Articles on PR for People

Pete Soukus: A Chance to Trust

For years, Pete Soukus lived on top of the hill in Seattle’s wealthy Magnolia neighborhood that overlooks Interbay and Tent City 5. Pete still lives in Magnolia, but his new home now lies in the shadow of the hill, inside of Tent City 5.  Until alcohol took over his life, Pete had a career in product management and supply-chain logistics, a home and a family.  Then according to Pete, “I drank myself to the point of almost losing my life...


Tent City 5: A Home is Not a House

3234 17th Ave. W. occupies half a block in the trendy Interbay neighborhood, but it is not a prestigious address. In fact, it does not even warrant a mailbox. Instead of concrete condos or live-work housing mushrooming from the spot, rows of crayon-blue and khaki-green tarps stretch over camping tents pitched on wooden platforms. For some 60 people, single men and women, couples and at least two families with teenage kids, right now, these...


Raihana Mahan Enjoys Making her Clients Beautiful

Raihana Mahan is one of the most popular aestheticians in the Seattle metro area. She is known for her gentle touch, her fine attention to the smallest details, and her sparkling eyes that show her easy sense of humor.  Here is a little known fact about Raihana: she reigned as a local beauty queen Mrs. Sammamish in 2006. (Sammamish is an eastside city located in the heart of Microsoft country.)

Raihana...


Ned Halilovic: We Were Strangers Once Ourselves

Ned Halilovic is a refugee. His earliest memories are of a war zone, where people were killing one another over their religion and nationality. Just like today’s refugees from Syria and Afghanistan, only Ned’s war was a generation earlier, and closer to home.

“I was born in ’86 in a small town in southern Europe, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina,” he says, as if anyone alive in those years could have not heard of Sarajevo. “...


Home is Filled with Heart and Art

Badot and Johnson Family, Somerville, MA

In 1993 Jennifer Badot saw soaring rents in Somerville, a trendy city bordering Boston: “From the moment I learned I was pregnant, I felt a strong urge (ok, obsession) to own a home -- a place where we could raise children without having to worry about moving, rising rents and negligent landlords. Money was tight, so we bought a 2-family for the rental unit to...


Nurturing With Nature: Supporting a New Generation of Autistic Adults

Alex, my neighbor, is on the cusp of manhood. Ample facial hair, marked weight gain and height, and a pronounced husky voice confirm this milestone. I recall many years witnessing Alex’s growth – and his delays. I now find myself wondering about his future as an autistic young adult, and how his social and educational needs will be met once he ages out of children’s services.

                  Oasis tlc (Therapeutic Life Centers...


Clover Frederick: Marketer on a Mission

Is your charity making a profit? If so, you should be proud, but you might have mixed feelings. Charities often are called "nonprofits," so it does seem like a conflict. But charitable profit has a purpose. Clover Frederick, independent marketing professional specializing in nonprofits, would like to change the world's opinion of nonprofit profit.

                  "We would never begrudge a company's purchasing advertising to...


On the Towne

Last Spring, we covered a story about the Queen Anne Helpline, a Seattle-based non-profit organization serving people-in-need in the neighborhoods that are experiencing unprecedented job growth from the growing influx of Millennial technology workers. The demands for housing exceed the supply and the prices of apartments and residential homes in many Seattle neighborhoods continue to be hyper inflated.  According to a recent article in the Seattle Times, Real Estate Developers are expected to add 11,000 more units in 2016 and even more in 2017.  The operative spin is with so many more units coming onto the market, then eventually the demand for housing will be met and the prices will become more affordable for working and middle class renters. However, in the interim, the Seattle boom continues unabated and unfazed by the displacement of the elderly, families and individuals, who are being shoved out and thrust into a crisis situation.


Tim Harris: Really Changing the World

On any given day in the central business and shopping districts in cities across America, often older men and women are hawking local newspapers on the street, eking out a living selling them to passers-by, one at a time.

                  These vendors are selling what are known as “street newspapers.” They are part and parcel of a movement begun nearly 30 years ago, empowering homeless people by raising their visibility, while...


Distinguished Veteran Directs Home Base Program

A retired general joins the Boston Red Sox, Massachusetts General Hospital and area sponsors to aid post-9/11 veterans