Community Tides

Since 1999, Jumping Mouse Children’s Center has helped kids heal through expressive mental health therapy. In the Center’s warm, homelike environment, children confront past and present hurts and discover lasting resolutions. In this edition of Community Tides, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and co-host Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, talk with Kimberly Gorman, in her new role as Executive Director of Jumping Mouse, and Jean Scarboro, Clinical Director. We’ll learn about their important work, and how our local children are faring in these trying times.

In this edition of Community Tides, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and co-host Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, talk with Sara Penhallegan, Founder and Director of Center Valley Animal Rescue. Since it’s inception in 2002, Sara’s vision has become a legacy of love, compassion, and the right for helpless creatures to have a “second chance” at life. The love and care of abused and abandoned animals is the soul of this organization. We discuss the center’s growth, the animals both large and small, the wide range of experience and expertise that staff and volunteer veterinarians provide, as well as the variety of volunteer opportunities available to members of our Peninsula communities. 

Twice a month during the noon hour on Fridays, KPTZ host Chris Bricker and co-host Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, meet to discuss new developments, new paradigms, and the new normal as we flow into the months ahead. This week, Siobhan and Chris talk about the landscape of good work being done here in Jefferson County and how exciting it is to see relationships develop as complementary non-profit organizations are able to find and work with one another. Chris and Siobhan emphasize the significance of general funds in the life of a non-profit organization, and also the importance of the ability of a non-profit to be able to pay a living wage to its employees. Our hosts also note that the “season of giving” to groups that do good work really needs to last year round.

On this edition of Community Tides, Siobhan Canty and KPTZ’s Chris Bricker speak with Rita Frangione, Outreach Coordinator for VetConnect – Supportive Services for Veterans through Olympic Community action programs of Clallam and Jefferson Counties. Professional services  for our veterans in need are especially important out here on the Peninsula and Washington State in general. Rita joins is to discuss the demographics, needs and resources available for our veterans.

Japanese families have a prominent history on the Olympic Peninsula. Joe Kawamoto, until his recent death, owned a picture-perfect farm, north of Quilcene on US 101, and just north of Lake Leland. Joe’s wife, Margie, decided to sell the farm. Enter the Jefferson Land Trust, and the efforts of Margie and family to preserve this historic dairy and farm, owned and farmed by the Kawamoto family for the last 100 years. To tell us more of these efforts and of the sale, Blaise Sullivan, the Jefferson Land Trust’s Stewardship and Conservation Coordinator, and Sarah Spaeth, the Trust’s Director of Conservation and Strategic Partnerships, join Siobhan and Chris for an enlightening and paradigm-shifting conversation about the process.

In this edition of Community Tides, Co-Hosts Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, speak with their special guest, Kelli Pareher, one of our County’s true treasures. Kelli’s contracted positions and duties with the County include the Proctor House – the Juvenile and Family Services alternative to Juvenile Detention – as manager of options for low, middle, and high-risk youth, She’s also a Master Trainer and facilitator to professionals on a state level, and she’s a consultant to the Center for Anti-Bullying and Non-Violence, in Denver, Colorado. Today, Kelli talks with us about her current endeavor, the OWL360-Pfeiffer House Sustainable Living Project. The Non-Profit serves our younger local population of 18 to 24 year olds who are in need of shelter and assistance. Through grants and contributions, an old Victorian house in Uptown has been converted to a center and living space.

Chris Bricker’s Co-Host for today is Jen Kingfisher, Jefferson Community Foundation’s Non-Profit Relations Manager.
Chris and Jen explore a landscape view of basic needs that that the non-profit sector service and counsel in Jefferson County.  Those needs include food assistance for adults, families and school children; financial assistance (especially with utilities); housing and rental assistance (especially with the eviction moratorium in effect for the remainder of October); Pro Bono eviction legal assistance; transitioning of the shelterless from the Fairgrounds to the Mill Road property; the need for an assist in the navigation of resources for children and their families; and the need for available and affordable childcare. 

Twice a month, co-hosts Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, get together to talk about new developments and new paradigms for our communities as we roll through the rest of 2021. In this edition of Community Tides, Siobhan and Chris speak with Richard Tucker, Executive Director of Jefferson Land Trust, about our local farm and agricultural community, the role they play in the economy and the vitality of our county, the challenges farmers face these days, and how Jefferson Land Trust supports our local farms. Finally, they explore the ways that each of us can give our local farming community our support.

This week, Siobhan and Chris speak with Bex Berryhill, who is not only Centrum’s Program Manager for Creative Youth Development, but she’s also one of the seven Cooperative directors of the Gray Coast Guild Hall in Quilcene. We learn about the building’s history, the mission of the cooperative, who gathers there, and the inclusive impact its range of activities can have on the local community.

In this edition, Siobhan & Chris speak with Port Townsend School District’s new Superintendent, Linda Rosenbury. We’ll learn about her background, her leadership style, and discuss what we should be looking for in order to make our schools successful. We discuss the cultural and socio-economic make-up of our students, and we talk about how to keep them safe in these uncertain times.

In this edition of Community Tides, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty talk with Daniel Ferland, who teaches band and orchestra at Port Townsend High School. (He also serves as Fine Arts Coordinator for the Port Townsend School District.  But there’s another hat that he wears, as well.) Dan joins us to discuss his role in an exciting program called YEA Music (Youth Education in the Arts). Its mission is to provide music opportunities to the youth of east Jefferson County that include instruments, instruction and performance. He explains the teaching philosophy upon which the music program is based (El Sistema), tells us about the faculty, and enlightens us about future plans for the Program.

This week, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and co-host Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, speak with Dr. Molly Parker, Chief Medical Officer of Population Health at Jefferson Health Care. She has practiced Family Medicine with Obstetrics at JHC for 11 years. Dr. Parker is currently developing child care options for Jefferson Health Care and the community. Washington had already been in a child care crisis before the pandemic began, with too few providers for children in need. We discuss the current status of childcare in Jefferson County, and the effects of the childcare gap on working families and on our community overall. Childcare is a Public Health issue, and evidence shows that adequate early childhood development will be key to the overall health and diversity of our communities for decades to come. Dr. Parker also identifies the key childcare providers in our county, and she enlightens us about other initiatives in the works that can help to close the childcare gap. 

Quilcene is a small and vibrant community that, along with Brinnon’s lush lands and their residents, makes up an amazing southern complement to our beautiful Jefferson County.  We’ll focus on South County’s families and children, community updates, and events for this edition of Community Tides, and talk about Quilcene and Brinnon’s emergence from the pandemic. Siobhan gives us a South County overview, and then we join special guests Trish Beathard, Superintendent and Principal of the Brinnon school, and Kathleen Kler, a nurse, an artist, and former District 3 County Commissioner, to fill us in on the details.

This week, hosts Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, speak with Megan Claflin, Director of Development for The Production Alliance. We learn about the Alliance’s origins and reason for being. We explore the talents of its members and how they compliment one another with creative celebratory ideas for our community. We also learn about the latest benefit for non-profits—TENT-ACITY. Tune in and find out!

On this edition of Community Tides, KPTZ host Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, have a conversation with Hilary Canty, Executive Director of the Orcas Island Community Foundation (OICF). She not only happens to be Siobhan’s sister, but Hilary and her staff are a big part of making things happen on Orcas Island. We compare and contrast our two Foundations, and we find out more about the Island and who lives there, the trends of people coming and going, and specifically about the housing and sheltering situation on Orcas. We discuss some of OICF’s successes in that regard – in particular, a housing solution in the works on Orcas that is worth considerable discussion here in our Jefferson County communities.

For this edition of Community Tides, Jen Kingfisher, who oversees Non-Profit Relations for the Jefferson Community Foundation, joins Chris Bricker as co-host. They discuss the most recent grant awards from the COVID Fund, and how the Fund is an example of what a community foundation does every day. Jen reviews the stats in grant awards since March of last year, including the last round of the Fund devoted to Arts and Culture. She emphasizes the importance of the nurturing effect of these grants in helping our community recover and reopen as we move out of the pandemic. The Foundation is seeking proposals that demonstrate avenues to spark communal joy and foster local community connections. The deadline is July 2.

Co-Hosts Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, get together in-studio for the first time since this program debuted. They look over the accomplishments the Jefferson County community have made during COVID-19 times, and how, through the generosity of so many, we’ve been able to creatively help to weather storms in education, mental health, child care, housing, food insecurity. emergency services, systemic racism, businesses, all the while aiming to be loving stewards of one another. Our own Community Radio station, KPTZ, has played a major role in connecting us all together during these times, and a 10^th Birthday Celebration is definitely in order!

Co-Hosts Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty meet on alternate Fridays to discuss new developments, new paradigms, and the “new normal” as we flow into the months and years ahead.
There are a plethora of jobs available here in Jefferson County, and a growing number of them are unfilled. The lack of affordable workforce housing is playing a major role with this challenge. Chris and Siobhan speak with Justine Gonzalez-Berg, Director of Housing Solutions Network, and with Brian Kuh, Executive Director EDC Team Jefferson (the Economic Development Council), about the crisis, forecasts, and remedies.

This week Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty speak with Tonia Burkett, a seasoned social justice worker with an ABD in Sociology and years of related experience. She is currently co-facilitating a Racial Justice Literacy workshop series, as well as developing anti-racist training and consulting services for non-profit organizations through her business team, Usawa Consulting. We learn about the unique needs of non-profits in this work, and about approaches to the system of philanthropy and non-profits that can bring about real opportunities for social and systemic change.

On this edition of Community Tides, Chris Bricker and Siobhan speak with Deisy Bach, Vice President of the Jefferson County Food Bank Association, and John Cantlon, President of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul for East Jefferson County. The COVID Response and Recovery Fund and its community donors have had a profound impact for families and individuals in need here in Jefferson County. The Jefferson County Food Bank and Saint Vincent’s are just two of the organizations that the Fund has helped in so many ways during the Pandemic year to address the short-term and long-term needs of our neighbors. Deisy and John relate their experiences when Pandemic hit, and talk about how the Fund helped them respond effectively and compassionately during these difficult months. Siobhan explains how listeners can continue to donate to the COVID Fund.

Who better to talk with about what’s happening in the local arts and educational realm than Teresa Verraes, a visionary who has been a talented and vibrant contributor to to this community in so may ways! She is the Founding Director of the Port Townsend School of the Arts, and it’s in that role she joins us today, to talk about exciting happenings, including the PTSA’s recent merger with Northwind Arts Center, developments at Fort Worden’s Maker’s Square, and the much-anticipated gallery and classroom space for Building 305.

This week on Community Tides, hosts Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, speak with Samantha Troxler, Housing and Operations Manager for Olympic Community Action Programs, about Washington State’s Department of Commerce Eviction Rent Assistance Program. Samantha discusses the allocation that OlyCAP has received so far, and what is on the horizon for the agency. We discuss the application process, who can apply, turn-around time, what we know of local statistics, and the Program’s importance during these difficult times.

This week on Community Tides, Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty talk about how our community has been doing generally with their mental health throughout this pandemic, particularly seniors and youth. Tanya Barnett discusses her new role as Family Resource Navigator for the YMCA of Jefferson County along with CEO Wendy Bart. We learn how the position came about, and why it’s an especially good fit for these difficult times, We discuss our community’s themes, needs and gaps, what we’re hearing from counselors and families, and learn about some of the resources that families can use to help themselves and others.

Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty talk about the importance of keeping our energy and mental well-being in a good state as we continue to define the “new normal.” By continuing to work together we can address the challenges of navigating a constantly changing landscape. While many things in our community are going very well, there are still a lot of needs. We discuss some of the ongoing, positive efforts in our Community that are helping us face those challenges. We also talk about what the lessons in awareness we hope will “stick” as we move back out into the real world.

For the final episode of 2020, Chris Bricker and Co-Host Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of the Jefferson Community Foundation, take a look at 2020, a year of great challenge, and how our community has risen to that challenge with so many solutions. They recap the year’s accomplishments in our county, and talk about the critical work that lies ahead for education, housing, food access, public health, and human rights.