A Little Growth Money

If you know a small nonprofit or microbusiness that could use a little breathing room, here’s one to pass along quickly. Verity Credit Union, a Seattle-based financial institution focused on socially responsible banking, is accepting nominations for its annual Grants for Growth program through May 31. The program will give out $50,000 total to selected Washington nonprofits and microbusinesses, with five $5,000 grants in each category.

Verity Chief Impact Strategy Officer Ziquora Banks and Community Impact Manager Mandy Lee.

Courtesy of Verify Credit Union

“The businesses and nonprofits we fund through Grants for Growth are the heartbeat of their communities,” says Tonita Webb, CEO of Verity Credit Union. Grant recipients also get access to visibility, financial coaching, and other resources, including business loans.

Apply at veritycu.com/grants-nonprofit.

Butter chicken masala and tandoori paneer chicken pizzas at Pizza Station.

Courtesy of Explore Seattle Southside

Southside Food Tour

Last week, I spent the day eating my way through Seattle Southside, which sounds like a dream assignment because it was. Explore Seattle Southside took a small group of writers and influencers through the World Table District, a four-mile stretch near Sea-Tac Airport with 30-plus local restaurants, cafés, bakeries, and markets serving food from all over the world. We started with an Ethiopian coffee ceremony from Langano Coffee & Sandwich, then climbed into a funky little van and met the kind of owners who make you want to send everyone you know their way. There were cranberry crepes at Pancake Chef, an old-school diner that is everything you want a diner to be, South Asian sweets and Indian-inspired pizza at Boulevard Market and Pizza Station, Peruvian chicken with chicha morada, a sweet, spiced purple corn drink, at San Fernando, teriyaki chicken and short ribs with the absolute best fried rice I’ve ever had at Masae’s Teriyaki, conchas and beautiful, fluffy cakes at Las Delicias Bakery, and wildly pretty drinks at Latino Cafe. Some spots were longtime family operations. Some were new. All of them reminded me that really good food often lives just outside your usual loop. Even better, the district now has a passport (available at each destination), so you can work your way through the restaurants and mark off each stop as you go. I love a tiny mission, especially when snacks are involved.

Find the full World Table District map here.

Camp Color

For parents staring down summer and wondering how many more times they can say, “Please go outside,” here’s a new option. Orange Chair Art Studio has recently opened in Capitol Hill with after-school classes and summer camps for young artists. The studio offers hands-on art, digital illustration, and graphic design, with summer options ranging from general art camp for younger kids to graphic design workshops for middle schoolers. There’s also a Designing for Non-Profit Clients camp for high school students, where they can earn service hours while learning design skills.

Founder Barbara Trentalange has spent more than 30 years as a graphic designer and artist, along with 10 years teaching art. “We want kids to feel inspired, capable, and excited to create,” Trentalange says. She is joined by neighbor and fellow educator Susie Wells, who has more than 12 years of experience teaching art. Kids get to draw, paint, and design stickers and T-shirts. Parents get a plan and everyone wins.

Register at orangechairdesignlab.com.

A cedar tub, a cold plunge, and 90 minutes away from your inbox.

Courtesy of Circle Wellness

Circle Up

I am very susceptible to a cedar tub. Circle Wellness, the Vancouver, B.C.-born private thermal spa, is opening its first U.S. location this summer in Seattle near Gas Works Park, and the setup sounds ridiculously appealing: private circuits for up to two people, with an open-air shower, cedar soaking tub, cold plunge, heated riverstones, and a multi-sensory sauna. The experience is inspired by bathing cultures in Japan, Korea, and Northern Europe, with a little music-and-art-scene energy mixed in. It will also bring the world’s first automated private thermal spa circuit to the U.S.

Self-guided sessions last 90 minutes or two hours, and each circuit is reset between visits, with tubs drained, cleaned, and refilled for every guest. The Vancouver, B.C., location built a huge following, including a 20,000-person waitlist before its Granville Island flagship opened, so I’m guessing Seattle will be curious. An exact opening date hasn’t been announced yet, but reservations will open one month before the Northlake Way spa opens later this summer.

Learn more at  circlewellnessspas.com and @CircleWellnessSpas.