Orwell: Politician with an MSW

Last week, I had a Zoom meeting with Washington State Representative Tina Orwall to update her on LCSNW’s affiliation with Compass. Chief Development Officer Elliot Stockstad was also on the call, along with Compass Director of Advancement Liz Jarrard and COO Christopher Ross.

Rep. Orwall has her MSW and more than 20 years of working in the public mental health system. As a legislator for the last 10+ years, her areas of focus have been housing affordability, sexual assault victims and trafficked youth, and suicide prevention. In other words, she cares about the very work we are doing in the community.

We talked about the need to protect and expand behavioral health, which saw cuts during the Great Recession and hasn’t fully recovered, as well as the connection between supportive housing services and improved health outcomes. The conversation finished with an invitation to keep the lines of communication open.

And this week we spoke with North Puget Sound donors along with NPS District Director Jay Kang, who were equally excited about our affiliation with Compass. 

Three key takeaways from these conversations are:

1. We have champions! When we reach out to leaders, they’re excited about our work in housing, health, and human services.

2. A combination of public and private funding is available, and we’ll need both to respond to needs and opportunities.

3. There is support for our affiliation as a way to grow LCSNW and Compass and reach more people and communities in the future.

There’s reason to be excited--we’re building a bigger and better future!

David

Health, Justice and Hope