The last year was one of reenvisioning how young people learn, how adults do their jobs, and how we connect to each other. The pandemic makes virtual remote learning the new reality for youth throughout our community, and although families at Solid Ground’s residential housing campuses have made incredible adjustments, it’s taken a whole community coming together to adapt to changing needs and technology access challenges.

A blossoming partnership combines the work of one new and one long-standing partner to help alleviate barriers created by the remote world:  RedCloud Consulting and Rick Rizzs’ Toys for Kids are collaborating to bring technology support and career guidance to resident youth and parents at Solid Ground’s Broadview Shelter and Transitional Housing programs for domestic violence survivors and families.

Rick Rizzs of Toys for Kids and Brett Clifton of RedCloud Consulting display shiny new tablets destined for Broadview residents.

For over two decades, Rick Rizzs’ Toys for Kids has provided amazing support to Broadview families,¹ and they recently connected RedCloud Consulting to Solid Ground’s work. RedCloud, a local business management and technology consulting firm, is leveraging their expertise to meet Broadview’s technology needs as well as provide invaluable career guidance for Broadview parents throughout 2021.

This past holiday season, RedCloud redirected their usual client holiday gift giving to uplift Broadview families. In addition to donating Microsoft laptops, software, and headphones to ensure Broadview youth have access to the technology they need for successful remote learning, they also plan to boost the building’s high-speed internet connection.

Toys for Kids, Red Cloud Consulting, and Broadview staff pose behind Microsoft Surface Go tablets – including Office 365 Software – and headsets for Broadview residents (l to r: Rick Rizzs, Brett Clifton, Heather Jones, Joanna Tarr, Charlisse Hammon, and Brett Alston).

Access to technology is one thing, but it’s another to be empowered to utilize it as a tool for stability and success. With support from Toys for Kids, RedCloud will work with Broadview parents in career coaching, including job search and readiness skills. This means working alongside and meeting Broadview survivors where they are in their employment goals to help write effective résumés, set up email addresses, submit job applications, and practice interviewing.

Watch this short video to learn more about this amazing new partnership!

But perhaps most importantly, as Broadview Children’s Advocate Joanna Tarr puts it in the above video, this partnership lets Broadview families know that “people see them, know that they’re there, and feel that they’re valued – and that people are out there watching out for them.”

Toys for Kids has always done just that, and we are grateful that RedCloud Consulting has joined them to boost that signal.

Want to build a partnership with us? Contact Corporate Giving Officer Phoenica Zhang at 206.694.6852 or phoenicaz@solid-ground.org.

• ¹The Mariner Moose and Toys for Kids bring holiday cheer to families in need across King County, 12/25/13, Groundviews Blog
• Image at top: RedCloud Consulting, Toys for Kids, and Broadview representatives organize donated headsets and other tech tools to give to Broadview residents.