Corey sits down with Olmypia City Counselman Clark Gilman to talk about his life and journey!

Meg is sitting down with Khurshida Begum from the ASHHO Cultural Center in Tumwater!

Corey sits down with Jay Banks Executive Director of Pizza Klatch! Jay is an AfroLatinx Nonbinary Queer Educator. They started TQMason a trans support and education group during their time at George Mason University and was influential in the University adopting their gender-neutral housing policy. They also have their Masters in Early Childhood Education and worked to implement a Black Lives Matter curriculum in their classroom while focusing on being trans and queer affirming. After teaching in Elementary schools in Southeast DC Jay decided to use their life experiences and formal education to help support LGBTQ+ Youth with Pizza Klatch.

This is a special Episode of Lean In Olympia!  We have residents from Unity Commons, the new 65 unit permanent supportive supportive housing apartments in Olympia.  In this episode we get to hear the stories from Alexiz, T & Doug about their time spent un-housed to how life is now in Unity Commons.   

Dontae Payne was elected to Olympia City Council Position #6 in November 2021. He is the first Black (African) American man to serve on the Olympia City Council.  Payne and his family moved to Olympia when he was assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord during his service in the U.S. Army. He completed two combat tours in Afghanistan in his first four years of enlistment. He earned a Master of Public Administration degree and Bachelor of Arts degree from The Evergreen State College following his military service. Payne currently serves as a district congressional staffer for the U.S. House of Representatives where his work involves external relations and stakeholder management.

We have the one only Marvin Bennett, a former shelter guest! Uncle Marvin, as we like to call him, was actually one of the first guests at the Interfaith Works shelter and was instrumental in the creation of the 'Up In Smoke Barbecue Party' in Olympia.  Marvin has lived a full life and has a story worth the listen!