-28.

• The WDC office will also be closed during the week between Christmas and New Years Day, December 25, 2004-January 2, 2005.