What if we had that Immigrant Resource Center?: letter to Bellingham and Whatcom County officials / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Butterfly garlands, representing migration and created by community members, were bestowed on Bellingham City Hall in August 2022 during a call for City action to provide an Immigrant Resource Center.
The fate of the butterflies after the event was covered in the Salish Current article,
“Bringing the Butterflies Home”

March 30, 2025 Dena Jensen

I have so much gratitude for all the community efforts to call for actions from our government officials to bring home immigrants who were stolen from their Whatcom and Skagit County communities last week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. We all need to keep speaking up until their families and friends are reunited with those who have been unjustly targeted. Here is a link to information on just some of the ways we can take action: https://www.foodjustice.org/blog/2025/3/27/update-on-farmworker-leader-alfredo-lelo-juarez

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Whatcom County Council will discuss draft letter to expand emergency shelter access this Tuesday / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the screen shot of content in a 1/12/2025 petition update by Tukoyote Helianthus to access his post on his blog site. The petition calls for expanded emergency shelter access this winter. Helianthus provides homeless services through his Operation Waterdrop project.

January 12, 2025 Dena Jensen

With the Committee of the Whole meeting agenda this week for Whatcom County Council, there is an attached draft letter created by one – or some – of the Council Members (there’s no attribution to the author/s on the letter so far). The letter is addressed to Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu. It emphasizes the need for increasing reliable shelter for our friends and neighbors who will be losing a place to live and sleep this winter, among other things. One reason for such loss will be due to the planned sweep of the Bakerview encampment which begins this week.

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Don’t stop calling for better winter homeless shelters / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the screenshot of the image and headline for the December 31, 2024 petition update from Tukayote Helianthus to access the update on his petition to lower the temperature threshold for opening the Bellingham Severe Weather Shelter

December 31, 2024 Dena Jensen

It’s valuable to keep pressing officials for better homeless sheltering services. They will try to tell us they can’t do better. But over the years we have seen them at least try despite their stated limitations and resistance.

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Send your input now as Whatcom County seeks to improve homeless sheltering services / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the image of the first page of a Whatcom County draft resolution to expand year-round shelter capacity and create a shelter subcommittee to access the full document on the Whatcom County website

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen significant action from Whatcom County Council toward activating more resources to increase County-managed homeless sheltering capacity. Although some strides had been made by Whatcom County government in activating their own emergency severe weather shelter in 2023/2024, the impact of that critical effort was dwarfed by the increase in people who found themselves living outside when the rain, snow, ice, and winds struck during that time.

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Public safety should mean safety at work too / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to access the article “Whatcom County paid $225K to settle sexual harassment complaints” on the Cascade PBS/Crosscut website

April 20, 2024

Hopefully none of us will ever become numb to instances where government officials, business owners, or any other kinds of organization leadership minimize harassment of employees in the workplace, and/or try to conceal that harassment. The victims of the harassment pay a heavy price that can plague them in numerous ways for years and perhaps for life.

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Whatcom task force on incarceration explores needs for expanding diversion and recovery services / Noisy Waters Northwest

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January 19, 2024 Dena Jensen

I’m through the first hour of listening to the 1/16/24 Behavioral Health Subcommittee meeting of the Whatcom County Incarceration and Prevention Taskforce. In the earlier part of the meeting, the committee was discussing various programs and practices to impact the unusually high number of folks in our jails right now who are not being assessed and treated in a timely manner that allows them to be mentally competent to stand trial. In other words these are folks who likely need to be taking medications in order to accurately understand and withstand a court proceeding in which they are charged with offenses.

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Farmworkers return to the Capitol for the 11th Annual Farmworker Tribunal: La Lucha Sigue! The Struggle Continues! / Press Release

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Photo by Edgar Franks – Image download available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TI5VI1Z0vlMXxBhZMG0pvqL8NbxfrEtI/view?usp=drivesdk

January 17, 2024 Press Release, Community to Community Development and Families Unidas por la Justia

OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON- 

Media Contacts: Edgar Franks – edgar.franx@gmail.com   (360) 972-5412 

Rosalinda Guillen   rosalindag@foodjustice.org  (360) 381-0293

Liz Darrow – Jan 23rd on site in Olympia (360) 220-9065

Farmworkers are essential to our food system. Yet they are still the poorest in the state. Just four years ago during the pandemic they were declared essential; while farmworkers kept food on the table for you during that crisis their wages did not go up.  

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Whatcom jail campaign season is over, but what will be its legacy? / Letter to the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force

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Click the image of the Wikipedia webpage on Dog whistle (politics) to access the information on the Wikipedia website

November 11, 2023 Dena Jensen

Below is the email I sent to the Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force today:

Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2023, 12:06:47 PM PST

Subject: Whatcom jail campaign season is over but what will be its legacy?

Dear Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force:

It seems apparent that a majority of voters have agreed to an increase in sales tax to fund a new Whatcom County Jail and the other projects noted in the ordinance for the tax associated with Proposition 2023-4. Now that Election Day has passed, I wanted to make sure you were aware of an action the YES! Safe Jail, Healthy Outcomes Political Action Committee took near the end of their campaign to support the sales tax. 

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People of under-represented communities and their advocates continue in struggle for services over jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the image containing pages from “No New Jail in Whatcom County” to access the complete September 2023 online zine.

October 28, 2023 Dena Jensen

It’s closing in on a year ago since Whatcom County’s Justice Project evaluated their needs assessment process according to a toolkit provided by the Local and Regional Government Alliance on Race and Equity.

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