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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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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Whatcom County is falling behind in providing winter sheltering options / Letter to the Whatcom County Council

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Click the screenshot to access 2023 Winter sheltering information on the Whatcom County website

October 26, 2023 Dena Jensen

Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2023, 05:00:11 PM PDT

Subject: We are behind in supplying capacity with our emergency shelter options for this cold weather season

Dear Whatcom County Council:

I am glad for your new Facebook page and saw your post today regarding the Severe Weather Shelter that Whatcom County will be operating.  I am also grateful for the hard work of Whatcom County Health and Community Services to help provide some safety for people who have no other options but to live outside this winter. It is encouraging that Whatcom County has transcended the misguided 2021 recommendation for the County to *not* operate sheltering options after that year.

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Sales tax for new Whatcom jail requires working against incarceration reduction recommendation / Noisy Waters Northwest

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October 11, 2023 Dena Jensen

This week there have been at least a couple of presentations of Washington State University’s independent review of progress on addressing the recommendations and strategies in the 2017 Vera Institute of Justice report. One was given to the Incarceration Prevention Task Force (IPRTF) at their special meeting held on Monday, October 09, 2023 at 9:00 a.m., and one to the Whatcom County Council Committee of the Whole at their meeting on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at 2:15 p.m.

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Comparison: sales-tax constant for Whatcom Executive is we may have too many funds for behavioral health services / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Image of a chart used by Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu’s remarks at the June 12, 2023 Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force

October 22, 2023 Dena Jensen

🟥🟩Comparison of our County Executive’s remarks, one month apart, related to the amount of funding from the 2023 ballot measure sales tax that was to be made available for non-jail projects.🟥🟩

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What County Council Members were told last week about Whatcom County’s District Court Probation / Noisy Waters Northwest

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September 18, 2023 Dena Jensen

At their September 12, 2023 Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee meeting, committee members Barry Buchanan and Carol Frazey, along with County Council Member Kailey Galloway received a report from District Court Probation. Notes from the report using language that is fairly close to that used by presenters are included further down in this blog post.

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