Executive Director

This phrase has been on my mind for several months. Just about every week I get to spend time with partners who are doing creative and important work that is fueled by passion and commitment, but not always supported financially to be sustainable. We try to imagine what it would take to make those efforts become the norm, to be part of the mainstream strategies that are supported by policy and revenue. Some examples follow from my last couple of weeks –  

I watched a film called Daughters, about a program in Washington DC that connects daughters with their fathers through a dance that occurs inside of the carceral facility where they are held. It is a moving story about the children and parents, but also an incredibly powerful portrayal of how dehumanizing the system can be – limits to in-person visits (called ‘touch visits’) and even facilities that do not allow any visitation at all. We can’t criticize others for inhumane conditions when we also do that here. The backstory behind the dance was gut wrenching to absorb. Yet, the filmmakers stated that 95% of the men who take part in the dance do not re-offend when they are released – the impact of one day of reconnection and being treated as full and important human beings.

For example, people who are incarcerated depend on for-profit systems in order to call family members; the average cost can be as high as $50 to $100 per month. And when their families don’t have those funds, that means there is no contact. Here is the average cost of calls for each state. So dreaming out loud – being treated as a human is healing, and our carceral facilities are not geared in that way, but imagine the power of abolishing what we do today, replacing it with something that is focused on healing people who make their way through jails and prisons. In the framework of targeted universalism – what could be our universal goal?

Washington is one of several states implementing a Jail Reentry benefit through its Medicaid program. It reopens their Medicaid benefit 90 days before release, allowing payment for clinical services to bridge from incarceration to community upon their release. Alongside this, North Sound ACH began a Community of Practice with community organizations who work with people while they are incarcerated, and walk alongside them after their release. (The participants named itself Re-Integration Community of Practice, rather than Reentry). One of those partners (Underground Ministries) shared their set of principles that underpin their work, and one of those is ‘dreaming in decades:’ recognizing that many people who have lived experience with incarceration see dreaming as a privilege that they don’t have – survival is overwhelming just by itself; dreaming is too far to reach. They aim to change that.

The North Sound ACH Partner Convening was on August 15, and each time we come together it is a slightly different combination of people, and growing more diverse each time. The Collaborative Action Network is growing and changing, aiming to find ways for partners to meet, learn about and collaborate with each other.  We have intentionally tried to keep our gatherings to about 200 participants, but as the network grows we have to decide about future gatherings – make them larger or hold more focused smaller convenings. (There are currently 170 organizations in the Collaborative Action Network, and more on the horizon.) We’ll be reaching out to you in the near future to help the thinking for that strategy.

North Sound gets invited to meetings across the country because of our guiding frameworks (honoring tribal sovereignty, equity, targeted universalism, belonging, the vital conditions for well-being, and leading with love.) But it is also because of you. In August we were invited to the Inland Empire for a conference with 600 attendees, and it was amazing because instead of me, we sent Cynthia Andrews from our team, Jason McGill (CEO for Northwest Youth Services and North Sound board member) and Kevin Riley (also a board member, and pastor at Mount Baker Presbyterian Church). I wanted the Inland Empire to hear from them about what we’re aiming for, and I can’t wait to invite you to share your stories as well. They got a standing ovation for speaking as themselves – and so would you!

My dream – that my children and grandchildren will want to live here, rather than looking for another place to live solely because that other place feels more welcoming, or makes them feel like they will be a better fit there. North Sound can be that place too, but we cannot do this alone, and it isn’t an easy journey. We must work together to make this region a place where all community members feel like they belong; where we all see each other as whole human beings; where we are loved.  

Thanks for joining us in this work!

Be well –