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 10th 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.
