NPARC is committed to ending racism. We act as a forum to share information, resources and best practices, and encourage other non-profits to work together to eliminate institutional racism and understand its connections to all other oppression.
NPARC History
2004 A group of representatives from Solid Ground, People's Institute NW and the City of Seattle met to discuss how non-profit human service organizations could work together to undo institutional racism. From that first meeting, 27 agencies were contacted to participate in an exploratory meeting. Ideas that emerged that year continue on through the mission today. NPARC discussed supporting each other in organizational anti-racism work by: helping agencies do follow up work after the training is completed, working on how to diversify our organizations, boards and staff and helping our organizations learn to take real leadership from people of color.
2005 NPARC finalized its member expectations, conducted a survey of NPARC members to look at what support they needed (as individuals and agencies) and what goals they wanted NPARC to adopt. NPARC also held a strategy session with Dr. Kimberly Richards and Suzanne Plesik from the People’s Institute.
2006 NPARC developed its first work plan and prioritized items in this plan. NPARC also successfully petitioned the Seattle Human Services Coalition to become a member coalition,giving us a seat on the SHSC Steering Committee. NPARC recommended that SHSC establish an Anti-Racism Award as part of its annual award-giving event.
2007 NPARC developed a one page position paper and series of questions for a Candidates Forum held prior to the November elections. NPARC brought Ron Chisom from the Peoples Institute to Seattle for the SHSC annual awards ceremony and successfully advocated for naming this award the “Ron Chisom Anti-Racism Award".
2008 NPARC prepared a series of budget recommendations regarding anti-racism and cultural competency services. These recommendations were included in the SHSC’s recommendations for City of Seattle, along with meeting individual city council members to review these and other SHSC budget recommendations.
2012 NPARC continues its work in the form of monthly community meetings that gather people from all over the city to support each other in making systemic change.
2017 NPARC institutes quarterly members-only caucusing meetings that extend the networking and support already inherent in the monthly community meetings. These caucus spaces allow individuals from various organizations to come together and work through the racial dynamics manifesting in their institutions. They also allow folks who do not have access to caucusing at their workplace to experience the growth opportunity that such discussions provide. In addition, NPARC's Leadership Team changes its name to Coalition Builders in order to express a non-hierarchical structure and acknowledge that coalitions are built among peers.
Current Coalition Builders
Kyana Wheeler: Kyana is a Black woman with extensive experience in shifting organizational culture through institutional anti-racism efforts and has actively engaged in moving the City of Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative forward over the last 10 years. She is an accomplished race relations trainer and has a deep knowledge of curriculum development, facilitation and racial caucusing. With an M.Ed in Educational Leadership and an MPA in Policy Development, Kyana is skilled in implementing systemic change within a large, complex government or non-profit structure and embedding institutional practices that create space for anti-racist efforts. Kyana is a proven consensus builder and is adept in developing partnership between leadership and staff. She has coached, trained and motivated staff to build skill and create capacity in increasing effectiveness in challenging racial inequity.
Sarena Young: Sarena is a critical thinker and anti-racist organizer dedicated to manifesting a more equitable and compassionate world. She moved to Seattle in July 2016 after studying International Development and Spanish and Portuguese at UCLA and then living and teaching in South America for 18 months. With a diverse background in fundraising, community engagement, and international education, Sarena is an active member of Seattle’s nonprofit community and passionate about moving our institutions towards racial justice. She’s a big picture thinker with an affinity for detail; a yogi, a reader, a traveller, a linguist, a chef; a lover of nature and a peanut butter enthusiast.
Taylor Briggs: Taylor Briggs (he/him) received his undergraduate degree in Multicultural and Gender Studies from California State University, Chico. After earning his BA, Taylor went on to earn an M.Ed. in Student Development Administration at Seattle University. Now, Taylor serves as the Scholarship Program Manager for the GSBA Scholarship Fund which supports LGBTQ+ students pursuing post-secondary degrees. As a queer, transgender man, Taylor has firsthand experience in navigating inequitable systems that lack resources for queer and trans students. To uplift those who came after him, Taylor now aims to utilize his positional privilege to challenge traditional hierarchical power dynamics and center those most at the margins. In his spare time Taylor enjoys catching up on Netflix, cooking, and the reveling in the healing power of spending time with chosen family.
josh martinez: josh martinez is an anti-racist cis gay man with Mexican and Sri Lankan ancestry. He loves trying to understand systems and the systems that build those systems. He spends his time finding ways to shift power dynamics and dismantle capitalism. He has been an NPARC coalition builder since April 2019. Most days, he works as the director of agency programs and network development for Food Lifeline. He helps his department change how their organization shows up in community and with their partners. He is also a member of Food Lifeline’s equity team, making meaningful and lasting improvements to company culture. josh loves puns and wordplay, and he enjoys cooking, playing video games, swimming, and reading. josh lives in Seattle with his husband and two cats. He sometimes writes under the broad heading of “radical innovations” at his website, bethefuture.space.
Nichole Coates
Mei-Li Thomas
Ander Lyon: Ander is a poet, community organizer, and lover of the outdoors. Ander is committed to social and racial justice and works to engage folks through arts, education, and community building. Ander began formally working toward a vision of collective empowerment as a 2013 Washington Bus Fellow. Since then, they have continued their work as a Member Organizer with the Coalition of Anti Racist Whites, and as a volunteer with FEEST Seattle, Gender Justice League, Gay City Arts, and the Fremont Abbey. Ander graduated from the University of Washington in 2015 and now works as a Legal Assistant on Civil Rights cases with Teller & Associates, PLLC. Ander is PUMPED to continue working toward racial justice with NPARC and can’t wait to meet you at the next community meeting!
Salma Siddick: Salma moved to the U.S. from Zimbabwe in 2001. She believes in finding different ways to talk about social injustices through stories and testimonials. Her work stems from the belief that every person is powerful and with a supportive community, anything can be achieved. She currently works at YWCA, emphasizing racial and gender disparities that still plague our society. In her spare time, Salma enjoys having dance parties with her nephews, doing CrossFit, hiking, and always answering the question, “Where are you from?”
Past Leadership
Reagen Price: Reagen is an anti-racism strategist, facilitator, and advocate distinctly focused on organizing within institutions. She’s built a career translating the theory of racial justice into practice with community organizers, elected officials, campaign managers, educators, funders, and government employees at a national political training institute, national education equity network, and local government agency. Reagen served as the Anti-Racism Initiative Manager at Solid Ground. Reagen currently serves as the Race & Social Justice Initiative Program Manager for Seattle City Light and as one of seven collaborative organizers of the Non-Profit Anti-Racism Coalition.
Judy Blair: Judy is a trained facilitator who specializes in working with white folks on issues around race. Currently self-employed, she has experience in non-profits as a volunteer, direct service provider, administrative employee, board member, and consultant.
John Stean: John was born and raised in Long Island, New York, where he graduated from Saint John’s University in Queens before taking his talents to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. John received his Master’s of Divinity degree and met his life partner at Duke Divinity School. After working as the Program Director for the Methodist Campus Ministry at Duke, John transitioned to an organizing and communications role with the North Carolina NAACP, helping to build their moral fusion coalition among African American, rural white, Latinx immigrant and LGBTQ persons. John hoped to bring his passion for economic justice and racial equity into the role of Pastor, which brought him across country to Seattle. John is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, a mentor, a saxophone player, an amateur photographer, a gamer, a husband, a super funky dancer and an aspiring community leader who tries to bring a spirit of empowerment, liberation and joy to everything that he does.
Danielle Winslow, 2014-2017: Danielle Winslow has been working at Catholic Community Services (CCS) since graduating from Seattle University in 2012. She started as the Operations Manager for the King County region in and addition to providing oversight to the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. In May she deployed as a Disaster Case Manager in response to the 530 Slide in Oso, WA and most recently became the Director of University District Youth Center (UDYC), working with homeless and at risk youth. Grounded in a the CCS mission to break down barriers contributing to institutionalized racism and the belief that everyone is welcome, Danielle has led the CCS King County Social Justice Film series and continues to facilitate employee discussions around race and activism as a result of police brutality. Danielle participated in Diversity Circles, a yearlong initiative created by CCS to promote social change while participating in sessions hosted by councilman, Greg Taylor, and NPARC to gleam an non-CCS perspective. In her personal time, Danielle continues to learn about race, bias and dissonance through an informal forum organized by neighbors and community members called “Race in America”. Danielle continues to expand her understanding of institutional and systematic racism with NPARC as an active member and leader.
Acquanda Y. Stanford, 2014-2016: Acquanda is a Black feminist anthropologist, doula, Certified Lactation Educator, blogger, activist, women's right advocate, and community organizer. She is also a PhD Student of sociocultural anthropology at the University of Washington, whose work focuses on the sociopolitical aspects of breastfeeding among people of African descent in the U.S. Over the past 20 years, Acquanda has done much formal work to challenge racism, social domination and to end poverty. She joined the NPARC leadership team to work with others who are committed to ending the many facets of racism, from interpersonal to systemic. She has lived in Seattle since 2005. Connect with her on LinkedIn
Robin Nussbaum, Ph.D., 2013 - 2016: Robin Nussbaum is a passionate and and tireless advocate for all things social justice and is able to see the many intersections of institutional racism. She currently serves as the Diversity Specialist for the Washington State Bar Association. Previously, she has served as the Assistant Director to UC San Diego's LGBT Resource Center, the Coordinator at SU New York Oneonta's Gender and Sexuality Resource Center, a visiting Assistant Professor at Vassar College, and the Program Coordinator for Queers for Justice Program at the American Friends Service Committee in Honolulu, Hawaii. She earned her Bachelors degree in Psychology from Vassar College and her Doctorate in Philosophy and Social Psychology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. www.linkedin.com/in/robinnussbaum http://www.wsba.org/About-WSBA/Diversity
Cheryl Cobbs Murphy, 2014-2016: Cheryl Cobbs Murphy has been involved in anti-poverty, anti-oppression work for over thirty years including work at United Way of King County, the City of Seattle and Solid Ground. She built Solid Ground into a $30 million organization with over 30 programs and 400 staff committed to ending poverty and racism while emphasizing the need to be accountable to the people being served at all levels of the organization. As Executive Director, Cheryl brought anti-racism work to Solid Ground. Through this effort, Solid Ground increased the number of staff of color working there from 15% to 45%, diversified the board of directors and established a community advisory board whose members were all low income individuals. As a result of this work, Solid Ground was awarded the first ever Ron Chishom Anti-Racism Award by the Seattle Human Services Coalition. Cheryl helped organize numerous community forums at Solid Ground which were designed to educate the public about racial equity issues including disparities in health care, the school to prison pipeline and housing discrimination. She also oversaw efforts at Solid Ground to support public policy changes at the State level in support of people of color (voting rights for persons convicted of crimes, food stamps for undocumented individuals, etc.) Cheryl was one of the founders of NPARC and served for several years as its President. She also served for two years as a member of the City of Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Community Round Table. Since leaving Solid Ground Cheryl has served on the board of the Minority Executive Director’s Coalition, the Steering Committee of the Non-profit Anti-racism Coalition and as a volunteer with the People’s Institute Northwest and the Human Dignity Support Project. She has also participated in numerous community meetings addressing the issue of racial equity.
Ester 'Dove' John, 2014-2016: I was an early involved in a great experiment in anti-racism: the integration of the Public Schools in Greenburgh, NY. By the time we were in high school, the entire school staged a walk-out to march on our police department in protest of brutality against African American teens. In college (Harvard) I was interested in Boston School desegregation, which was not going well. After college I worked on an educational equity project where teachers, students and parents were trained to recognize and track teachers’ high and low expectations behaviors in the classroom. We trained teachers to exhibit high expectations of all students regardless of race, gender or social class. Since then, I have traveled the world on citizen diplomatic missions and presented research at the International Network in Indigenous Health Knowledge and Development (INIHKD) Conference in Rotorua, N.Z. on the role of the Pacific Northwest Tribes’ Canoe Journeys in community healing processes. I serve on the West Executive Committee of the American Friends Service Committee. In the 1990s I developed a research project on the social psychological phenomena of inclusion and exclusion. I am proud to serve on the NPARC leadership team and to promote the work of this vital organization.
Regent Brown, 2015-2016: Regent seeks to be a partner in change; Regent has built a career in training and leadership development with over 15 years experience in Human Resources, Diversity & Inclusion training, Community Outreach, Workplace Violence policies and Employee Development. Through practicing Peacemaking Circles and utilizing storytelling, Regent, has found her passion of meeting both individuals and organizations “where they are at” in an effort to help manage the changes they seek. Regent created Fostering Real Opportunities to assist those striving for a thriving community; by providing consulting, coaching and technical assistance for groups, communities and community partners looking to deepen their relationships internally and with community to promote inclusive and sustainable practices. To deepen her impact on change, Regent is a student and practitioner of Peacemaking Circles teachings promoting self healing and accountability, collaborative practices and collective leadership. Her commitment for justice and community voice serve as a motivation to provide her skills and talents to support those who wish to collaborate with others to develop the solutions needed to create inclusive and thriving communities. Regent currently brings these skills to her roles with the Peacemaking Planning Team for the Center of Ethical Leadership, Seattle Parks & Recreation Race & Social Justice Initiative Change Team, Steering Committee member with Seattle Human Services Coalition and community partner in the Agenda for a Justice & Thriving Community.
Julia Ismael, 2012 - 2014: Head Architect of Aspirations, Al-Noor Academy of Arts and Sciences. julia.a.ismael@gmail.com
Keiko Ozeki, Ed.D., 2013 - August 2014: Post-Doctoral Fellow for Circles Initiative, Center for Ethical Leadership. kozeki@ethicalleadership.org
Angola Dixon, Ph.D.: Founder, The Idea Pulse. healingpulseis@gmail.com www.theideapulse.com www.linkedin.com/pub/angola-dixon-phd/49/639/270
Toi-Sing Woo: Principal, New Directions Consulting. www.newdirectionsconsulting.org toi@newdirectionsconsulting.org
Kimberly Mustafa: Board Member, Real Change. Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kimberly-mustafa/39/573/9a
Jean Kasota: Associated Recreation Council. Jean.Kasota@seattle.gov
Waing Waing Hla: Center for Ethical Leadership. waing@ethicalleadership.org