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.
Building our own decision-making tables for change
In every corner of Washington, communities are reclaiming decision-making power and creating spaces for people of color to lead on their own terms. Meet Power Builders Darryl Riley, Van Dinh-Kuno, and Maria Fernandez – three leaders who have transformational visions for their communities in Kitsap, Snohomish, Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, Island, and Yakima counties.
Darryl Riley
Up From Slavery
The Up From Slavery Initiative is creating wealth and self-empowerment for the Black and brown community in Kitsap County. In this interview, Co-Founder and CEO Darryl Riley breaks it down: “Most of the work that we’re fighting for or against are issues that we as people of color did not create. Oftentimes the decisionmakers don’t look like me.” Up From Slavery and Darryl are working to harness community power in Silverdale and Bremerton.
Van Dinh-Kuno
Northwest Refugee & Immigrant Services
Van Dinh-Kuno reflects on the 50 years since she left Vietnam by boat to start a new life in the United States. The Executive Director of Refugee & Immigrant Services Northwest says she did not make that harrowing journey for nothing. In addition to her role serving immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, Van has been working hard to organize people of color to in Snohomish, Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, and Island counties to run for office. As she puts it, “if you want to change things, you have to be at the table.”
Maria Fernandez
ELLA Adelante
For Executive Director Maria Fernandez, “building power in our community is the only way to change our community.” She shows us around the lower Yakima Valley as she shares what fuels her motivation for transformative change and describes what it will take to move the needle of change in her community. ELLA Adelante is a 501(c)(4) organization seeking to put more Latina leaders in decision-making roles in Central Washinton.
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ALL STORIES
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.