FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 20, 2020

MEDIA CONTACTS

Tanisha Jumper, Media and Communications, tjumper@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-5152
Maria Lee, Media and Communications, maria.lee@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-2054

Applications Now Being Accepted for ‘Heal the Heart of Tacoma’ Core Coordinating Team 

TACOMA, Wash. -- Heal the Heart of Tacoma – recently established by Mayor Victoria Woodards and the Tacoma City Council – is grounded in Resolution 40622. It will be a community-led effort that aims to spark long term change strengthening and healing communities, providing the foundation necessary to achieve greater equity in service delivery, and increasing trust in local institutions. 

The City of Tacoma is now accepting applications from those seeking to serve on the Core Coordinating Team for Heal the Heart of Tacoma. 

“Whether you are brand new to civic involvement or have many years of experience engaged in social justice efforts, I would encourage anyone with an interest in making Tacoma an anti-racist city to apply to serve on the Core Coordinating Team,” said Mayor Woodards. “The public outcry we’ve heard for change goes far beyond policing alone. We must also address the impacts of poverty, widespread disparities in health and housing, and barriers to opportunity of all kinds. Given time, and with your support, I know our community has the collective wisdom and ability to work collaboratively with one another and lead Tacoma to true transformational change.”

Applications will be accepted through Monday, November 9, 2020. It is anticipated that the Core Coordinating Team will meet every one to two weeks through an initial start-up period (likely March 2021).

Through Heal the Heart of Tacoma, local organizations will be invited by the Core Coordinating Team to bring their unique resources and subject matter expertise to the table as they work with the community to transform Tacoma into an anti-racist city. 

Heal the Heart of Tacoma will call on government and other institutions to:

• Acknowledge the harm done by long-standing systems and institutions.
• Cultivate a deeper understanding of those harms by listening to the community and creating a local record of past and present impacts on individuals, families and the community as a whole.
• Repair the harm done by taking steps to reduce impacts and prevent repeated harms.
• Transform systems by making concrete changes in collaboration with communities most impacted.  
  
  

Application details for the Core Coordinating Team are available at cityoftacoma.org/HealTheHeart.

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