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North Sound ACH

North Sound Accountable Community of Health

Archives for June 2024

Embracing Our Multifaceted Identities

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There are more than a few voices whose words I turn back to time and time again, especially when things feel harder than on other days:

  • “We need to practice – which is different than something being ‘a practice’, or thinking of ‘best practices’; we need to practice each day.” – Clarice Bailey
  • “Practice does not make us better; it makes us different.” – Ruth Wilson Gilmore 
  • “I lead with my vulnerability.” – Alex Sanchez

Our team is definitely being called upon to practice. Like many of you, we are learning into anti-racism, anti-blackness, antisemitism, Asian hate, islamophobia, homophobia, xenophobia, and more. And trying to bring in our principles of leading with love into that mix. Some days are uplifting and joyful, but often mixed with sadness, disappointment, and anger with the hateful things happening around us in communities. 

We have a policy of ‘no politics in the workplace’ and we’re struggling with how that manifests itself when my workplace is also my home. Ironically, we often offer more trainings to partners than we do to our team, so we’re doing some internal focused work too. That makes us feel vulnerable, but we are practicing so that we can be different. We’re on the journey from here to there. 

June is a great example of the multiple and intertwined identities we hold. In addition to celebrating graduations, end of the school year, and Father’s Day, did you know that June also brings:

  • Immigrant Heritage Month
  • Black Music Month
  • LGBTQIA+ Pride Month 
  • Men’s Health Month
  • Caribbean-American Heritage Month
  • National PTSD Awareness Month
  • National Loving Day
  • Juneteenth
  • Summer Solstice
  • National HIV Testing Day 
  • And many, many more 

We all carry a varied mix of identities, making us amazing and interesting people. I identify as female, am a daughter, sister, mother, and grandmother; descended from slaves purchased by the Danes to work on sugar plantations in the Caribbean and from French settlers in the Caribbean. My maternal grandfather was one generation removed from slavery and was a composer and musician. Both of my parents were born on islands in the Caribbean. My parents were married, but if not for the Loving v. Virginia case, their marriage could have been illegal when they moved to the mainland. I’ve raised three children into adulthood with my partner Nancy, and was previously in a traditional marriage before divorcing. I have mixed race children by birth and adoption, a daughter-in-law from Busan, Korea, and a grandson who I often describe as being half Korean and half everything else. Yet we are connected by love and care for each other in ways that cannot be measured.

It is only from the outside that I’m asked to name myself with one identity, a desire to label me as one thing or another, incapable of seeing the multiplicity that exists within each of us. It is within my personal circle that this multiplicity is unearthed and treasured.

The June events listed above are significant to me and my family. We love each other because we cannot imagine choosing a different way to approach our lives. We see what makes us different, yet we are tied together by the richness of our own experiences, our connections, and our love. It is not naive to believe that love is powerful. It is what allows me (and us) to see the humanity in another person, no matter what assets they have or struggles they bear. 

We tell partners that we want to lead with love, and sometimes we realize we haven’t yet incorporated it at all levels of our work. We can get stuck in self-criticism and looking for others to blame. I hope we can also see these moments as an opportunity to lift new ideas and try new ways to be different.

Having once tried to teach myself to play the guitar, I know that I can only practice in a space where I don’t feel I will be judged if I’m imperfect. I hope we can provide that kind of space to each other, where we can be imperfect while we practice and learn, individually and together. That, too, is pretty powerful: the space to grow and become different.

We look forward to seeing in six short weeks at the August convening. Details coming soon!

Be well –

Network Dispatch: Cultural Alimentos Project

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Community-Centered Solutions: Cultural Alimentos Project

About to launch phase two of this project, the collaborating organizations – Bellingham Food Bank, Northwest Agricultural Business Center, and Refugee and Immigrant Services NW – have made great strides to increase food security for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) populations!

Approved for funding by the North Sound ACH Review Committee last year, the Cultural Alimentos Project focuses on expanding knowledge about food security needs and simultaneously building strategies for longer term investment in food systems that support BIPOC/RIM community members.

North Sound ACH team members visited the Bellingham Food Bank site in May 2024, meeting with Mike Cohen and Stephanie Sisson (Bellingham Food Bank), Steve Bader of Agape Food Bank, Alex Perez (Northwest Agricultural Business Center), and Van Kuno (Refugee & Immigrant Services NW).

Steve Bader of Agape Food Bank, and Stephanie Sisson and Mike Cohen of Bellingham Food Bank.
A sample of food available at the Bellingham Food Bank
Seen at the Bellingham Food Bank
Bellingham Food Bank Executive Directory Mike Cohen shows the warehouse.

Bellingham Food Bank surveyed their clients in 2022, asking about cultural food preferences, ease of locations, and to find out which populations were missing from utilizing their services. This project builds upon those survey results, and led to creating advisory groups composed of community members from the BIPOC communities they intend to serve.

Project leads said they’ve learned the importance of not rushing the process when it comes to building trust within the community. They recently hired a consultant to help them hear and learn from BIPOC communities. As a result, they’ve noticed a rise in the number of people joining the advisory groups, including members from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Pacific Islands, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, and various Latino and indigenous communities.

They’ve recently learned of key transportation barriers, residual fear of federal immigration policies that were never passed or have been rescinded (that threatened to penalize immigrants for accessing benefits), and continued lack of services tailored to BIPOC and RIM communities.

One significant finding was that people from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Pacific Islander communities consistently reported a lack of services tailored to them. Often, they received written information and were then turned away. This issue was a common theme during advisory group meetings with these communities.

Stay tuned for more updates!

CORRECTION: Agape Service Project Food Bank is not a part of the Cultural Alimentos Project. They are a food bank that works closely with Bellingham Food Bank, especially around sourcing culturally relevant foods. They were also not a part of the 2022 Bellingham Food Bank client survey mentioned in the previous version of this post. The writer apologizes for the error.

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We’ll be sharing more Network Dispatches in the coming months, about the projects created by Collaborative Action Network members.