Civic Health Spotlight on Pacific County Voices Uniting
Throughout this calendar year, NWHF will be highlighting our Civic Health Cohort, also known as the C4 Power Program.
“We must shift our thinking away from short-term gain toward long-term investment and sustainability, and always have the next generations in mind with every decision we make.” - Deb Haaland
Have you visited Pacific County? While many of us know Pacific County as the home to Long Beach and the world’s largest oyster, it is also home to Ilwaco, Raymond, South Bend, approximately 21,000 residents and the Chinook Nation. This beautiful region produces delicious wild mushrooms and cranberries and advocates for change.
Meet Pacific County Voices Uniting (PCVU), which was formed in 2019 in response to the lack of representation in civic leadership. Their goal is to shift, balance and develop a healthy civic engagement culture by working to build reflective representation and by creating collaborative BIPOC movements that increase awareness through education and empowerment of BIPOC voices.
Pacific County has a large number of BIPOC individuals and families; however, those individuals and families are disproportionately underrepresented in political leadership. This lack of representation persists across the county, despite the deep roots of BIPOC communities. As a direct result, BIPOC community has become disinterested and disengaged from local politics. PCVU works to address this by promoting civic engagement, working on projects across communities and supporting BIPOC leadership. Their end goal? Changing systems and policies through political power.
Let’s meet the two cohort participants:
Mechele Johnson is a Co-Founder/Leadership Circle Member of PCVU and has worked across Indian country for the majority of her professional career, and she’s a NWHF Board Member. Currently, she also serves on her tribe's health board and fish and wildlife board and on the Pulling Together For Wellness team, an effort convened by the American Indian Health Commission.
Mechele is a graduate of Yakima Valley Community College and has worked as a drug and alcohol counselor with both adults and children for over 12 years, with a specific focus on the impacts of methamphetamine addiction within rural tribal communities. She has also worked for Indian Child Welfare for six plus years creating culturally responsive foster care licensing and placements for Native children. Mechele is an enrolled member of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe and an active member of the Chinook Indian Nation community, where she has advocated for years for the recognition of the tribe. She is also Native Hawaiian and has deep connections to all of her Indigenous heritage. She is the proud mother of five children. Her most important identity is as a mother and an Indigenous woman compelled to decolonize our relationships, our foods and our health.
Bethany Barnard, Co-Founder/Leadership Circle Member, is a citizen of the Chinook Indian Nation and a descendant of Chief Huckswelt, a signer of the 1851 Tansy Point Treaty. She is passionate about access to Traditional Foods and creating systems of food security within her communities. Bethany is excited to be a part of this cohort and learn how to create effective movements while breaking down systems of oppression!
As the cohort kicks off, PCVU is especially excited to learn about:
Building membership
Increasing resources
Creating effective movements in rural areas
They also want to work to understand how to break down forms of oppression.
NWHF is so excited to have them as part of this cohort as they build their power and increase their impact across Pacific County!