BUILDING POWER IN EVERY CORNER OF WASHINGTON
Power is the strength to turn vision into reality. At Inatai, we believe the most important kind of power is community power: The ability for people to achieve a collective purpose and realize a shared vision for a more equitable, racially just future. Introducing Power Builders, a series featuring leaders from all over Washington state whose organizations and communities are planting the seeds for long-term, transformative change.
Leading liberation with joy
The work for liberation requires more than bold visions and perseverance to be sustainable. For Power Builders Taffy Maene-Johnson of UTOPIA Washington and Jaelynn Scott and Bryanna A. Jenkins of Lavender Rights Project, it requires centering the joy of the most vulnerable members of our communities as an act of resistance. Honoring the radical joy of transgender Black, Indigenous, and people of color, illuminates the path to liberation for all to follow.
Taffy Maene-Johnson
UTOPIA Washington
UTOPIA Washington in Kent is led by women of color who identify as transgender and/or fa’afafine—a gender identity in Samoan culture that translate as: “in a manner of a woman.” Meet Executive Director Taffy Maene-Johnson as she describes the power-building work of UTOPIA, which includes cultural organizing, medical care, and policy and advocacy initiatives. As she describes it, “Joy is not a luxury, but part of our resistance.”
Jaelynn Scott & Bryanna A. Jenkins
Lavender Rights Project
For two leaders of Lavender Rights Project, Executive Director Jaelynn Scott and Policy Director Bryanna A. Jenkins, this moment requires authentic leadership and movement-building and at the center of that is joy. Join Jaelynn and Bryana as they reclaim the historically queer spaces of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood and call for institutional leaders to remember the lessons on racial justice and trans liberation that came to a head in 2020. Lavender Rights Project is a Black Trans feminist organization committed to dismantling oppressive systems that disproportionately harm Black communities.
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ALL STORIES
Taffy Maene-Johnson
UTOPIA Washington
Taffy Maene-Johnson shares how UTOPIA Washington is building power alongside women of color who identify as transgender and/or fa’afafine—a gender identity in Samoan culture that translates as “in a manner of a woman.”
Jaelynn Scott & Bryanna A. Jenkins
Lavender Rights Projects
Jayelynn Scott and Bryanna A. Jenkins remind us of the lessons on racial justice and trans liberation that surfaced in 2020, and how Black Trans joy is at the center of their movement building.
Michael Woodward
Michael Woodward shares how a statewide network of trans communities is building power through collective action.
Vanessa Moore
Vanessa Moore shares how learning the history of her community made her feel powerful as a lifelong Tri-Citian.
Edgar Franks
Edgar Franks guides us through the Skagit Valley where Familias Unidas Economy and Economy Project is organizing farmworkers’ collective strength.
Cleveland Harris II
Community First Whatcom
Cleveland Harris II envisions a community where every resident enjoys security, dignity, and safety in Whatcom County.
Diana Avalos-Leos
Latino Leadership Northwest
Diana Avalos-Leos is creating opportunities for Latino youth to build healthy relationships, advocate for their education, and take pride in their work in Clark County.
Julian Matthews
Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment
Julian Matthews encourages Nez Perce youth to be the “voice and warriors for the next seven generations” and to protect their fish, water, and land.
Darryl Riley
Up From Slavery
Darryl Riley is creating wealth and self-empowerment for Black and brown communities in Kitsap County.
Van Dinh-Kuno
Northwest Refugee & Immigrant Services
Van Dinh-Kuno is on a mission to see more people of color run for office in Snohomish, Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, and Island counties.
Maria Fernandez
ELLA Adelante
Maria Fernandez is determined to put more Latina leaders in decision-making roles in Central Washington.
Ginger Ewing
Terrain
Ginger Ewing is breaking down silos and bringing the Spokane community together for coalition building.
Karen Morrison
Odyssey World International Education Services
Karen Morrison has a dream for her community that is safe, inclusive, and compassionate.
Santana Rabang
Children of the Setting Sun Productions
Satana Rabang is opening doors to understanding through storytelling with Indigenous values.
SAM LEE
Asians for Collective Liberation
Sam Lee shares how the work of their organizations is building a political home for Asians in Spokane.
PATRICK WOO-CHING
Voices of Pacific Island Nations
Patrick Woo-Ching says his community’s future power bearers are the young people he works with in Bremerton.
NORMA HERNANDEZ
The Health Center
Norma Hernandez believes when young people have access to care that supports their well-being, they and their families are in a better position to thrive in the Walla Walla Valley.
KIM RINEHARDT
Mason County HOST Program
Visit with Kim Rinehardt as she shows us around Shelton and what equity and racial justice work looks like for her organization.
JENNYFER MESA
Latinos en Spokane
Sometimes home can be somewhere thousands of miles away or the community you must create yourself. Jennyfer Mesa shares with us what community power-building looks like in Eastern Washington.
PAUL TABAYOYON
APIC-Yakima
In our collective work for racial equity and justice, we cannot forget who fought before us. Paul Tabayoyon connects Filipino history in the Yakima Valley to the work his organization is doing there today.