“Having our students involved in FIRST is not just about increasing educational opportunities in science and technology; but instilling well-rounded life capabilities such as self-confidence, communication and leadership,” said Koji Yugawa, lead mentor. “jcpenney’s sponsorship represents a commitment to building the future leaders of tomorrow by making youth participation in FIRST possible.”

jcpenney’s sponsorship of 900 FIRST teams this season reinforces the company’s philanthropic goal to introduce FIRST to more schools and communities throughout theU.S. and encourage greater participation among minority and female students. jcpenney’s legacy of working with national youth organizations through its signature charity, jcpenney afterschool, helps make it possible for more students to become involved in life-enriching learning opportunities during the after school hours.

Schools, communities and government acknowledge the need to improve the country’s global economic competitiveness by increasing aptitudes in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among America’s youth. Studies show that FIRST students are three times more likely to major in engineering in college, 10 times as likely to have an apprenticeship their freshman year, more than twice as likely to pursue a science or technology career, and nearly four times as likely to pursue a career in engineering.

About FIRST

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and more than $14 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) for high-school students, FIRST LEGO League (FLL) for 9 to 14-year-olds, (9 to 16-year-olds outside the U.S. and Canada) and Junior FIRST LEGO League (Jr.FLL™) for 6 to 9-year-olds. Gracious Professionalism^™ is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.

The benefit, FridayFest, will take place on February 10^th from 5pm-8:00pm. Each month they transform the market into a shopping party by turning up the music and providing free Wine, Beer, and Food Tastings throughout the market. There will be a silent auction and door prizes, with items and services generously donated by local businesses. Your Local Market will donate 10% of Friday’s online and in-store sales. In addition, a local donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has generously offered to match funds.

Camp Korey, located in Carnation, Wash., offers services for families dealing with childhood life-altering and life-threatening illnesses. The camp provides hospital outreach services, summer camps, family weekends, youth programs, athletic programs, and more. Because the camp serves thousands of children and families each year free of charge, they rely on the generosity of the community.

Jason Brown, owner and founder of Your Local Market, expressed his appreciation for Camp Korey, saying “Camp Korey provides essential services for families dealing with childhood illnesses. They’re an important part of our community and I want Your Local Market to put our heart and money back into our local community. Your Local Market is honored to support Camp Korey.”

Your Local Market invites you to join them in giving back to the community by shopping at Your Local Market on Friday, and joining them for FridayFest. Valet parking provided.

About Your Local Market

Your Local Market brings you the best of local, organic, and natural products alongside the mainstream brands you trust. Your Local Market makes it easy for you to do all of your shopping in one place without having to shop a specialty store for your organics and a conventional store for your staples or guilty pleasures. Your Local Market is conveniently located in downtown Bellevue and, in addition to in-store shopping, offers online shopping for curbside pick-up or home delivery. To learn more, visit www.YourLocalMarket.com.

About Camp Korey

Established in 2005, Camp Korey is a place for kids with serious and life-altering medical conditions to come and forget about limitations, try new things, and reclaim a lost sense of childhood – all at no cost to their families. Camp Korey reaches thousands of campers and families through medically sound, adaptive programs designed to foster creativity, camaraderie and empowerment. For more information please visit www.campkorey.org.

The keynote, beginning at 7:00 PM PT on Wednesday, Feb. 8, will explore the challenges, growth opportunities and best practices for technology startups in the mobile space in the UK and US

London Calling is dedicated to celebrating the important relationship between the tech communities in the UK and the Pacific Northwest. To purchase a ticket to attend the event, or for more information on London Calling and its sponsor, the British American Business Council of the Pacific Northwest, please visit: http://www.babcpnw.org/event.html.

“Over the past few years, the expansion of mobile technology has lead to a boom in the mobile industry,” said Mike Buhrmann. “Finsphere is taking the time to educate and advise mobile startups on the skills and resources necessary to jump-start their businesses to grow successfully in both local and international markets.”

Finsphere recently closed an $11.3 million investment round led by Vodafone Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Vodafone Group. With the investment, Tobin Ireland, Group Director of Commercial Development at Vodafone, joined the Finsphere Board of Directors. Participating in the investment round were existing Finsphere investors Mohr Davidow Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and Frazier Technology Ventures.

About Finsphere Corporation

Based in Bellevue, Washington, Finsphere was founded in 2007 to enable wireless carriers to help protect their customers through identity authentication services. Finsphere utilizes sophisticated analytics to provide a platform for the development of non-intrusive, privacy enhancing services to protect individuals and data across all industry segments. For more information, visit www.finsphere.com.

“I am saddened to receive this notice, but understand Amalia has to do what is in the best interest of her family at this time,” said School Board President Paul Mills.  “While Amalia led the District, she kept the Board briefed of her family situation in California and her decision to take a family medical leave was not a surprise to us.  I think most people can appreciate how difficult it can be to help a parent with medical issues and we support her decision.”

During Cudeiro’s medical leave, Assistant Superintendent Eva Collins has served as Interim Superintendent.   Collins has agreed to continue as Interim Superintendent while the Board discusses a next step.

After studying job data and trends, College officials recognized explosive job growth related to the ongoing computerization of medical records and sought to develop an educational program to help graduates land well-paying careers in the field. According to estimates by the American Medical Informatics Association, it will take as many as 200,000 workers to satisfy the projected job market demand, with thousands of positions in Washington State alone.

Graduates of the program can expect to find positions in anything from large hospitals to small physicians’ offices, developing and managing systems to record the vast amounts of electronic health information. The first classes are set to begin fall quarter, September 2012. The college expects to enroll 45 students in the first year, with annual enrollments growing to 90 students by year four.

“This new degree program is another example of how Bellevue College is educating people for the jobs of tomorrow,” said Dr. Kevin McCarthy, dean of Bellevue College’s Health Sciences, Education & Wellness Institute. “We did a lot of homework to identify a field that is going to be in-demand for many years to come. Our efforts are helping residents of our state gain access to affordable education so they can get jobs and progress in their fields, enabling them to better support themselves and their families.” 

The program completed the approval process on Jan. 23 when the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) gave its authorization. It joins two other four-year degrees currently offered at BC: a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Interior Design, and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Radiation and Imaging Sciences.

Community colleges like BC have typically offered only two-year degrees and certificates. However, a study by the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board in 2008 concluded that existing universities could not provide enough graduates with bachelor’s degrees to meet the employment needs of companies and organizations here in Washington. Although no specific plans have been finalized, BC officials are currently studying options for creating additional bachelor’s degree programs in the future.

About Bellevue College: Serving 38,000 students each year, Bellevue College (BC) is the third largest educational institution in Washington State. BC offers associate degree programs covering the first two years of a college education as well as four-year baccalaureate degrees, certificates and continuing education programs in more than 90 professional and technical fields, such as information technology, telecommunications, business, education, health and public safety.

Deborah is really doing a lot to help writers, from coaching, ghost writing, marketing coaching, brainstorming, market research and social media strategy and she will soon be writing a regular column for BellevueBusinessJournal.com!  She also does a lot of events, including a A Working Writing Community on Tuesday evenings each week. There is a $20 drop-in fee and I hope you will check it out.  You can also subscribe to her blog to keep updated.

Here is the info from their listing in the Eastside Business Directory:

Authentic Writing Provokes

AtWork! is a highly supportive and innovative conduit between people with disabilities and mainstream employers in the community.

AtWork! approaches its mission of helping people with disabilities be productive, integrated and contributing members of their communities from a unique 360-degree perspective. By focusing as much on the employer’s needs as on its’ clients needs, AtWork! can – and does – strategize, design and create jobs that are valuable, meaningful and deliver a measurable benefit to everyone involved.

When placing clients in new positions, AtWork! provides customized on-site training and continuing on-site support to ensure that both client and employer achieve or surpass the results they expect.

In 1998 AtWork! was created as a result of the merger of Custom Industries (CI) and Community Enterprises of Issaquah (CEI). CI, established in 1962 was Bellevue based and operated two sheltered workshop programs in Bellevue and Kenmore. It was the older and largest of the two programs. Additionally CI operated janitorial and landscaping crews operating out of a small facility in Shoreline. CEI was a smaller organization primarily known in Issaquah, established in 1965. It operated a recycling center that was enthusiastically supported by the local community and a sheltered workshop employing primarily individuals who had graduated from the Issaquah School District.

Thirty years ago when people with disabilities were released from institutions AtWork! was there to provide training. People wove pot holders and other cottage industry work for pennies. It was state-of-the-art. AtWork! was a leader. Soon those workers were saying, “Help us get good jobs, real work, doing important things just like others do at work.”

The Supported Employment movement emerged in the early 90’s and again AtWork! was a leader, launching new enterprises (janitorial, landscaping, assembly, recycling) that to this day provide jobs, training in marketable skills, and wages. Businesses saw new value in diversity. Astute companies hired the first people with disabilities and enjoyed enhanced profits and demonstrated community leadership.

Today AtWork! is a highly supportive and innovative conduit between people with disabilities and mainstream employers that designs customized jobs and provides ongoing support to create mutually beneficial beneficial work relationships.

Here is the info from their listing on the Eastside Business Directory

AtWork!

The gallery is currently showing paintings from Charlie Barr “My Thailand”, as well as a group exhibit showing works from  Jane Aukshunas, Dan Larsen and Don Tiller until February 2nd, when they will be featuring works from other artists.

Here is in the info from Gunnar’s Eastside Business Directory Listing:

Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery

IBT is currently rehearsing for the production of Chipollino.

From the IBT Website:

Through the joy of dance, Chipollino illustrates the struggle of the underclass against the powerful, good versus evil, and the importance of friendship in the face of difficulties.

Here is their listing in the Eastside Business Directory:

International Ballet Theatre

Yogurtland, a franchise yogurt shop based in Anaheim, California with 170 locations in the US, Mexico and Guam will open their first Bellevue location on Friday January 27th.  Yogurtland Bellevue will be located across the street from Safeway in downtown Bellevue at 233 Bellevue Way NE, in the location formerly occupied by Quiznos.

The Yogurtland story is very interesting and is told on their website as:

After immigrating and choosing citizenship in the US as a young man, Phillip Chang (our CEO/President) progressed from humble beginnings to achieve the ultimate American Dream – success, independence and the ability to give back to people and communities in the US and abroad.

Inspired by the idea that people enjoy an active involvement with the products and brands they love, Phillip envisioned an empowering new treat experience where guests help themselves and the choices are limited only by ones imagination.

Because of this inspired idea and the hard work of an ever growing Yogurtland team, Yogurtland has rapidly grown to be the number one self-serve yogurt brand in America.

It’s also interesting to note that Yogurtland will also soon be opening a location in Redmond in Bear Creek Plaza.Along with a passion for finding only the best ingredients, Yogurtland believes control, choice and creativity should always be in the hands of our guests – and this is the heart of the Yogurtland experience.

I hope that both locations choose to be part of the Eastside Business Directory here at BellevueBusinessJournal.com – we’d love to further help promote your business!