Fort Steilacoom’s Emerging Leaders Academy challenges members to address real local issues

Cameron Cyprain  Staff Writer

The Emerging Leaders Academy hosted its second quarterly Weekend Intensive meeting in February as part of an ongoing effort to guide and help students to understand the fundamentals of leadership.

Thirty members were present in the Cascade Boardroom on Saturday the 22nd to discuss etiquette, community involvement, and self-awareness. Through a series of group activities, students faced the task of identifying their own unique capabilities as well as the value of ’service before self’; a familiar mantra endorsed by Cameron Cox, director of student life.

Drawing on the previous day’s momentum, two administrators of the Northwest Leadership Foundation (NLF) scheduled a day of observation and reflection that would send students through the culturally diverse streets of downtown Tacoma.

The goal: to identify numerous and enduring social, economic, and political issues prevalent in the city and to construct viable solutions for those issues. Directing the tour was President and CEO of the NLF, Patricia “Pat” Talton, and Executive Vice President Annie Jones-Barnes.

The “Backstage Pass Tour” commenced at 9:00 a.m on Tacoma Ave So., the NLF’s headquarters.

“What we want to do is discover, develop, and deploy leaders in the Tacoma area,” Jones-Barnes said, noting the prevalence of poverty and crime that had taken hold of some the city’s most public locations.

A disjointed local government coupled with public distress led to a continuous breakdown in social equality and the present disparities. “It’s a very interesting place, to see the divergence of power with those who have and those who don’t have,” said Talton.

Less than a few years ago, drug sales and prostitution plagued a block adjacent to government buildings, and those involved often found themselves marooned on cold sidewalks— “Do I call the police or give them a cup of coffee?“ said Talton regarding the numerous prostitutes she would notice daily, many of which were underage.

Next came “Brick City” on 7ᵗʰ and Pacific, a former youth center for kids who wanted to socialize after school in a safe environment, away from the troubled streets.

What began as a promising initiative of today’s NLF was ended sharply in 2006 with the fatal gang shooting of an innocent student on his way home. The club re-opened in 2007. “No matter how Brick City spins it, the fact is that a little over a year ago their club brought a murder to our block,” said Laura Hanan in a 2007 blog post to the News Tribune.

The third stop on the tour was Graffiti Garage on 7ᵗʰ and Broadway: a vacant wooden parking garage sanctioned by the city as a place for artists the chance to hone their skills and display their work publicly.

The tour continued through the Hilltop Business District where Multicare and St. Joseph’s hospitals have advanced over construction, prompting the restoration of dozens of low-income and minority family households native to the area for generations.

At the Zina Linnik park project at McCarver elementary, Jones-Barnes and Talton outlined the kidnapping and murder of a young Ukrainian girl whose father claimed she was taken at night while looking for her younger brother. Her family fought aggressively for the support of law enforcement until Zina’s body was found, at which point the city established a park in her name to mark a new safe haven for children.

Shortly after its inception, however, public outrage ensued, fueled by claims that hundreds of black children had lost their lives in the area to gang violence and other offences, yet none of them received such honors.

Ending the tour on a positive note, all ELA members were treated to a meal at Tacos Guaymas at to unwind and brainstorm ideas they had acquired throughout the tour.

Much work has been done to secure the future of the NLF. Still, the NLF knows that it will require the ambition and care of today’s students—tomorrow’s leaders— in order to restore the City of Destiny to its former glory. “The city of Tacoma is a wonderful place, and it all starts with leadership,” said Jones-Barnes.