Inatai Foundation held its first Constellations Conference of its 700 grantees from across the state in Spokane. With experience attending many conferences, I was prepared to put on my conference mask, find a seat in the conference ballroom, and prepare to take in less than thirty percent of the offered conference information.
My poor expectations were pleasantly jarred when I entered the Davenport Hotel Grand. The foyer had a feeling and sound of welcome, representing the composition of our highly racial, cultural, gender and socioeconomically diverse state. The warm faces of folks within my personal circles caught my eye, while folks unknown to me held my face in their eyes and genuine curiosity in their conversation.
Emily and I made our way to the very grand and warmly lit conference room, finding open seating on the very edge of the room. Attempting to politely join a table already gathered without interrupting what sounded like the warm murmur of greetings and connections, Emily and I sat on either side of the Co-founders of Fyre (Foundation for Youth Resiliency & Engagement) in Omak, WA.
I sat and offered my standard professional-American cultural smile to Mady Sandoval who answered “How are you?” in a way that danced over our family histories, validated each other’s spirituality and practice to her inspiring me. Mady literally used the last five or six years of her life to make space for the youth in her community and their voices. She along with her team found a space for the young people in their community to go. They listened to the voices of the youth and created the programming they asked for; education, physical and mental health, basic needs and resiliency. They’re working on housing next and she supported that level of accomplishment with a desire to do something and a resilient spirit. My mask promptly fell to my purse.
In between the sessions, I learned about Ala Garifuna Women, of West African, Arawak, and Carib ancestry. The Garifuna are getting sick because the food available at stores doesn’t meet the nutritional standards their bodies are used to, and it’s causing illness in their community. So, they are sourcing nutritional foods that include coconut as a part of their traditional staple, as well as continuing and teaching their cultural practices.
The workshops and sessions were either led to invite every perspective in the conversation or they were set up with that intention. Many conversations had my mind pulling information from every corner of my lived experiences. Being raised low-income was necessary for offering solutions to creating resources within a community. I understood why youth from rural communities also need resources directed toward them instead of letting them be creative with misdirected minds. As a person of deep faith, I heard the sighs, knowing help has to come and the call and response of church jargon. The conference and attendees made no other space available for me to be, but me. I highlighted the reflection of the very people who saw those experiences in me.
Emily and I learned more about the challenges Tribal communities face advocating for their community needs as either federally recognized tribes that can negotiate with the current administration or non-federally recognized tribes who have community advocacy as their tool.
On the last day of the Gathering, once again I slid into the very grand ballroom with amazingly warm lighting and stood beside the door. I noticed I’d stood next to someone and began to smile, this time I openly offered a comfortably warm, wholly faith-filled Black female smile and realized it was Mady Sandoval. Seeing her and knowing the sacrifices she made for her community. And her offering of herself to me, a stranger, giving me space to wholly show up, I wondered how to honor the space she made for me.
Maybe the real measure of community is simple: It must become the space where people do not have to fragment themselves in order to provide solutions, offer wisdom or belong. Spaces where culture is not decoration, or lived experience is not mined for inspiration, but honored as expertise. Community has to be a place where people can arrive whole instead of edited. It has long been believed that diversity brings perspectives that accelerate problem solving and boosts profits. Maybe the challenge now is not simply to remember gatherings like this fondly, but to build more rooms like them — inside our organizations, our neighborhoods and houses, and our advocacy work.