Working with the Northwest Health Foundation to document their stewardship of the groundbreaking Justice Reinvestment Equity Program (JREP) has been the opportunity of a lifetime.
Human Centric Media is built on the belief that storytelling is a powerful tool for dismantling harmful power structures like white supremacy and misogyny, so this collaboration meant a great deal.
Unfortunately, we live in an age of vengeful austerity. The federal government is exerting maximum pressure to stifle programs like this, starve them of funding and threaten lawmakers and everyday citizens to abandon these principles.
While we certainly will not, this atmosphere pushed the Oregon legislature to suspend the $10mil in funding that was fueling JREP’s grants. A network of community-rooted and care-giving organizations now have to scramble to answer questions like: what do we do next? What will happen to our staff? How do we protect all the work we’ve already done?
What was tangibly clear at this event, the last convening (for now) of JREP’s grantees and partner organizations, is that they’ve all been here before. This isn’t the first time vindictive white supremacy has reared its ugly head, or the first time that local lawmakers have cut funding to protect their budgets.
The room was full of palpable wisdom – people who have been fighting this fight for years and decades. Young people who are following in those footsteps.
Collaborating with the Northwest Health Foundation is always special, and I was glad that for this event, they commissioned not just candid photos of the gathering but headshots for all of their grantees.
It allowed Human Centric Media to get to know these community workers on an individual level. We left feeling inspired and resolute.
This community is so incredibly strong. Full of ingenuity. We will emerge from this period even stronger. Our tactics will be refined. Our bonds will grow in number.
The future is so bright.
