Hosts 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! This week, Chris and Siobhan welcome special guests Cindy Brooks, Executive Director of Economic Development Council Team Jefferson, and Bill Wise, Steering Committee Chair for the Housing Solutions Network. He’s also co-founder and former chair for EDC Team Jefferson. We have a robust conversation about the breadth and diversity of Jefferson County’s economy, the challenges for our businesses and our workforce, significant changes with regard to affordable housing, and how the housing crisis and its solutions will directly relate to our economy’s well-being.

Chris and Siobhan welcome special guests Cindy Brooks, Executive Director of Economic Development Council Team Jefferson, and Bill Wise, Steering Committee Chair for the Housing Solutions Network. He’s also co-founder and former chair for EDC Team Jefferson. We’ll have a robust conversation about the breadth and diversity of Jefferson County’s economy, the challenges for our businesses and our workforce, significant changes with regard to affordable housing, and how the housing crisis and its solutions will directly relate to our economy’s well-being.

Welcome to the second of two special editions of Community Tides!  KPTZ’s Chris Bricker joins his co-host Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, at April’s Second Annual Jefferson County Connectivity Fair.  In Part One,we dropped in on a presentation by Students For Sustainability, and you can find it now in KPTZ’s Podcast Archive. For this episode, Siobhan Canty herself gives a presentation through the lens of Connectivity and Community Philanthropy and how the Foundation plays an important part in these efforts.  We begin with introductions by a variety of fascinating attendees, and then Siobhan will launch us into a discussion about the rewarding world of community giving and connection.

On alternate weeks with Our Working Waterfront, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker joins co-host Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, to explore new paradigms, new developments, and the panorama of good work our vibrant community continues to do day in and day out. Siobhan and Chris decided to feature Jefferson County’s Second Annual Connectivity Fair held in April at the Chimacum Schools campus. After a gracious welcome by Chimacum Tribal Council Chair, Rosalie Walz, the Fair’s prime movers, Judy Alexander and Rose Madrone, best described the event this way: “Part of what makes Jefferson County unique and special are the nonprofit organizations and service groups that anchor this special community and make it strong and connected. The Fair was created to showcase a large sampling of them, and each of these organizations offer ways for the general public to pitch in to help make our County informed, sustainable, resilient, and life-giving.” Siobhan gave an excellent presentation on Community Philanthropy, and I later popped in on the presentation given by Port Townsend High School’s Students For Sustainability.

For this episode, we join Laura Tucker, advisor and mentor for the club, to give us a brief history of SFS. Then students Tallulah Sebastian and Sawyer Duval give their wonderful presentation. Meanwhile,fellow club members Tadu Dollarhide and Ella Schwartz ran the information table in the big hall.

Two special guests join us who represent our Local Investment Opportunities Network, or LION, here in East  Jefferson county. We’ll learn more about how LION helps to build prosperous local businesses by assisting in building a more resilient and sustainable economy. Jane Armstrong and her husband moved to the Peninsula 10 years ago. She brings a wealth of business management experience to the table. Jane explains the structure and breadth of LION, and also how LION and Housing Solutions Network provide some of that same kind of collaborative connection to creatively address opportunities and challenges in our communities. Heidi Haney came to Port Townsend along with over 20 years of business and hospitality experience. Heidi will tell us how her latest enterprise, the Tipsy Gypsy Mobile Bar Service, was born and how it has morphed thanks to the economic seeds planted by LION.

(Airdate: March 5, 2024) Each month, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker, and Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, explore new paradigms and new developments surrounding our County’s good people doing good work. Siobhan & Chris speak with Dr.Kristin “Rosie” Barnes, Director of Medical Operations for the No Fallen Heroes Foundation, and Lauren Feringa, Director of Hippie and a Venteran Foundation, about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We’ll discuss how partnerships with a number of dynamic groups and organizations throughout the Peninsula and the state can help Veterans, First Responders, and their families find healing solutions. We explore what the healing properties of sacred plant medicines can do for those suffering from PTSD, depression, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety, and how therapies are facilitated.

The Port Townsend High School Audio Visual Club is presenting showcases of student work from all Media Lab classes. The events are fundraisers for the A.V. Club and their goal of taking a field trip to Los Angeles. We have two student guests, both of whom represent the A.V. Club at the High School. A.V. Club Vice President Biaani Egeler and Club Treasurer Tanya Cao are both in their senior year at the high school. They’ll talk about exciting plans for their gap years before college. Mentoring and cheering the Media Lab on is the magic energy of PTHS Media Lab’s teacher David Egeler, better known around here at KPTZ as DJ David Bonobo. Our guests tell of their aspirations and how their field trips into the depths of the Hollywood film industry have prompted and supported their career instincts in media and the arts, both in film and photography.

Port Townsend Film Festival’s Focus Film Series launches this January with their first film: The Right to Read, all about literacy and the US school system. Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty visit with the panelists for this film, a discussion organized by Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County. Participants include two teachers from the Talkin’ Story podcast episode, “Making Schools in Habitable for PGM,” Cherry Geelan and Aaron Hall, as well as Linda Rosenbury, Superintendent of Port Townsend School District.

Hosts Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, visit with Dick Schneider, who lovingly tends to orphan orchids at Raincoast Farms, a magical place tucked away among fir, hemlock and old growth cedars, just minutes from Port Townsend. In two greenhouses, Dick has a collection of unique species of tropical plants and selected hybrid orchids. Once he rehabilitates donated orchids to flower and health, he re-homes them to Jefferson Healthcare. In Part Two of this week’s segment, Chris visits with Dylan Quarles, a young Port Townsend Writer who caught the eye of the team of Industry film folk who have chosen our town as the birthplace of the Port Townsend Film Studio. Dylan tells us about his young writer’s journey and his present project—a screenplay adaptation of one of his stories.

Hosts Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, join Port Townsend Education Foundation board member Rebekah Minarchek, Salish Coast Fourth Grade teacher Christine Keiley, and Blue Heron School eighth grade student Eliot Minarchek, to discuss how the Foundation enables teachers who are looking to fund more interactive and diverse projects during the school year, and about some interesting projects that the students have already enjoyed.