June 7, 2023 Dena Jensen
Bellingham City Council Member Dan Hammill made remarks at the Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday this week that included information about two different funding sources Whatcom County has that offer the potential to invest in behavioral health efforts up to around ten million dollars a year.
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June 1, 2023 Dena Jensen
This week the Whatcom County Council put out a news flash announcement requesting that community members provide feedback to the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force about the draft version of the Justice Project Implementation Plan. I sent an email in today that will be included in this blog post.
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June 1, 2023 Dena Jensen
Here’s some information relevant to funding for recommended actions related to behavioral health services and facilities, among other things, in the draft Justice Project Implementation Plan. (Link to the draft plan: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/…/Implementation-Plan… ) Whatcom County’s Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force is seeking feedback from community members about the draft implementation plan, now through June 11, 2023.
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May 21, 2023 Dena Jensen
In this post you will find the content of the meeting summaries of the Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force that are currently available so far for 2023. This is a period when the focus of the Task Force has more prominently centered on the intersection of their work with Whatcom County’s Justice Project.
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May 4, 2023 Dena Jensen
The quote on this post was part of a brief comment given by our current Whatcom County Executive near the end of a March 15, 2023 discussion about adopting public comment guidelines for the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF) a couple of months ago.
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May 1, 2023 Dena Jensen
Over the next few months, our community will have a more intensive opportunity to review and speak out about the process (and outcome of that process) by which Whatcom County Council has come to accept recommendations, and potentially propose funding, for a new jail along with mental and behavioral health services related to incarceration and reducing and preventing incarceration.
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April 24, 2023 Dena Jensen
Here’s something to be aware of. The current Whatcom County Undersheriff, Doug Chadwick, who also is one of the candidates running to replace Bill Elfo as Sheriff in the November 2023 election, indicated that he wants to ensure that the County will be able to double the size of a proposed new jail in the years ahead and favors building on a property that would accommodate the size of a horizontal design, i.e. the property purchased for a jail in Ferndale years ago.
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March 23, 2023 Dena Jensen
Here is an excerpt from Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) for the Whatcom County Justice Project December 15, 2022 10:00 – 12:00 pm Meeting Minutes:
Continue reading“TVA [The Vida Agency who created the Public Engagement Plan for the needs assessment] conducted 6 listening sessions with 29 participants, and 8 informal interviews. The participants included representatives of immigrant communities, Lummi Nation, and formerly incarcerated people and their families.
• It is important to keep in mind the small sample size when interpreting the results.”
March 21, 2023 Dena Jensen
I know there are people who have already read “Atul Explains Vote Against Jail Recommendations,” a letter to Whatcom County Council Chair Barry Buchanan that was published on Northwest Citizen about a month ago, but I think it could use some broader exposure.
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March 6, 2023 Dena Jensen
On February 21, 2021 Whatcom County Council voted 7-0 to approve a resolution accepting the the Justice Project Needs Assessment Report. The report includes many recommendations developed during the Stakeholder Advisory Committee needs assessment process, including one to “build a new jail.” The County will now be moving forward with an implementation plan. The resolution states that part of the plan will be efforts to hear our input.
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