Healing Through Direct Cash Transfers

This workshop will emphasize the benefits of Direct Cash Transfers (DCT) beyond just a financial lens. It will cover the healing aspect of reliable, stable, and disposable income for young people and other community members. Folks will leave with an understanding and a willingness to engage with DCT while also incorporating harm reduction strategies.

Tristan's Story (they/he)

A lifelong Bellingham resident, Tristan Holmes is a Care Coordinator at the Ground Floor with Northwest Youth Services. In 2018 they first walked through NWYS’ doors, but wouldn’t become a regular participant until early 2019 after the Ground Floor opened its doors. While participating in Northwest Youth Services’ transitional living program in 2020, Tristan was asked to apply as a youth voice in the search for a new Executive Director for the agency. Three years later, Tristan is working in the very engagement center they used to attend. Everyday they work hard to model growth and healing for the youth and young adults they serve, who deserve to have a future where they are supported and cared about.

Ethan's Story (he/him)

Ethan Horan is a recent graduate from Western Washington University (WWU) here in Bellingham Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. One course in particular, provided an opportunity to grasp the fundamentals in which policy, stigma, and discrimination intertwine in order to perpetuate the cycles of wealth and inequality. While attending WWU, Ethan began working with Northwest Youth Services (NWYS) at the non-profits day-use engagement center, The Ground Floor. For a year Ethan worked “on the floor” as a Care Coordinator providing essential services to Ground Floor attendees. The Ground Floor, established early 2019, is the first dedicated space in our community for unhoused youth. Recently, Ethan has changed roles at NWYS and now works with the Critical Transitions program which addresses the unique needs of those recently exiting an institution or system of care.