Cultural Bridges – Number 30

April 11, 2025April 11, 2025 Cultural Bridges

Cultural Bridges – 10th Anniversary

This edition of Cultural Bridges marks the 10th anniversary of the publication! Cultural Bridges started as an idea by Latino parents in the Issaquah School District. They understood that parents who did not grow up in the American school system and did not speak English as a first language had difficulty supporting their children in their education and becoming involved in their school communities. The Latino parents wanted a publication that clearly explained what the kids are doing in school, the vocabulary used in schools, expectations for both parents and children, new things happening in the school district, and community information and resources.

Marisol Visser and Margarita Leas first launched a print magazine called Voz de la Communidad/Voice of the Community to share information about the American school system and the Issaquah School District. This publication was first in Spanish and then also translated into English. In 2015, the Issaquah Schools Foundation (ISF) began funding the project, and the first Cultural Bridges magazine was published! This first official publication was in English, Chinese, and Spanish. The founders of the magazine and ISF always had the goal of translating the magazine into the most common languages spoken by families in Issaquah. They have proudly achieved this goal. They are now publishing Cultural Bridges in eight different languages! These include Arabic, Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Over the past ten years, many translators, community members writing articles, and dedicated managers have supported Cultural Bridges. After Marisol and Margarita launched Cultural Bridges, Alicia Spinner joined the magazine in 2018 as the editor. In 2020, Laura Ni became the editor. In addition to publishing Cultural Bridges in more languages, over the past ten years, we have added an annual Family Guide to explain to families what to expect during the school year and started publishing the magazine online. The Cultural Bridges magazine continues to evolve. The publication moved to online only in 2023. In the fall, we’ll combine the annual Family Guide with the Fall 2025 edition of Cultural Bridges so that families get all of the “beginning of the year” information in one publication!

We are so excited that the dream of a few parents to help other parents support their children became Cultural Bridges! We remain committed to helping all members of the Issaquah School District community and providing communications in multiple languages. Thank you to all the readers, magazine contributors, and ISF supporters!

Cultural Bridges Team

Laura Ni, Cultural Bridges Lead Editor & Program Manager
Issaquah Schools Foundation
laura@isfdn.org

In This Issue