Hello friends, family, and community partners,
As we look ahead to celebrating 250 years of America’s independence, we were recently reminded of another monumental milestone on June 19th with the celebration of Juneteenth. This day honors the moment in 1865 when news of emancipation finally reached over 250,000 enslaved people in Galveston, Texas. While President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, Juneteenth marks the historic turning point when the promise of freedom was finally realized for all Americans. This past month, our community gathered right here in Salem, Oregon, to commemorate this day. We extend our deepest gratitude to the Salem-Keizer N.A.A.C.P for hosting this beautiful event, as well as the incredible community leaders, organizations, and local businesses that came together to make this vibrant celebration of unity and freedom such a success.
The celebrations continue as we send a huge congratulations to all of our graduating high school seniors across the Salem-Keizer School District. We are so proud of your hard work and bright futures. To ensure our local youth have an active and engaging summer, we have already supported 15 families with free summer passes to the YMCA and the Salvation Army Kroc Center. We still have openings and more scholarships available, so we encourage interested families to reach out.
We also recently hosted two fantastic family nights that brought together over 100 people of all ages. Families gathered at The Rec in Keizer for a wonderful evening of bowling and fun. We also hosted a beautiful Art Night at Mary Eyre Elementary School, which was launched in collaboration with a wonderful new arts organization, the Oleander Arts Foundation, and featured the incredible talent of local artist Janique Crenshaw. We have two more family nights coming up on the calendar, and we invite you all to join us as we continue to support and celebrate our community throughout the summer.
Finally, we want to extend a special spotlight and congratulations to Cynthia Richardson, who was recently named the Chair of the Oregon State Board of Education. Thank you, Cynthia, for your tireless commitment and unwavering dedication to our community and our students.
As we complete another year of success in education, it is also with heartfelt gratitude that I want to thank our staff, our board members, our partners, and our volunteers. Thank you all for the tireless work that you continue to do to serve our community.
Greggery Peterson
Executive Director
