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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026_08_20 CHunt_Civic Power Lab_InviteFrom:Well Organized Subject:An Invitation to Connect: People’s Civic Power Lab Date:Thursday, August 20, 2026 3:27:32 PM Attachments:image.png ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. To Our Elected Officials, Commissioners, Planning Commissioners, Staff, and Community Leaders, At Well Organized Jefferson County, we believe that healthy communities are built through healthy relationships. Lasting solutions emerge when community members, public servants, and local leaders have meaningful opportunities to learn from one another, build trust, and work together toward shared goals. That belief is why we're launching People's Civic Power Lab. People's Civic Power Lab is a community organizing and civic action hub dedicated to strengthening civic participation and community leadership throughout Jefferson County. Our goal is simple: to help more people understand how local government works, develop the skills to organize with their neighbors, navigate conflict constructively, and participate thoughtfully in shaping the future of our community. Our work is grounded in the principles of participatory governance. Our work places particular emphasis on residents who have historically been excluded from local decision-making, including BIPOC and Queer/Trans community members. We believe that the people most affected by decisions should have meaningful opportunities to help shape them. We also believe that community members are more likely to become thoughtful, collaborative civic partners when they understand public processes, build strong relationships, and feel welcomed into civic life. This work is informed by what we learned through Engage JC, our community engagement initiative supported through a Washington State Department of Commerce grant to increase public participation in Jefferson County's Comprehensive Plan update. Throughout that work, we listened to residents across the county and partnered with local governments to better understand what helps people engage and what keeps them from participating. Again and again, we found that the barriers were not simply a lack of information. Many people felt disconnected from public processes, uncertain that their voices mattered, or unsure how to engage in ways that felt meaningful. We also saw that authentic engagement requires more than public meetings or surveys. It requires trusted relationships, ongoing dialogue, and opportunities for people to build the confidence and skills needed to participate in civic life. People's Civic Power Lab is our long-term response to those lessons. Rather than viewing civic engagement as a series of individual public comment periods, we see it as an ongoing process of relationship building, leadership development, community organizing, and collaborative problem solving. We want to help cultivate a stronger civic culture where more people feel connected to one another, understand how decisions are made, and have the tools to participate constructively in shaping those decisions. People’s Civic Power Lab will bring this approach to life through accessible civic- learning workshops, a paid leadership pathway, real-time policy information, and a network of community members who connect their neighbors with opportunities to organize, participate, and shape decisions. Through these programs, residents will be supported in identifying community concerns, building relationships, developing campaigns, and engaging local institutions in informed, strategic, and solutions- oriented ways. Whether the work centers on housing, racial equity, environmental justice, transportation, public health, economic opportunity, or another community priority, we aim to help residents build the knowledge, relationships, and collective power to shape the decisions that affect their lives. We recognize that disagreement is an inevitable and healthy part of democracy. Our hope is not to create more conflict, but to help communities navigate conflict with greater trust, respect, and collaboration. We believe strong relationships, even amid disagreement, create stronger public decisions and more resilient communities. As an organization, we intend to be a constructive and independent civic partner by supporting residents to organize and advocate while building durable channels for dialogue, accountability, and collaboration with the public institutions that serve them. In that role, We hope to strengthen communication, broaden participation, and help ensure that a wider diversity of voices can contribute to public decision- making. We know that public servants and community members ultimately share many of the same aspirations: a Jefferson County that is resilient, inclusive, equitable, healthy, and where everyone has the opportunity to belong and thrive. People's Civic Power Lab is our contribution to helping build the relationships and civic capacity necessary to achieve those shared goals. We also recognize that government cannot, and should not, carry the responsibility of building community alone. Healthy communities require residents who are informed, connected, and equipped to participate in civic life. Our role is to help cultivate that capacity while strengthening the relationships between community members and the institutions that serve them. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with elected officials, commissioners, planning commissioners, staff, advisory boards, and community partners to share more about People's Civic Power Lab and explore ways we can work together. We see this as an invitation to strengthen relationships, increase meaningful public participation, and build the kind of collaborative civic culture that benefits our entire community. We believe democracy is strongest when people know one another, trust one another, and have the skills to solve problems together. We hope People's Civic Power Lab can become a trusted partner in cultivating those relationships and strengthening civic participation throughout Jefferson County. If you'd like to learn more or explore opportunities to collaborate, we'd love to connect. We would welcome an initial conversation and, where useful, an ongoing cadence of check-ins with public bodies, staff, and community partners. These relationships could support timely information-sharing, community feedback loops, co-hosted learning opportunities, and earlier engagement around decisions that will affect residents. Together, we can continue building the resilient, inclusive, healthy, and thriving Jefferson County that we all want to see. In partnership, Well Organized Jefferson County Cendre Hunt Co-DirectorWell Organized