Inside Washington County with Rob Solomon

This week, We rebroadcast part one of our December 2020 expert panel discussing systemic racism. When groups engage in systemic racism, those targeted are most often kept from having power. We look at how power is denied and what all of us can do to promote equity. Our special guest host is community activist Héctor Hinojosa. Our panelists are: • Wajdi Said, PhD, Co-Founder and President of the Muslim Education Center. • Luhui Whitebear, PhD, Assistant Director of the Native American Longhouse Eena Haws, Oregon State University. • J.W. Matt Hennessee, PhD, CEO at Agape Resource Group and senior pastor and CEO and Vancouver First Baptist church in Portland. Part 2-next week.

The country, our county and our cities within Washington  County have a lack of affordable housing. Metro has passed a bond, agencies like Bienestar and Here Together are working hard to provide assistance to those in need. This week we take a look at a group that has been working on this issue for decades-in their own way. We are going to discuss housing with Habitat for Humanity. Our guest is Steve Messinetti, executive director, Habitat for Humanity-Portland region.

This week we consider women in politics. Historically, there have been far fewer women running for office than men in our state and Country. For the past 20 years the Democratic Party has been trying to change that with the “Emerge” program. Since 2002, Emerge has offered a premier, in-depth training program that provides aspiring women leaders with cutting-edge tools and training to run and win elected office. Emerge has trained over 4,000 Democratic women to run and 690 serve in elected office today. Our guest is Oregon’s emerge Executive Director Annie Ellison. Annie joins us with two special guests.

This week, we immerse ourselves in the issue of water in our County. We all know how important water is to our lives, to our very survival. Despite a tendency to just expect and rely on us having all our water needs satisfied here in the Pacific Northwest, that reliance appears to be in some jeopardy. Climate change and other issues challenge our water comfort level. Today, we want to understand how we get our water in Washington County, how we use and pay for it, and what to expect in the short and long term future. And. We’ll learn about Talking Water!-more on that from our guests a little later. Our guests today are from the Tualatin Valley Water District. We have Tom Hickmann, who serves as Chief Executive Officer. He has been with the Tualatin Valley Water District since August 1, 2019 and brings a Municipal Water Background with him. Prior to that he was with the City of Bend  for 14 years . And also with us is Joel Cary, Water Resources Division Manager. Joel is currently serving as the General Manager of the Willamette River Water Coalition. Joel served as the Chair of the Oregon Water Utility Council in 2020-21

Our guest on this week’s encore program is Washington County’s newest County Commissioner-Nafisa Fai. Commissioner Fai was elected last November. Nafisa has made history as the first Black and first Muslim person to be elected to the Washington County Commission. As a twenty-two year resident of Oregon, Nafisa has spent the majority of her career working in public health. She also owns a small business based in Beaverton. Through her business, she helps local nonprofit and public and private sector clients grow and expand for their future. We get to meet the commissioner and discuss battling COVID, policing issues, racism and more.

School is back in session! Amid constantly changing pandemic dynamics we’re going to look at Beaverton School Districts plans for this school year. Our Guests today are Beaverton School Board Chair Tom Colett, newly elected  School Board Member Karen Perez and curriculum administrator Brian Seca. Today we will look at just what has been happening in our Washington County schools, what’s happening now and what we might expect as our future unfolds with substantial confusion

This week’s show looks at Police Reform. There have historically and more recently been calls to change various police regulations and procedures calling for equity.. Some Advocates are calling for some police funding to be diverted to social programs. The voices have been loud and have been vocal for years, for decades. We want to consider just what do the police want.Are they resistant to change wanting little or no reforms? Do their needs and wishes look that much different from what so many advocates for change have been seeking? Do the police unions agree with their managers? To help us figure all this out we have attorney Mark Makler. Mr. Makler represents several police unions in our county and has over 25 years experience working with these groups.

We are going to focus today on the homeless youth that struggle in our County. And our guests today are from the HomePlate agency. We welcome Jacen Greene a board member and  Co-founder and Assistant Director, Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative from Portland State University and Bridgett Calfee, HomePlate’s executive Director. She has been with agency for over 15 years and in fact is it’s founding director. .  Bridget holds a Masters of Social Work from Portland State University.   We explore issues of homelessness in our state and county with an emphasis on youth, and our guests will share some very exciting news for the agency and the clients they serve.

This week, we offer part two of our discussion on racism in Washington County, with community activist Hector Hinojosa and an expert panel. In part two, we focus on the pandemic uncovering racist inequities, issues of social justice, activism, and consider what lies ahead. Panel: Luhui Whitebear, PhD, Assistant Director  – of the Native American Longhouse Eena Haws at Oregon State University, in Corvallis, Oregon & Wajdi Said, PhD, Co-Founder and President of the Muslim Education Center & Dr. Rosa Colquitt is Vice Chair Oregon’s Democratic Party and Chair of the Party statewide Black Caucus. She has a PhD in the field of HealthCare Research Services, and  is a well known community activist. Pictured: Hector Hinojosa, Wajid Said, Luhui Whitebear, Rosa Colquitt

This week, we take a second look at racism (See December 2020) along with community activist Hector Hinojosa and an expert panel. In this two part program we discuss what progress has been made in the battle for equity over the past dynamic year, and consider what lies ahead. Panel: Luhui Whitebear, PhD, Assistant Director  - of the Native American Longhouse Eena Haws at Oregon State University, in Corvallis, Oregon & Wajdi Said, PhD, Co-Founder and President of the Muslim Education Center & Dr. Rosa Colquitt is Vice Chair Oregon's Democratic Party and Chair of the Party statewide Black Caucus. She has a PhD in the field of HealthCare Research Services, and  is a well known community activist. Pictured: Hector Hinojosa, Wajid Said, Luhui Whitebear, Rosa Colquitt