Network Learning: 2024

The North Sound Collaborative Action Network presents a learning and advocacy interactive webinar series for 2024 Each month, we will host a presentation with local and national experts and interactive breakout rooms on topics grounded in equity and vital conditions for our work in the North Sound. Our working groups in the Network will be alternating our topics each month and bringing you rich discussion and challenging ideas.

Our first learning session of 2024 was a powerful morning on Birth Equity: Beyond the Doctor’s Office (March 20). In this webinar, attendees learned about the current state of birth equity in our region, heard from voices in the region doing this work, and were offered practices that can be implemented at community and organizational level. We were joined by panelists Shanell Brown of Shades of Divinity, Olympia Edwards of Project Girl Mentoring Program, and Memorie Gladstone of Open Arms Perinatal Services.

The Health & the Outdoors learning session (May 15) deepened attendees’ understanding of how our well-being is closely tied to our connection with the outdoors, inspiring them to integrate outdoor experiences into the care we provide in our communities. Through this understanding, we hope attendees will recognize that fostering a meaningful connection to the land cultivates a stronger sense of stewardship and dedication to its conservation.

Together, we will explore the personal, cultural, spiritual, and environmental connections between outdoor environments and well-being, exploring diverse healing practices and benefits; and develop strategies to integrate outdoor experiences into our community care, considering accessibility, barriers, and inclusive approaches.

We were joined by panelists Cindy Curtis Myatt of North Cascades Wild Church, Oak Rankin of Glacier Peak Institute, and Denice Rochelle of The Bronze Chapter.

In this session, we explored how to use art as a powerful tool for both self-care and activism. With our facilitator, North Sound ACH Artist-in-Residence Khemistry Williams, attendees dove into the broader cultural and systemic factors that influence our engagement with art, and learned how to integrate art into their work to advocate for social change. We hope attendees feel more confident in using art for personal well-being, and equipped with practical strategies to incorporate art into their work.

We were joined by panelists Ramón Rivera and Karla Estevez-Solano of MV Folklórico, Silvia Alvarez and Rosa Juarez Soria Mondragon of Triumph Teen Life Center, and Christopher Sadler (Gina Touché) of Simply Curious | Skagit Drag.

Community-Centric Fundraising is a model centered on equity and mutual support. Traditional models of fundraising and philanthropy can end up perpetuating the very structures that we’re trying to dismantle, from individualistic practices to harmful power dynamics.

Whether you’re a community foundation, a grant writer, a nonprofit seeking funding, or someone working in health and social care, everyone in community work is impacted by fundraising, and will benefit from hearing about Community-Centric Fundraising.

We heard from some of our partners about the work that’s being done in our community to create new paradigms, the barriers they face to funding and practices that pull them out of alignment with their organizational values, and how we as a region can come together to truly center community in the way we fundraise and resource our shared work.

Panelists included Musu Bakoto Sawo of Community Foundation of Snohomish County, and Andy Basabe and Meriel Kaminsky of Vamos Outdoors Project.