New Futures assists families in four apartment complexes in Burien, Sea Tac, Boulevard Park, and Arbor Heights. It will close its largest facility at The Heights of Burien. The New Futures garden at the Heights, pictured, will continue. Far left is Sannti Rai, a New Futures member & refugee from Nepal who studies English at SSCC. In yellow jersey, Sadek Abdulahi from Ethiopia. Now at Sylvester Middle School, he will attend Highline HS this fall. Wearing purple, Jenn Ramirez Robson, New Futures Exec. Dir. In white blouse is Roslyn Kagy, Youth Program Coordinator.
The organization New Futures offers a spectrum of programs to assist teens and families in four area apartment complexes like English Language Learner (ELL) classes, translation services, and family advocacy services to help recent immigrant families including war refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Nepal, and others.
However, because of economic challenges New Futures is forced to close its largest location, a four-unit apartment facility at The Heights of Burien. The Heights is an enormous apartment complex of 543 units at 1101 SW 139th St. and Ambaum Way SW. The other three facilities will remain open. They are Windsor Heights in Sea Tac, Woodridge Park in Boulevard Park, and the Arbor Heights Apartments.
New Futures had an annual budget of $1.5 million for the past five years. Over the last three years they have been running a deficit of $25,000 to $30,000 per month. They directly served about 2,000 people a year. It will drop to about 1,300. The Heights was their most expensive to operate, at about half a million dollars annually. About one third of funding comes from the cities of Burien and Sea Tac and the school district. Another third is through United Way, and the rest comes from individual donations.
"We were started 19 years ago by a group of teachers at Hazel Valley Elementary School in the Highline District," said Jenn Ramirez Robson, New Futures Executive Director. Her office is at 630 SW 149th St., Suite B, near the Burien Courthouse.
"They realized a lot of kids were failing in the same apartment complex, the Juanitas Apartments. It was eventually condemned and closed. We added the other three locations, which are King County Housing Authority properties, part of their Workforce Housing. Each is privately managed. They are beginning to realize that providing services like we have does more to help people grow out of poverty than just providing housing, so in White Center they have launched an educational initiative."
"The child is in the center of our mission," she continued. "Then it became quickly obvious that in order for children to be successful, their parents needed to be supported. Then we saw that you needed to have a safe supportive community to support the parents. So we provide supporting circles."
"We try to create a circle that doesn't have a break around it," added Roslyn Kagy, Youth Program Coordinator, New Futures at the Heights. She will transfer to Windsor Heights. "These are young people who don't have a lot of resources and support systems in place that a lot of other young people have. They are at risk. It's a scary world, a scary place for young people to grow up.
"We have war refugees from all over the world who fled crime, war, violence," she said. "Having an adult who listens is critical. We work with their schools, parents, doctors, coaches, friends. If something happened at school, I already know what happened when they get off the bus. I've worked with 58 teenagers in the past nine months."
Robson acknowledges that, while the Heights does have some crime problems, many issues contribute to the fear factor Kagy referred to. Robson said some of the kids in their program are targeted by gangs because they try to avoid involvement. Also, because of cuts in buses from high school, students are forced to walk longer distances and may be jumped. And because many are immigrants and war refugees, they have added challenges adjusting.
Seattle-born Alan Bacio has been a Heights of Burien resident for eight years. He is a Highline High School senior, and a New Futures teen. He addressed the Burien City Council at their July 2 meeting and discussed the funding problems and positive outcomes New Futures has provided. They promised to look into increasing funding.
"I read a letter explaining what was going on, what was going to happen to the kids and teens," said Bacio, standing outside his tidy apartment building with skateboard in hand. "Most teenagers won't have stuff to do during the summer and might get into trouble and make bad decisions. I think New Futures helped them make the right decisions."
Some families involved in New Futures participated in a letter-writing campaign to spread the message that losing the Heights facility would be a big loss.
In one such letter, a mother, Elana, writes, "Please don't close down the education program because my child loves it there (...) The tutor checks on his grades and tells him to fix them before doing anything else, and that he should play less video games and spend more time on his grades."
A 13 year-old, Emiliano, writes, "Please don't close the program. Our kids love it here (...) The kids learn the importance of school, that school can get them a better job, and parents can learn how to use computers (...) The parents are calmer to know that their children are doing their homework and learning."