Many years ago, when personal computers had "mammoth" 500 megabyte hard drives and "blazing fast" 28K modems, I moved to Seattle from Boston with the idea of starting a new street paper. I arrived in March of 1994. The first issue was out by September.
Over the first several months, I was not producing a newspaper. That happened mostly over August, as activists fought against the imposition of then-City Attorney Mark Sidran's "sit/lie" ordinance and the clearing of the homeless "jungle" by the Kingdome.
The first order of business was to build support. I was a stranger to Seattle and wanted this new publication to be rooted in the community. There was just one way to do this: talk to those who were already here and working among the poor and homeless.
Some of my first conversations were with Jon Gould, then at the Tenant's Union, and Rev. David Bloom, who was Interim Director if the Church Council. Several years later, Jon became our first Board President. David, as of a few weeks ago, is our newest friend to hold that honor.
When someone would talk with me, I'd seldom let it go at that. I'd ask them who else I should talk to. The same names kept coming up. I spoke to most all of them. Within a few months, Real Change's core allies were clear. These became our first Advisory Board. David and Jon were both on it.
Over the first few years, Real Change was sponsored by the Pike Market Senior Center and their board, technically, was our own. Ken Cole, their Executive Director, was another early Advisory Board member. The Senior Center let us do our thing with minimal interference until we incorporated as a non-profit in 1997.
While I met with the Senior Center's board a number of times, the relationship was mostly a legal formality. The Advisory Board, however, was different. I remember all of them. They were our real community and were the foundation of our first Board of Directors.
This year, we've renewed our commitment to this circle of support and asked several new friends to join us. The Advisory Board reflects our grounding in faith communities, anti-poverty and labor organizations, communities of color, LGBT folk, the environmental movement, human service providers, economic justice activists, writers, intellectuals and cultural workers. They are an amazing and valuable group of people.
So, do us a favor this week. If you happen to run into one of these supporters, listed on the masthead at left, thank them for the work they do and for helping with ours. We're proud to have them among our many friends.