News & Highlights
Project Pilgrimage is committed to building intergenerational and interracial community in Washington State and beyond. Our diverse and expansive community continues to engage and support our work. As we approach our fifth year and prepare to embark on our 10th civil rights pilgrimage this fall, we want to take a moment to highlight some of these exciting updates.
In late March of this year, Project Pilgrimage submitted our application to the IRS to become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Once approved, Project Pilgrimage will receive tax-exempt status as a charitable organization. A key aspect of our application is Project Pilgrimage’s newly formed Executive Board. In addition, we are thrilled to announce that Felicia Ishino has stepped into the role as Executive Director. As Executive Director, Felicia is excited and proud of the direction Project Pilgrimage is headed. “We have worked hard to envision programs that engages our community and step headlong into facing our shared history, all with the goal of building community across differences.” David Domke will move into the role of Research and Development Director and Mary Ingraham will step in as our Director of Programs. With these positions, we are able to carry forward our robust and innovative programming as we move into the next phase of Project Pilgrimage.
As we await our own nonprofit status, we are fortunate to have partnered with Seattle CityClub. This is significant, as we are the first and only organization they have offered this type of sponsorship to. We are appreciative to Diane Douglas and Allie Johnson at Seattle CityClub, for their support and guidance as Project Pilgrimage awaits our 501(c)(3) approval.
Another exciting update we have to share is that Project Pilgrimage finally has a home of our own! After months of working out of coffee shops, we have signed the lease for an office space located in the heart of the Central District. Our new address is 1408 18th Ave, Seattle 98122. Please stay tuned for an invite to our Open House this summer and of course, if you are in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by to say hi.
Thank you to each of you for your endless backing of Project Pilgrimage, our vision, and our community that extends from Seattle all the way to Selma. The dream is to lessen the gap between strangers, to embrace an education that sees us all as equals, and to catalyze individuals and create opportunities for change to occur.
Welcome Project Pilgrimage Dream Team!
We are expanding and deepening our work and have added a dream team to work alongside our leadership team, roll up our sleeves and move Project Pilgrimage on to the next level. We could not be happier to welcome them to the team!
Devon Geary with be joining us on September 1 as our Communication Manager and Scholar in Residence. Devon has been with us since the beginning and brings a body of research and understanding about culture, race and history. She will be managing and developing content for the communication element of Project Pilgrimage, including our newsletter, social media fronts and website. She will be focused on storytelling, connecting our organization to our community by providing platforms to share community experiences and voices. She will also join us as a team member on the civil rights pilgrimages.
Sharayah Lane is our new Community Engagement Coordinator. Sharayah has worked with Project Pilgrimage over the years as a Communications Intern, and as the voice of activism and contemporary context on our civil rights pilgrimages. In this new role, she will be working on projects that cultivate our growing community. These include deepening and developing our calendar of community events, outreach and communications within Project Pilgrimage as well as forming new external relationships with local organizations that share our values and vision. She will also join us as a team member on the civil rights pilgrimages.
Jasmine Rose has been working with us now for a couple of months and is our spectacular Program and Operations Manager. She will continue to work alongside us, assisting with all of the programmatic and administrative operations of Project Pilgrimage, as well as developing systems, strategies and infrastructure to keep our staff organized and high functioning.
Junko Westling has joined us as our Donor Relations Manager. She will be working alongside the leadership team in donor advancement and engagement activities, helping to communicate just how impactful your gifts are! We are thrilled to have her on our team. Junko is looking forward to fostering lasting relationships with our Project Pilgrimage donors, friends, and community.
Congratulations to our Project Pilgrimage 2018 Graduates!
Project Pilgrimage was excited to celebrate recent graduates. It was a fun evening of catching up, good food and honoring Project Pilgrimage graduating students. A big congratulations to every graduate! We are so proud of you!
“Being a part of the pilgrimage afforded me the opportunity to continue a story which was never complete for me growing up. I am humbled by this experience.”
Pa Ousman Jobe (’18 Pilgrimage Alumnus)
Reflecting on America’s History of Racial Inequality
In April, Project Pilgrimage took a group of 15 people to the grand opening of Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. The three-day event was an important and moving look into the stark and traumatic history of lynching in America.
A Note About Common Purpose
One thing we know for sure is that racial justice must be pursued on multiple fronts. Over the past decade in America we have seen the creation and spread of voter suppression techniques in many states; these function as updated versions of the poll taxes and literacy tests that the Civil Rights Movement fought against. In response to these new laws, in spring 2018 we rolled out a new program Common Purpose, with a focus on voter registration, voter education, and voter mobilization. In Common Purpose we have been activating, educating and engaging our citizenry in a variety of communities across this country, registering voters and working to move the needle on equity and the promise of democracy for all.
The response by our community to our call to action exceeded all our expectations. Over 300 of you came to our meetings, engaged in our democracy and took action, looking to contribute in various capacities. We could not be more grateful for the passion each of you bring to our work together.
We are thrilled and proud to now announce that Project Pilgrimage will launch Common Purpose as a standalone entity this month. In order to do this work freely and unconfined, to the level we know is necessary, Common Purpose must work in the political arena, unrestricted by nonprofit regulations and rules. This past week Common Purpose was registered as a federal Political Action Committee. Wave 2 will begin on August 8 able to do this necessary and principled work with full throated capacity!
One role we take pride in at Project Pilgrimage has been acting as a catalyzing space for innovative programming that seeks to further our shared mission and values. We could not be more excited to launch Common Purpose as its own entity. We stand alongside Common Purpose and all the volunteers, in close alignment, with connection of vision, values, people and goals!
We Go Together.
For more information on the work of Common Purpose please visit; www.commonpurposenow.org
Upcoming Event
Inspiring Chapters: Political Differences
Registrations are now open for our fall edition of Inspiring Chapters. Join us on a three-month journey of mutual learning and diverse community building. We will listen to one podcast each month and then engage in community discussions spurred by the content in the podcast.
QUESTIONS?
Feel free to reach out to us with any questions or comments.
- email: [email protected]
- phone: (206) 688-9820
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