One thousand, one hundred and twenty. That’s the number of kids who entered Whatcom County schools this year without stable housing. Sit with that for a minute.
For years, the social services field has been understanding how childhood trauma impacts society. Homelessness is considered an “adverse childhood experience,” leading to higher risks of addiction, assault, trafficking and lower chances of graduating high school. Statistically, these children are more likely to end up in hospitals, jails or emergency shelters, often cycling between all three.
As I write this, my newborn breathes softly in the room beside me. This work is poignant and personal. Every child in Whatcom County deserves a healthy start and a safe home. Yet, 1,120 children entered this school year without that basic privilege. This number very surely undercounts the true scale of housing instability in our community.
What happens in a community when we don’t take care of our children first? For so many years, we have been working to address the same crises; the homeless population is growing; more people need treatment for complex substance-use disorders and behavioral health issues than we could ever provide services for; more youth are experiencing severe anxiety and depression at alarming rates; and the basic building blocks of housing, child care, and early supports for new parents continue to be both under-invested in, and also in dire need. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for these huge issues, but we do know that focusing on youth will lead to improved outcomes for future generations.
On June 25 and 26, the All-Hands Whatcom Opioid Summit, coordinated by the Chuckanut Health Foundation and community partners, will focus on youth. Join us to build a future where bold investments in children now reduce the need for bigger jails in the future. Twenty years ago, we built larger jails instead of essential services, creating a cycle of crisis management. We can disrupt this cycle with commitment, understanding and community pressure to make Whatcom County a healthy place for everyone.
The Summit will feature learning sessions, expert panels and direct input from youth on what they need to thrive. These kids are bright and full of ideas; it’s our turn to listen and help create a bright future together.
Last year, more than 350 community members came to the inaugural All Hands Whatcom Summit, and shared ideas and insights about what we need to do to address the current fentanyl crisis. Our team analyzed the 1,000 post-it notes from participants and established a policy agenda, as well as an organized list of community-mandated actions.
Your participation matters. From that summit, and from the momentum created last summer, much change was inspired.
Whatcom County established an official Multi-Agency Coordinating Group, to provide a forum for cross-sector professionals to workshop ideas and better coordination between services.
Whatcom County Council passed an emergency order to address the fentanyl crisis and direct resources and attention to doing so.
There are conversations started with the sheriff about better treatment options in the jail.
Physicians have taken it upon themselves to come together to better understand their role in this crisis, and their opportunity to address it in their practices — creating new trainings together to spread the learnings across our medical community.
And so much more … and though no one action can take credit for societal change, April 2024 marked the lowest drug overdose rates since 2022. Since January, we have seen sustained lower rates of overdose-related deaths in Whatcom County — also since 2022. We find hope in this data, and though much work remains, this is a window of opportunity and a compelling reason to build on our progress.
If our community can bring overdose deaths down 38% in this crisis (from 45 to 28 in the same period year over year), imagine what we could do for the 1,120 kids who need to know we stand by them, too. And if we get that right — if we focus on our kids and make the upstream investments we need, we might be able to bring that overdose death rate down to zero.
Our goal is to disrupt the cycle of homelessness, addiction and incarceration. It takes constant commitment, understanding and empathy. Creating reactive policies isn’t the answer; we need a safety net from day one.
Join us at the summit and be part of the solution.
Register here: chuckanuthealthfoundation.org/allhands/summit2024
The author is executive director of Chuckanut Health Foundation.
One thousand, one hundred and twenty: A call to action for Whatcom County kids
June 25-26 All-Hands Whatcom Opioid Summit focuses on youth
One thousand, one hundred and twenty. That’s the number of kids who entered Whatcom County schools this year without stable housing. Sit with that for a minute.
For years, the social services field has been understanding how childhood trauma impacts society. Homelessness is considered an “adverse childhood experience,” leading to higher risks of addiction, assault, trafficking and lower chances of graduating high school. Statistically, these children are more likely to end up in hospitals, jails or emergency shelters, often cycling between all three.
As I write this, my newborn breathes softly in the room beside me. This work is poignant and personal. Every child in Whatcom County deserves a healthy start and a safe home. Yet, 1,120 children entered this school year without that basic privilege. This number very surely undercounts the true scale of housing instability in our community.
What happens in a community when we don’t take care of our children first? For so many years, we have been working to address the same crises; the homeless population is growing; more people need treatment for complex substance-use disorders and behavioral health issues than we could ever provide services for; more youth are experiencing severe anxiety and depression at alarming rates; and the basic building blocks of housing, child care, and early supports for new parents continue to be both under-invested in, and also in dire need. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for these huge issues, but we do know that focusing on youth will lead to improved outcomes for future generations.
On June 25 and 26, the All-Hands Whatcom Opioid Summit, coordinated by the Chuckanut Health Foundation and community partners, will focus on youth. Join us to build a future where bold investments in children now reduce the need for bigger jails in the future. Twenty years ago, we built larger jails instead of essential services, creating a cycle of crisis management. We can disrupt this cycle with commitment, understanding and community pressure to make Whatcom County a healthy place for everyone.
The Summit will feature learning sessions, expert panels and direct input from youth on what they need to thrive. These kids are bright and full of ideas; it’s our turn to listen and help create a bright future together.
Last year, more than 350 community members came to the inaugural All Hands Whatcom Summit, and shared ideas and insights about what we need to do to address the current fentanyl crisis. Our team analyzed the 1,000 post-it notes from participants and established a policy agenda, as well as an organized list of community-mandated actions.
Your participation matters. From that summit, and from the momentum created last summer, much change was inspired.
Whatcom County established an official Multi-Agency Coordinating Group, to provide a forum for cross-sector professionals to workshop ideas and better coordination between services.
Whatcom County Council passed an emergency order to address the fentanyl crisis and direct resources and attention to doing so.
There are conversations started with the sheriff about better treatment options in the jail.
Physicians have taken it upon themselves to come together to better understand their role in this crisis, and their opportunity to address it in their practices — creating new trainings together to spread the learnings across our medical community.
And so much more … and though no one action can take credit for societal change, April 2024 marked the lowest drug overdose rates since 2022. Since January, we have seen sustained lower rates of overdose-related deaths in Whatcom County — also since 2022. We find hope in this data, and though much work remains, this is a window of opportunity and a compelling reason to build on our progress.
If our community can bring overdose deaths down 38% in this crisis (from 45 to 28 in the same period year over year), imagine what we could do for the 1,120 kids who need to know we stand by them, too. And if we get that right — if we focus on our kids and make the upstream investments we need, we might be able to bring that overdose death rate down to zero.
Our goal is to disrupt the cycle of homelessness, addiction and incarceration. It takes constant commitment, understanding and empathy. Creating reactive policies isn’t the answer; we need a safety net from day one.
Join us at the summit and be part of the solution.
Register here: chuckanuthealthfoundation.org/allhands/summit2024
The author is executive director of Chuckanut Health Foundation.
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