On alternate weeks, Tuesdays at 5:30 and Saturdays at noon, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker joins Co-host Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, to explore new developments and paradigms with our vibrant community of creative and innovative citizens who do good work.

The Benji Project is a Port Townsend-based nonprofit dedicated to teaching emotional resilience, mindfulness, and self-compassion tools to youth, families, and the wider community. Founded in 2017 following the suicide of a cherished local teenager, the organization offers a variety of essential programs. Joining us to give us some background and to discuss summer plans are Heather McRae-Woolf, Executive Director for the Benji Project, and Nancy Israel, Program Coordinator.

On alternate weeks—Tuesday at 5:30 and Saturday at Noon, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and co-host Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, explore new developments and paradigms with our vibrant community of creative and innovative citizens who do good work.

Make Music Day celebrates the start of summer on Sunday June 21, 2026 with a day of musical participation and performances, free for all. It’s not only local, but it’s international in scale! Launched in 1982 in France as the Fête de la Musique, Make Music is celebrated on the same day in more than 2,000 cities in dozens of countries around the world. Completely different from a typical music festival, Make Music is open to anyone who wants to take part–from professional musicians to people who’ve never played an instrument or sung out loud. Music pours onto streets, parks, plazas, and porches to share with friends, neighbors, and strangers. 

Make Music Day in East Jefferson County is back!  Joining to tell us more of our local plans for June 21 are Songwriting Works founder Judith-Kate Friedman, Board Member Victoria Reddick, Sponsor and Volunteer James Baburek, and Steering Committee Member Cecile Kummerer.

Our focus this month will be on South Jefferson County and the communities of Brinnon and Quilcene – and what our youth and young families are up to there. The Quilcene community is located at the head of Quilcene Bay, an arm of the seawater-filled glacial valley of Hood Canal. Brinnon sits south of Quilcene, on the west side of Hood Canal, on the eastern edge of the Olympic National Forest, and near the mouth of the Duckabush River. Our guest today is Anji Scalf, Youth and Family Empowerment Coordinator for 4-H with Washington State University Jefferson Extension – College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resources. Having been a rural youth and navigating many of the challenges modern kids are facing, youth and South County are a big part of her life.

On alternate weeks each month, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker joins co-host Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, to explore new developments and paradigms with our vibrant community of creative and innovative citizens who do good work. This month Chris & Siobhan talk about all things Solar (and water) with Kyle Chase, Energy Efficiency Specialist with Jefferson County Public Utilities District No.1, Hans Frederickson, President of Frederickson Electric, and Andy Cochran, President & Founder of Power Trip Energy. We’ll talk about clean utility power, heat pumps, panels, batteries, Electric Vehicles, energy credits and financing, and what we see on the horizon.

On alternate weeks each month, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker joins co-host Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, to explore new developments and paradigms with our vibrant community of creative and innovative citizens who do good work. Following increased Border Patrol activity on the Olympic Peninsula in 2007, when several people in Forks were suddenly deported, and when Trump’s  election in 2016 led to a vast increase in the number of people concerned with the broader issue of immigration, activists Katie Franco, Libby Palmer, and Jim Buckley founded a small group of concerned citizens now known as Jefferson County Immigrant Rights Advocates, or JCIRA. Joining us are two of JCIRA’s Co-founders Katie Franco and Libby Palmer, along with Francisca Velasquez, board member of Clallam-Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers, who are committed to ensuring access to justice for low-income residents by providing civil legal aid through volunteer attorneys.

Port Townsend’s high school campus, a nearly 100 year-old collection of wonderful brick buildings, sits at the top of the hill overlooking our town. Over the years these historic buildings continue to be held together and maintained by band-aid fixes. The time has come to examine the critical and overdue needs of a campus that should match the acclaimed status of its students and faculty. Here to tell us how this can be done, and how our community can invest their time and treasure in a bright future are Jennifer James Wilson, who served four terms on the Port Townsend School Board, having passed the baton to our second guest, Amanda Grace, recently elected as the Port Townsend School District At-Large Director.

KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and Co-Host Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, meet with Port Townsend School Superintendent Linda Rosenbury, along with Emilia Ramsey, a 2023 Alumna of OCEAN K-12 Alternative School, its Founding ASB President, as well as a Student Representative on the Port Townsend School Board, and Sienna Vasquez Wind, an 18 year old Senior at Port Townsend High School, who is completing her senior project through the Facility Advisory Committee. We discuss recent special honors for the District, facilities needs, and exciting yet nostalgic news about the campus’s Lincoln Building.

For over 65 years, United Good Neighbors has rallied the community to strengthen front-line nonprofits that meet basic needs. This year’s Give Jefferson Campaign is more important than ever, as budget cuts threaten the very programs your neighbors depend upon. Significant cuts from the federal and state budgets have the potential to erode the strength of our local nonprofits and community serving government agencies dedicated to serving those in our community who need the most support.  KPTZ’s Chris Bricker & Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, discuss the important topic of budget cut impacts and the current Give Jefferson Campaign with Denise Banker, Jefferson County Public Health’s Community Health Division Director; Christie Kisler; Director of Nonprofit Services for Jefferson Community Foundation; and Amanda Milholland, Executive Director for Jefferson County Farmers Markets.

Each month KPTZ’s Chris Bricker joins co-host Siobhan Canty, president and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, to explore new paradigms, new developments, and organizations that have sprouted from our County’s good people doing good work. There’s a movement afoot to reimagine dementia care by emphasizing engagement and support. In conversation with us today are Nikki Jardin, founder and publisher of Mirador Magazine, a dementia-inclusive, general-interest publication designed for readers experiencing cognitive change, and Julie Eckert, Dementia Outreach Specialist for Olympic Area Agency on Aging.

KPTZ’s Chris Bricker, and Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, explore new paradigms and new developments from our County’s good people doing good work. Today’s youth truly do face a brave new world, where a sense of community and caring for one another will be paramount. Growing and becoming independent, becoming equipped to face the perils of loneliness and the joy of engagement, authenticity, trust, and independance is what an organization called OWL 360 is all about. OWL 360’s Assistant Director Zhaleh Almaee joins us today to tell us more!