Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine founding editor, Suquamish Foundation board member, and former member of the Bremerton Race Equity Advisory Board will be our speaker.

Some of us here in Kitsap County have arrived recently. Some have been here since time immemorial. Some of our ancestors crossed an ocean by steamer or plane — or came in chains. Understanding our diverse histories, righting old wrongs, and showing up for our neighbors could be the first steps in getting along — not just politely, but well.

Sarah van Gelder will look at current questions affecting us here in Kitsap County, like what it means to show up for immigrant neighbors, coworkers, and local business owners facing an ICE crackdown? To build respectful relationships with the Native peoples who have called this place home for thousands of years? To honestly reckon with the divides that have long disadvantaged Kitsap’s African American community?

She’ll draw on her work as a local organizer and as a researcher and writer to explore what it means to be a good neighbor — honest about the past, and focused on what’s possible now. She’ll offer a way forward rooted in mutual respect, a shared understanding of history, and the kind of community that makes all of us more resilient.