Front and Centered

How can governments go beyond typical #CommunityEngagement practices that often end up as exercises in box-ticking or tokenization? #CollaborativeGovernance, or #cogovernance, offers a model for shifting power to ordinary people and rebuilding their trust in government. Co-governance models break down the boundaries between people inside and outside government, allowing community residents and elected officials to work together to design policy and share decision-making power. But what does co-governance look like in actual practice? Check out this Q&A in New America, featuring our Co-executive Director Deric Gruen, Faduma F. of People's Economy Lab, and Marcy Bowers of Statewide Poverty Action Network. Together, they discuss the community assemblies we are making happen in #WashingtonState (learn more about our community assemblies at FrontAndCentered.Org).

I had such a great time last month repping Front and Centered on a panel about #ClimateJustice and #EnvironmentalJustice for Junior Summer Institute scholars (at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington)! Part of the Public Policy & International Affairs (PPIA) Fellowship Program, the Evans School’s Junior Summer Institute (JSI) provides undergraduate students "a deeper appreciation of current issues and trends in public policy, a greater understanding of career opportunities in public service fields, and enhanced knowledge and skills to support their future pursuit of careers in public policy." It was so great to hold space with Charmila A. and Matt Remle and to be in community with them and with a smart, super passionate group of students! I learned so much from my fellow panelists and I was blown away the JSI scholars' enthusiasm and questions. I always leave such spaces feeling re-energized!

“'Why would we give up 80 percent of our land to get 20?' said Gidansda (Guujaaw), the then president of the Council of the Haida Nation. 'This case is about respect for the Earth and each other. It is about culture, and it is about life.' “The Haida’s steadfastness paid off. In April, the Haida Nation and the province of British Columbia announced the Gaayhllxid/Gíihlagalgang 'Rising Tide' Haida Title Lands Agreement. In it, the British Columbia government formally recognizes Haida ownership of all the lands of Haida Gwaii. “Although Indigenous title is widely considered an inherent right that doesn’t need to be granted by an external government or court, #FirstNations struggle to enforce it without legal backing. This is the first time in Canadian history that the colonial government has recognized Indigenous title across an entire terrestrial territory, and it’s the first time this kind of recognition has occurred outside of the courts. Experts say it marks a new path toward #Indigenous #reconciliation.” #LandBack

We really enjoyed our time in community last month with members and partners, when we came together to discuss community-centered transportation leadership to #CURBpollution 😻😻🧡❤️💚💛 Here’s Maria (of Whose Streets? Our Streets!) reporting back from the discussion happening at her table—a lively conversation about the importance of anti-racist principles being applied to data collection, and the need for data collection and analysis to be done through a racial equity lens to truly reflect our frontline communities. 💡 Check out Front and Centered’s #TransportationJustice agenda for #WashingtonState at FrontAndCentered.org 😎😎🚲🚃🚅🛶🦽🚉🚙 Washington State Department of Transportation

As a Black, Queer, Woman, Leader I spend a lot of my time fighting racism and misogynoir before anyone even realizes I’m gay. Intersectionality for me was accepting my 3 identities were hated by most of the world, but for me to survive, I had to love them all. Unapologetically and out loud. Flash forward I recently got engaged and have never been happier, I honestly be floating y’all, mood on 100. To top things off, I walked into our #BIPWeek closing dinner and the team had a cake and signed photo for me to celebrate my engagement. Do y’all know how it felt for all of me to be loved, valued and seen?! I’m so grateful I can be me out loud everyday at Black In Marine Science, Non-Profit Organization and I’m grateful my team supports and respects me and never makes me feel like I don’t belong. So CEO’s, today as your social media teams run to change your logos back to business as usual, I want you to ask yourselves are you creating safe spaces for people to truly be themselves all year or was Pride month with the rainbow logo it? #CEOChats #NonProfitLeadership #JoyJourney #IntentionalLeadership

"Blaming #Indigenous practices for the decline of whales or any other wildlife—like Pacific salmon—amounts to blaming the victim rather than accepting responsibility for the impacts created by the white majority. "The next time you feel the urge to clutch your pearls when you see an Indigenous person or tribe exercising their treaty rights and cultural heritage, stop and use the opportunity to learn and to better understand our state’s colonialist history—including what was agreed to in the treaties signed by Native tribes, and the critical importance of Indigenous activities and practices to their cultures." 🧡 ❤️ 💚 💛

Considered the longest running #AfricanAmerican holiday, #Juneteenth is a day of CELEBRATION, REFLECTION, and COMMITMENT. Juneteenth is a day for celebrating #BlackLives and #BlackExcellence (including within our community coalition, some of whom are featured in this post!). It's also a day for reflecting on how far the movement for #BlackLiberation has come and how far it still needs to go, and for committing to actively supporting that movement. At Front and Centered, we strive for a #JustTransition and to advance the visions of sustainable, healthy futures that have been articulated by Black communities, as well as by Native Nations and others on the frontlines of environmental change. 🧡💛💚❤ We ask that you take time today to celebrate, reflect, and then commit or recommit yourself to the movement for Black Lives and Black Liberation. Happy #Juneteenth2024 from the Front and Centered crew! 🥰🥰

We had an amazing day this past Friday at the Labour Temple - Seattle with members and partners at our “pre-workshop” on community-centered transportation leadership to curb pollution! 😻😻🧡💛💚❤️ We’ll be posting content here and on some of our other social platforms over the next few weeks so you can hear directly from leaders in frontline communities—communities of color, Indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees, and more—and learn from their policy expertise, which includes but is not limited to their lived experiences. Check out Front and Centered’s #TransportationJustice agenda for #WashingtonState at FrontAndCentered.Org 😎😎🚃🦼🚞🚲🚍🚝 Puget Sound Sage Asia Pacific Cultural Center WASHINGTON STATE COALITION OF AFRICAN COMMUNITY LEADERS Washington State Department of Transportation

Deepest thanks to our coalition members for making our virtual mid-year membership check-in yesterday such a joyful, powerful event! (We had even more attendees show up than you can see in this screenshot. 😮) We were so energized by celebrating our members' accomplishments and seeing them in action, speaking and leading conversations around topics like #FoodJustice, #Housing, #Migration, and #ClimateResilience. We are so inspired by our members' leadership and power and we can't wait to continue these conversations and strengthen our bonds as a community as well as a coalition at our in-person statewide membership summit, taking place on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Seattle! ❤️ #JustTransition #CommunityBuilding #ThankYou DUWAMISH RIVER COMMUNITY COALITION El Centro de la Raza Entre Hermanos NA'AH ILLAHEE FUND Puget Sound Sage UTOPIA Washington Ubuntu Nerudo African Heritage WASHINGTON STATE COALITION OF AFRICAN COMMUNITY LEADERS (...and many more! ❤️)

Check out this excellent piece on #TransitEquity and #MobilityJustice by our friend Anna Zivarts at Disability Rights Washington! "People who can’t drive or afford to drive are more likely to be Black, brown, and Native American. Decades of structural racism in housing and land-use policies, and a profound underinvestment in transit systems that were seen as primarily serving poor and non-white populations, mean that the transportation options available to people outside of driving are abysmal. "We know that our current system of car dependency excludes so many, and pushes up the cost of living so that many more families are teetering on the edge. The good news is that we aren’t locked into it. Over the last century we painted ourselves into this corner, where personal cars became the only option for access. Over the next hundred years, guided by the vision of nondrivers, we can paint ourselves out, bit by bit, creating communities where cars aren’t necessary."