Laura Pierce, the Executive Director of Washington Nonprofits Sat down with us to discuss the work of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is playing out across the state's nonprofit. Laura joined the agency in 2017 and has been an active professional in the nonprofit community in Washington since 1989. The Washington State Nonprofit Conference is happening next week and for the second year, it is virtual! Join us for an excellent conversation!

Laura became Washington Nonprofits’ Executive Director in May 2017 after serving as the organization’s Interim Executive Director and having been a member and partner with Washington Nonprofits for many years. She has been the owner and principal consultant of Laura Pierce Consulting. Laura has worked in and with nonprofit organizations since 1989, including fund development, community organizing, and executive management positions. Since 1998, she has consulted with a wide range of nonprofit organizations, assisting with strategic planning, board development, organizational assessment and capacity building.

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Download a full transcript here. 

Our guests today are Geneva Porter and Avi Bowie.  Geneva joined Morten Group in 2019 as a project director. She has extensive experience working across diverse sectors, including government, higher education for-profit, nonprofit, public health, and health care, as well as community-based organizations. As one of Morten Group project directors, Geneva focuses on internal and external operations in addition to maintaining specific client contact related to diversity, racial equity and inclusion assessments and trainings, executive searches, and research as schedules allow. She also provides specific support for special events. Avi is a proud Chicago native with almost 20 years of experience in social justice services. Avi's professional expertise lies in nonprofit management, program development and evaluation, youth trauma, racial justice, and curriculum development. As Morten Group's Training and Curriculum Director, Avi generates customized training curricula for the Equity and Inclusion Institute.  Join us to learn about their READI model.

Join us for a heartfelt conversation about how one woman confronts racism and white privilege. Elaine has been a hero of mine for her commitment to social justice and personal responsibility. For a full transcript of this podcast please click here.

Elaine has been most active in public banking discussion in New Mexico since the fall of 2012 when the agency she volunteers with, Banking on New Mexico focused on ways to keep public dollars working for us at home, so our communities and all our residents can thrive. Subsequent research in our state and around the nation has convinced her that, with persistence in holding to our economic justice vision propelled with solid research and education about the public banking alternative, we can create a vibrant, economically healthy New Mexico.

Elaine recently served on the City of Santa Fe Public Bank Task Force.

"I grew up in a small town in western Tennessee when small business was still the center of a community’s economy. My father, a dairy farmer, taught me a powerful lesson when he set the family’s rules to buy only from dairy customers and from businesses providing local jobs. When Walmart arrived in Mayfield, he was quick to say, “this will be the death of downtown.” After my daughters were raised and I’d retired from organizational consulting work, my deep passion for the fair labor movement and reviving local economies took center stage. I am proud to have helped form the Santa Fe PFLAG Chapter (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and the groundbreaking Santa Fe Business Alliance, established to promote the importance of supporting locally-owned businesses and keeping more of our money circulating in our local communities. I advocated for the Living Wage Network and was a founding member of WeArePeopleHere! in 2011."

Tricia Lazzar, Principal at Strategy and Method, joins us today for a great discussion about how we can learn from traditional and native ways of learning and knowing. Based on a research article by Ray Barnhardt and Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley Indigenous Knowledge Systems/Alaska Native Ways of Knowing. For more info: arthur.padilla@stratag.works