iChange Justice Season 5

iChange Justice podcast, Human Conflicts, and Civic Betrayals Joy Gilfilen, Host of the iChange Justice podcast, interviews Markis Dee about his extraordinary work since 2017 as a homeless advocate and founder of S.O.S. Serenity Outreach Services.  He works on the front line helping provide direct services to civic refugees - people living in life crisis, acute survival, and emergency conditions....

Joy Gilfilen, Host of iChange Justice talks with Doug Gustafson, a local businessman and founder of Homes Now, Not Later.  Since 2017, this grassroots non-profit has developed two tiny home villages in Bellingham, WA to help homeless people be sheltered and safe - Unity Village and Swift Haven.  They operate on a smart economic model where the residents run the programs, a...

In our lives today, we all see the evidence of violence. In workplaces, in schools, and all across our country violence is a mainstream theme. Where does violence stem from? Do we have any evidence that points to one incident we can blame? As young children sit in a prison for crimes, do we have a responsibility to address the ‘why’ of their circumstances? Join us as we reflect on our previous int...

In Episode 33, Joy Gilfilen, podcast host, speaks with  Children in Prison  author Jerome Gold who worked inside the Echo Glen Juvenile Corrections Center as a rehabilitation counselor for 15 years.  This is a rare look inside the ways that the  Washington State children’s prison operates.  It opens the mind to new views about how children who have been convicted of felonies are treated and how si...

Host Joy Gilfilen interviews Ilona Krohn, an economist, who talks about how local taxes, governance, and crime is impacted by the embedded behaviors of global economic business models. It is a different view obscured by the common belief that profits are considered good business in most situations. Yet, profits are contrary to good business when we are trying to solve the challenges of social serv...

iChange Justice, “Rehumanizing our Systems” with James White, ESATTA Cooperative, and host Joy Gilfilen, Restorative Community Coalition.  “It’s time to bring truth and reconciliation, new research, compassion, forgiveness, and inclusionary leadership into our community services,” says James.  “In fact, it’s decades past time to work with people who have lived experience, mental health labels, and...

Episode #30 -Facing Today’s Challenges How do we face the challenges of today? Host Joy Gilfilen talks with Deb David about what she has learned about ACE's - Adverse Childhood Experiences as it applies to early childhood trauma impacts; then how this relates to the repetitive systemic violence that is affecting us across generations and impacting our emotions and our ability to function in emerge...

Joy Gilfilen, the host of iChange Justice, talks with author, professor, and psycho-therapist Clyde Ford about public safety relative to his local experiences living and doing business here in Whatcom County. As a documentary author, professor, and global citizen, he has done several significant books that intersect with our issues such as "Think Black", and his new book "Of Blood and Sweat". &nbs...

Let's talk with a client and with her mentor, Chene Keltz, one of our Restorative Community Coalition specialists about restorative justice and case management.  In this "live" interview, Joy Gilfilen, host of iChange Justice, asks what it takes to humanize an inhumane system?  In this case to help a person dig out of the after-affects, side effects, and ripple effects that a conviction...

S.O.S. and the Homeless Crisis   What made the 2021 homeless crisis so acute in Whatcom County? In this interview, Joy Gilfilen interviews Serenity Outreach Services Executive Director Melissa Wisener.  Hear 1st hand from someone who was “boots on the ground” in freezing weather, at night, providing emergency provisions for people living in the streets as the Covid Emergency Disaster pro...

How do successful engineers think about problem-solving and planning projects?  Clear answer: They ask the client what problems they want to solve, what they need, what they want, and LISTEN to the answers for the purpose of meeting those needs.  It doesn’t work the other way around. In this episode, we talk with our guest Atul Deshmane, an engineer who has worked in both the private and...

Host Joy Gilfilen interviews guest Atul Deshmane about "Understanding Public Sector Corporations''.  Atul speaks from personal experience in very clear language about how public and private-sector corporations are structured and operate.  This opens the conversation where Atul and Joy discuss how this may be different still from how many other non-corporate business people believe they w...

IChange Justice podcast "Wait there's more..."-hosted by Joy Gilfilen Interviews Chene' Keltz *(see below) What is the more…?  Joy Gilfilen, our host continues to discuss with Chene, her experience as Chene returned to society with sons, family dynamics that had not been discussed, and specifically the transition period from being incarcerated to becoming an allegedly “free” person as an adul...

What is Restorative Justice? Where did it come from, and how is it used? First, we hear about a formal process - how the Restorative Justice program was implemented in Estes Park, CO, through the police department. Bill Gerritz and his wife were facilitators for several years. Bill shares the legal process, how negotiations happen, what the consequences are, the reconciliation process, and expecta...

A rare look through the eyes of someone whose life has intersected with the law and justice system over decades.  For 15 years Chene’ has been juggling the aftermath of many things including post-arrest, incarceration, and reintegration into society. The effects have rippled outward into her family’s lives, professional affiliations as well as community service positions. What she has to say...

iChange Justice podcast #21-Seeing through blind spots to Civic Trauma Joy Gilfilen, mother and taxpayer, talks about her life experiences and learning curve living in Whatcom County since the 70’s and witnessing the changes in local to global law and justice issues up close and personal. Joy, the president of the Restorative CommUnity Coalition shares how her views created different kinds of beli...

This episode is different, for it is about taxes and how they really work in our lives. Taxes directly affect law enforcement, the courts, and the judicial system – for these systems all consume taxes. So how does that money get generated by the taxpayers? What's the difference between using sales vs. property tax to pay for infrastructure costs? Today we get an overview introduction from Steve Ha...

Host Joy Gilfilen with guest Irene Morgan about Vision, Programs and ReStoreALife Center. This is a fresh, compassionate, and practical look at how we could do more justice by solving the human problems that complicate recovery after an incident throws a family into the jail, court, and justice system and they cannot get out by themselves. It’s complex and unwieldy, as Irene Morgan, the Founder of...

Opening the complex window of law enforcement from the inside out - with Whatcom County Law enforcement officer Steve Harris. After 27 years in the field, we invite him to talk about distinctions such as, who are municipal police as different from the county, state, or federal law enforcement? How is this different from tribal police, corrections officials, court officials, even statewide peace of...

How do successful engineers think about problem-solving and planning projects?  Clear answer:  They ask the client what problems they want to solve, what they need, what they want, and LISTEN to the answers for the purpose of meeting those needs.  It doesn’t work the other way around. In this episode, we talk with our guest Atul Deshmane, an engineer who has worked in both the priva...

“Being harassed and scared all the time is normal for a homeless youth and carrying the burden to protect your parents by telling them your experiences becomes normal”. “One lesson, ask us what’s going on-don’t pretend it's not happening!” Most of us, when we think of homelessness we are jaded by our own perceptions and omit the young generations who are afflicted by it. In 2020 Whatcom County cou...

Driver’s License…is it necessary to have a driver’s license to be successful? Is it really appropriate to suspend or revoke a driver's license as a consequence of crimes unrelated to violence or driving at all? Who really is paying for the consequences of a lost license? Family, children, taxpayers, and employers are paying much more of their own funds due to loss of employees, retraining, public...

Have you been confused about the cost of incarceration? Maybe you're confused about task forces and how they spend money? Or maybe, about city and county district expenditures? In this episode, we share our personal and observed experiences with the ins and outs of criminal legal expenditures. Expenditures come in many forms, from court fees, fines, taxes, and even medical costs. Did you know that...

One car accident threw a family of 7 out into the cold to live in the streets of Blaine.  What happened that that happened? How did it affect the whole family?  Our client talks about the trauma, the fear, and then the reality of living on the streets, under constant harassment, with police surveillance, being preyed upon, and vulnerable to any small crisis, however little it may seem. T...

We talked earlier about Justice, what is it and what does it mean to us as individuals as well as community members? Today we discuss and share our previous perceptions of Restorative Justice in comparison to what we know today about what Restorative Justice really is. Restorative Justice is intentional in its holistic ability to include all involved parties such as the accused, children and or fa...