We want to say congratulations to both the Oregonian and to Michelle.

We’re in a new era of communication that presents both opportunities and challenges. The opportunity is to tell your own story, on your own terms and on your own timeline. But the challenge is the need to create and maintain your own high-quality content and deliver it through your own communications platform. We can help.

When you need timely, targeted content to be delivered through traditional and emerging channels, Michelle can research it, write it and deliver it. Click here to learn more.

We’re proud to have her on our team.

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During one of the many sobering meetings I attended at The Oregonian about the newspaper’s finances, a colleague leaned over and whispered in my ear: “They’re going to get us down to around 200.”

I didn’t believe him. We had more than 300 in newsroom staff at the time. I had no idea how fast the numbers would shrink or that my whispering colleague and I would join the trend.

We’re not alone. The nation’s newspapers dropped below 40,000 full-time newsroom staff in 2012, a stunning decline from a peak of 56,900 in 1989 and the lowest number of professional journalists since 1978, according to the report, “State of the Media 2013,” recently released by The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

To read the rest of Michelle’s piece, click here: http://www.gallatinpublicaffairs.com/insighter/michelle-cole/

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To see the edition we emailed on Thursday, March 28, click here.

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Gallatin Public Affairs and Downtown Seattle Association

present
Royer Roundtable
The Future of Families in Downtown Seattle

Seattle’s downtown population has been growing rapidly since 1990 and now has approximately 60,000 residents. East to west, the downtown neighborhood stretches from the waterfront and just east of I-5, and north to south from the International District and Pioneer Square up to South Lake Union. More and more families are part of the mix, and the number of children downtown has doubled over the past twenty years to more than 3,000. In addition, many children commute downtown with their parents to daycare or preschool where they become temporary downtown residents.

The rate of new births downtown is extraordinary – births have doubled downtown over the last decade as young men and women move to the area where they enjoy the robust growth in high paying jobs without the hassles of traffic and having to drive everywhere. Additionally, the influx of seniors in Downtown Seattle since 1990 means many more grandchildren are out and about, visiting downtown restaurants, parks and major attractions.

We are thrilled to partner with the Downtown Seattle Association for the first Royer Roundtable of 2013 to discuss the current efforts to make Downtown Seattle more family friendly, such as locating a public school in the downtown and adding new indoor and outdoor and temporary play spaces. We’ll also talk about other opportunities, what other cities are doing and how the family fits into the overall strategy for a healthy downtown.

When: Tuesday, February 5, 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Where: Cutters Crabhouse, 2001 Western Avenue, Seattle 98121

Note: We are no longer accepting RSVPs for this event because it has reached capacity.

Sarah Snider is an Architectural and Urban Designer at LMN Architects. She was recently awarded the American Institute of Architects Seattle Chapter Emerging Professionals Travel Scholarship to study what other communities in North America are thinking about as they confront the physical, economic and cultural issues of families who choose to contribute to the life of our downtowns. Sarah serves on the Seattle Planning Commission and is active in the Urban Land Institute.	Kate Joncas has been president & CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association since 1994, and provided leadership in the establishment of the Metropolitan Improvement District and redevelopment of the Pine Street pedestrian mall, and advanced the increase in Downtown Seattle height restrictions. Ms. Joncas has more than 30 years’ experience in downtown revitalization in communities around the world, and has written workbooks on Downtown revitalization and won awards in national urban design competitions. She is also a past Chair of the International Downtown Association.	Jen Kelly has been a resident of downtown Seattle for over 5 years, and currently works as the Director of Marketing for VIA Architecture. She lives in Pioneer Square with her husband and six month old daughter, where she also writes the New Pioneer Square — a blog that promotes the positive aspects of the neighborhood. The blog has become a community resource for the Pioneer Square community to turn to for restaurant reviews, news about new developments, special events and more.

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To see the edition we emailed on Thursday, Jan. 10, click here.

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Gallatin Public Affairs welcomes to its team communications professional and former television news reporter Ysabel Bilbao. Ysabel joins Gallatin with more than a decade of broadcast journalism and communications experience, and will expand the firm’s regional crisis and strategic communications practices.

“Ysabel is a proven communicator whose experience in the news room and at the University of Idaho will be an advantage to our clients,” said Gallatin president Dan Lavey. “No stranger to communicating on complex political, business and social issues, Ysabel will grow our roster of experienced strategic advisors.”

Before joining Gallatin, Ysabel was the regional integrated communications officer for the University of Idaho, where she helped shape and communicate the university’s brand, set legislative agendas and navigate crises.

Ysabel is an award winning journalist who has spent her career covering the news from around the state of Idaho. Before entering the world of public relations, she worked at KTVB-Channel 7 where she anchored the Saturday Morning News and reported on crime, courts, and the legislature. Prior to joining the KTVB team, Bilbao worked as a general assignment reporter for KIFI-Channel 8 in Idaho Falls.

“It’s an honor to join the ranks of Gallatin, and to have the opportunity to work alongside reputable, senior-level public affairs practitioners on issues that are shaping our region,” said Ysabel.

In 2012 Ysabel was named one the Idaho Business Review’s Accomplished Under 40.

Ysabel is a native of Nampa, Idaho and earned a B.A. in broadcast journalism from Arizona State University, through the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunications. She also studied Spanish at the Universidad del Pais Vasco in Bilbao, Spain.

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We invite you to learn more about these special causes and encourage you to consider them when making charitable giving decisions this holiday season.

Idaho

Women’s and Children’s Alliance

The vision of the Women’s and Children’s Alliance is to foster a community where individuals thrive in safe, healthy relationships. Its mission is to provide safety, healing and freedom from domestic abuse and sexual assault. Visit the website >>

Family Advocates

Family Advocates works to keep abused children out of danger and in safe homes, while partnering with parents to build strong families. The Court Appointed Special Advocate program is committed to the protection and healing of abused and neglected children who have been placed in foster care and referred by the courts. Visit the website >>

Speak Your Silence

Speak Your Silence is a registered non-profit organization aimed at conquering the stigma of child sexual abuse by sparking conversation. Visit the website >>

Washington

Spokane Guilds’ School & Neuromuscular Center

The Spokane Guilds’ School & Neuromuscular Center believes in the worth of every individual and their right to a meaningful life. Its purpose is to nurture the full potential of families and their children, from birth to three, with disabilities through a personalized, comprehensive program of assessment, therapy, education, and support. Visit the website >>

FareStart

FareStart is a culinary job training and placement program for homeless and disadvantaged individuals. Over the past 20 years, FareStart has provided opportunities for nearly 6,000 people to transform their lives, while also serving over 5 million meals to disadvantaged men, women and children. Visit the website >>

Oregon

Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland

Since 1946, Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland has been providing thousands of young people throughout the Portland metro area with affordable, high-quality after-school and summer programs designed to help them develop the qualities needed to become responsible citizens and leaders. The Clubs offer kids what they want most: safe, clean, fun places to go when they’re not in school; caring adults who respect and guide them; and challenging programs that teach them life skills and keep them engaged in productive activities. Visit the website >>

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We’ve had a busy year helping our clients succeed and continuing to grow our firm.

As a company, we’re 23 years young. And in recent months, we’ve added some new services and amazing new people to the Gallatin family.

We created an in-house digital and social media team. So when you need a website and an on-line army, we can create them. We added three award-winning Northwest journalists to our roster of professionals. So when you need to tell your story in a compelling way, we can research it, write it and tell it. We launched G² Public Strategies, a joint venture with a nationally respected public opinion research and political strategy firm. So when you’re planning a ballot measure or issue advocacy campaign, we can run it. And we added a lobbyist and office in Olympia, just like our capitols in Oregon and Idaho. So when you need an advocate before the Washington legislature or state government, we’ve got a good one.

If all that wasn’t enough, we even celebrated two weddings and three new babies in three months (all girls).

We also decided that after 23 years in business, we needed our own movie – so we produced one.

While it’s short, we think it communicates our values and shows how we’ve helped a few clients create the future of the Pacific Northwest community we all love.

Finally – as you can see – we’ve put a fresh coat of paint on our website and spruced up our logo.

As we say goodbye to 2012, on behalf of everyone at Gallatin, I want to wish you and yours a happy, merry holiday season and prosperous new year.

Dan Lavey

President

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Cole, who has worked as a capitol reporter in Salem and Boise, will provide high quality writing and in-depth content for government relations, crisis communications, digital communications and ballot measure and issue advocacy campaigns. She will be based in Portland and will serve Gallatin clients throughout the Pacific Northwest.

“There are few people with as much in-depth knowledge of Northwest public policy issues as Michelle Cole. And even fewer with a proven ability to succinctly organize and communicate those issues to policy-makers and the public. We’re thrilled to add her talents to our team and to the advantage of our clients across the Northwest,” said Dan Lavey, Gallatin President.

Cole has been a reporter with The Oregonian since 1999, covering the state legislature and state government along with environmental, energy and natural resource issues. Previously, she worked at the Idaho Statesman where she served as a business and political reporter, metro editor and editorial page editor.

As both a reporter and editor, Cole has covered governors, statewide elected officials and legislators. She has an intimate knowledge of public policy issues ranging from workers compensation and taxes to agency budgets, environmental policy and health care.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to translate the communications skills I’ve honed as a journalist and my knowledge of Northwest politics and issues into high quality work for Gallatin’s clients,” said Cole. “The values of the firm – bipartisanship, integrity and advocacy for the economic and social advancement of our region – matter to me.”

Cole began her journalism career in Twin Falls, Idaho in 1987. She has received a number of awards for her reporting and writing including the Bruce Baer Award –Oregon journalism’s top prize for investigative reporting – and several first-place awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

She earned her master’s degree in Journalism from U.C. Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in British/American Literature from Scripps College.

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Seattle/Spokane — Amber Lewis has joined Gallatin Public Affairs to lead the firm’s state government relations practice in Washington. Amber will be based in Olympia but be closely aligned with the firm’s other Washington state offices in Seattle and Spokane. Like Gallatin’s state government relations teams in Oregon and Idaho, she will provide direct lobbying of the legislature and state agencies as well as local governments.

For the past five years, Amber served as Director of Government Relations for Providence Health & Services where she helped lead local, state and federal advocacy efforts for Washington’s largest provider of health care services. In addition to mastering the details of complex health care and business regulatory matters, Amber was responsible for coordinating Providence’s participation in industry associations, issue coalitions and grassroots campaigns.

“Amber knows the people and understands how to get things done in Olympia and the State Capitol. Her decade of policy and lobbying experience is going to be a huge asset for our clients,” said Bruce Gryniewski, who leads Gallatin’s Seattle office.

“Gallatin is growing and Amber brings a unique combination of Eastern Washington roots and a Capitol-insider understanding of the state budget and the major issues of health care and business regulation. We’re thrilled she’s joined our team,” said Jeff Bell who leads the firm’s Spokane office.

Prior to working for Providence, Amber served as a Fiscal Analyst for the Senate Democrat Caucus, Finance Director for the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and as Legislative Assistant to State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown.

“What drew me to Gallatin was the emphasis on bipartisan relationships and a commitment to advocacy grounded in policy knowledge, respect for the legislative process and personal integrity. I’m looking forward to helping the firm continue its growth in Washington and across the region,” said Lewis.

Amber grew up in Spokane and graduated from Eastern Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. She and her husband live in Centralia where they own and operate a small farm and animal rescue.

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