January 2024 Partner Convening: the HeART of Transformation

We’re honored to be welcomed into this space by Natosha Gobin and the Tulalip Culture Department.

During our January 2024 partner convening, held at the Tulalip Resort & Casino, we had the honor of hosting Matika Wilbur as our keynote speaker. Matika, a critically acclaimed social documentarian from the Swinomish and Tulalip peoples of coastal Washington, co-hosts the All My Relations podcast, which has amassed over 3 million downloads. Her latest book, “Project 562: Changing The Way We See Native America,” has become a New York Times bestseller. With speaking engagements at prestigious venues such as TED, Harvard, Yale, and Google, Matika continues to champion Native American identity and culture. Recently, she unveiled her national Indigenous literacy curricula in collaboration with the National Education Association.

Last year, Network members came to us asking for more young voices to be present in the room and to learn from.  Acknowledging the diversity of ages among our Network and those we serve, we recognized the need for a more representative and inclusive dialogue. Today, we aim to build upon those conversations by being more intentional about having youth voices a part of our Network across the board, forging connections and learning from the remarkable work already being carried out by our younger partners in the region and state. In this session, we featured Taanvi Arekapudi, Bella James, and Ahmad Hilal Abid.

Learn about how poetry can be a tool for healing as well as reflection in a professional setting, practice leaning into discomfort and practicing new tools, and reflect on the principles of the Collaborative Action Network and provide feedback about the role of partners using poetry as a method of evaluation. With Quaniqua Williams – a DEIB practitioner, advocate, and poet. Quaniqua describes her poetry as a companion, connector and friend-in-need since her middle school days. Her pen finds its way into her hands to help her navigate her emotions and feel liberated, a feeling that resonates with those who read her work.

Using Well-Being Measurement to catalyze change, our speakers shared the art and science of thriving and well-being, surfacing who’s suffering/struggling/thriving, weaving vital conditions and Indigenous indicators, and how to use well-being measurement to drive equitable community well-being. With Monte Roulier, Stacy Wegley, and Jan Marie Ward Olmstead.

North Sound ACH is committed to advancing several areas in the Health Care Authority’s Medicaid Transformation Project 2.0 Waiver. A section of the waiver focuses on expansion of community based care coordination, and other expanded Medicaid services for community members preparing to leave county jails, prisons, and youth detainment centers and referred to as Jail Transitions.

In this session, we have a conversation about why this work is important, how each one of us has innate skills and access to resources that can impact this work across the region. You don’t have to work directly with or within the jail or prison systems, social service agencies, healthcare or resource agencies to learn and grow as a collaborator.

With Alex Sanchez, Danielle Riley, Joseph Hunter, Pedro Garcia, and Genaro Sanchez.

Throughout the two-day convening, we offered space for several collaborative projects to showcase their work and partnerships. This includes the Omni Center, the Cultural Alimentos Project, the School Sealants Project, and 15-50-5 Project.

As we learn how to use art in our work of transformation, we heard from partners Remy Styrkowicz and Children of the Setting Sun Productions how important storytelling is, as a method of bridging and belonging. They shared a few short films with us.