FY22 Annual Report
Staff Spotlight: Lorie Ann Larson, Program Manager since July 2021
If you stop by the Commons these days you're bound to meet Lorie Ann Larson, our Program Manager since July 2021. Here's some of her reflections on being part of the community at the Commons:
Why did you want to join the Commons staff team?
Hmmm, that is a good question. I have worked for large nonprofits for more than 20 years and realized I wanted to work for a smaller nonprofit that truly focused on helping unhoused individuals and/or families. When I saw the job posting I was intrigued and when I went to the website I found myself shaking my head in agreement thinking “Yessss!”. As I delved more into the programming at the Commons I found myself feeling excited. Many of the services and programs are exactly what I had been trying to implement at other agencies in various ways.
When I interviewed in person I knew the Commons was where I wanted to be. It was a beautiful, safe and welcoming environment to all. Staff and neighbors were ‘friends’. There was laughter and genuine compassion, all while staff were providing services. And there was a medical clinic onsite!
What do you enjoy about working with our neighbors?
I love building friendships with our neighbors. I enjoy the uniqueness our neighbors bring to our community. They are all truly remarkable and special. Some are jokesters, poets, musicians, writers, and a few fashionistas. During the day we get to chat, learn from each other and celebrate the successes. Some days we are vulnerable with each other and on those days we share compassion for one another, encouragement and even a comforting hug. But I think my favorite thing about working with our neighbors is when we sing and dance to the music while just hanging out together.
Is there anything that these neighbors would want you to share with our community of supporters?
Each neighbor has a story of resilience and strength. Our unhoused neighbors are mothers, fathers and grandparents; they are sons, daughters and siblings. They are human beings who deserve compassion and reverence. Every day I have the opportunity to laugh, joke, love, and /or cry with a neighbor. Spend some time with them, get them a cup of coffee, share a funny story or just sit down with them, and maybe you too will see how remarkable and special they really are.
Would you share a story about a friendship you formed, or a meaningful interaction, with one of our neighbors at Aurora Commons?
Oh gosh, this is hard, there are so many. One interaction that stands out is about a female neighbor who visits us at least once a week. Every visit she will ask for hygiene supplies, clothing closet and sometimes to use the computers. Typically she is in a pleasant mood and smiling. Every once in a while I will see something from the clothing closet I know she will like and set it aside for her next visit. I really enjoy it when she visits and look forward to seeing her smile. One afternoon she came by at the very end of drop in services and was crying. I went to the door to see what was wrong. She could hardly get a word out but I could understand it had to do with her father. Something about not being able to get a hold of him by phone. I asked her if I could get her something to eat or drink. She shook her head yes, went out front and sat on the ground. We sat together for a minute before she gathered her things to leave. As she was leaving she stopped and hugged me. I told her we loved her, she smiled and said “I love you too.”
November Gratitudes
Aurora Clinic care team with some of our Aurora Commons staff on Monday, November 22, first day of clinic!
November marks the launch of The Aurora Clinic, a complement to our existing SHE Clinic. This month is also a time of year that we reflect on the people and things in our lives that we are grateful for. At the Commons, we are grateful for the opening of The Aurora Clinic AND the many people whose work has made it possible:
Our unhoused neighbors who have trusted us to listen to their experiences, and in some cases accompany them, in traditional healthcare settings.
Our founders, Ben Katt, Sparrow Etter-Carlson, and Karen Curilli, who understood that the work of change requires an ecosystem of support rather than the support of any one friend, agency, church or organization, and who were committed to offering the stability of presence and hospitality over professionalized care to our neighbors.
Our partners whose work paved the way and supported the opening of our on-site medical clinics:
LAHAI (fka Puget Sound Christian Clinic) whose team offered foot care inside the Commons and visits with a physician and nurse in their mobile unit. Their faithful and consistent presence was one of the first steps towards offering on-site medical care to our neighbors. LAHAI also shared their medical mobile unit with our SHE Clinic staff when that clinic opened in 2018.
Giana Davidson, MD MPH, who has served on our board since 2017 and been instrumental in the development of our needs assessments as well as the implementation of offering on site medical services.
Lauren D. Hamman, BSN, RN, DNP, who developed and partnered with us to conduct needs assessments with our female-identifying neighbors to document their healthcare needs as well as the barriers to accessing services in traditional healthcare settings.
Dr. Janell Stewart, who has served as consultant in the development of and administration of needs assessments at the Commons, and who will support the Aurora Clinic as a primary care physician.
Drs. Shireesha Dhanireddy and Margaret Green, nurses Monica Brown and Jessica Carrico, and medical social worker Sherice Arnold from Harborview and Northwest Hospitals, who have provided medical and supportive services to our female-identifying neighbors visiting the SHE Clinic since July 2018.
Sound Mental Health who partnered with us to offer the Low Barrier Buprenorphine Clinic. Buprenorphine is used in medication-assisted treatment to treat opioid use disorder. From May 2019 through May 2020, this program operated in our drop-in space every Wednesday. It was full almost every week; often there were more patients that wanted to be seen than there was time available. The demand for this clinic was clear, as was the desire for more comprehensive care.
Dr. John Olson, our Buprenorphine Clinic physician, who partnered with Aurora Commons to conduct needs assessments with our male-identifying neighbors to document the barriers they’ve experienced in traditional healthcare settings, as well as the things they’d seek care for if it wasn’t so difficult to access.
In these assessments the most common barriers to healthcare we heard were fear of being stigmatized or treated badly, or a history of being treated poorly in the past. Specifically we heard: “As a patient, I do not feel respected or heard,” and “They just think I am a drug addict”. We also heard transportation was a big issue, as was navigating the system. As one neighbor shared, “I go one place, they send me another”.Andy Carlson, who dedicated much time to creating a physical space for our on-site clinics. Andy not only did much of the work himself, but he also helped us envision the new space in the planning stages and coordinated with subcontractors and suppliers during the construction phase. We are grateful for Andy’s imagination, commitment and faithfulness to creating a beautiful physical space for the community at Aurora Commons.
Dr. Maria Cocorran, nurse Stacey, medical social worker Ashley Smith from the Aurora Clinic
Our Aurora Clinic care team: Dr. Maria Corcorran, nurse Stacey Jones, social worker Ashley Smith, and patient care coordinator Colette Weese, for their commitment to offer kind, non judgemental care to our unhoused neighbors at Aurora Commons.
In addition to these individuals we are grateful for our funders: Harborview Medical Center, Seattle King County Public Health, & Pacific Hospital Preservation & Development Authority (PHPDA), and their commitment to offering accessible medical services to our unhoused neighbors at Aurora Commons.
Over the past 10 years of being a presence and physical space for our unhoused neighbors there were many more individuals and partners who’ve helped us cultivate a safe, welcoming space. We are grateful for all of you and the time and care you’ve offered to the community at the Commons.
It can not be said enough we are grateful for our unhoused neighbors. They have trusted us with their stories and experiences. We are grateful for the opportunity to honor those voices by offering our male-identifying and gender nonconforming neighbors on-site comprehensive medical care at The Aurora Clinic.
Staff Highlight: Luke Sumner, Community Advocate since November 2019
In our last fiscal year Luke helped 243 male and gender non-conforming neighbors access resources in the city’s larger social service network, as well as COVID relief funds. Every day Luke connects our unhoused neighbors to vital resources, like a phone or ID, which are necessary for accessing other services that support stability and transformation in their lives. We asked Luke to reflect on his work and time at the Commons.
Why did you want to join the Commons staff?
I have been working with neighbors experiencing homelessness and related trauma for over a decade, having found myself experiencing a few radical encounters with amazing people on the streets of Portland. Even since those days, I have been drawn to people and communities who are trying to think differently about homelessness, addiction, and mental illness, and who prioritize community and relationship over services and systems.
This eventually brought me into contact with the amazing Sparrow Etter-Carlson and the Aurora Commons. I was immediately struck by the mission and values of the Commons, and I saw that something beautiful and unique was happening in this small, unassuming storefront on North Aurora Avenue.
When my life and work brought my family to the Seattle area, I reached out to my old friend Sparrow, as I was starting a new drop in space for our neighbors in Everett. We stayed in touch, even as my work in Everett wound down, and when I heard that Aurora Commons was looking for an advocate for male identifying neighbors, I jumped at the chance to work for this amazing community that had inspired me and my work for many years.
What do you enjoy about working with our male identifying neighbors?
I enjoy the opportunity to get to know these wonderful people. The narrative driven by media, politicians, and other groups within the city of Seattle often paints these neighbors as issues to be dealt with, rather than people who are struggling. They are portrayed as lazy, addicted, and a host of other adjectives that paint these neighbors as people who don’t want help and bother well meaning middle class people.
But the people I get to know do not reflect this narrative. They are wise, resilient people who manage to survive the trauma of the streets and still manage to laugh and joke. They are human beings who have dreams and concerns and joys and struggles just like everyone else.
Yes, the trauma of living on the street, dealing with untreated mental illness, and surviving horrific events leads to some challenging behaviour. Any one of us, having experienced what these neighbors have experienced, would act in challenging ways. That is what trauma does to the human body. But these superficial actions are not one's identity. And we do what we can at the Commons to hold space for people and all that they bring with them.
I am so thankful to work in a space that sees people, and not just their trauma. While at the same time making space for whole people, trauma and all.
Is there anything that these neighbors would want you to share with our community?
I think our neighbors would first want you all to know what I said above, that the narrative of homelessness driven by those in power does not reflect the reality of those living on the street. I hear this almost every day, as I listen to stories from neighbors who have been ignored, rejected, and treated poorly, just because they live on the street and are dealing with the subsequent trauma.
I talk with people every week about what they want to be when they grow up. About what movies and books we both love. About family and friends. About favorite foods and beloved pets. We share about life and love and heartbreak. All of these things cannot be seen when one only sees the shallow painting painted by the broad, sweeping brush of the dominant narrative.
Just today, I sat with someone, who, as we finished up our conversation, asked me if they could be honest. They looked me in the eye and said: “I just want to say thank you. I have been to a lot of places around town, and this is the first time I feel like I have really been seen. As a person, and not just a problem. So thanks. You all are very welcoming”
How have you been impacted by doing this work?
I have been impacted in so many ways through this work. One of the most profound things that has impacted me has been seeing how important it is for us to listen to people who have experienced homelessness, addiction, and mental illness. Having been in conversations for many years with people, from politicians and city leaders, to social workers and nonprofit leaders, I am amazed at how little those with actual lived experience of homelessness are invited to the table.
This work has convinced me that I can’t engage - much less solve or alleviate - any issue unless those most affected by said issue have a place at the table. And not just a place at the table, but we actually LISTEN to them. Let their wisdom guide us. Because as long as we treat people who live outside like issues to be solved, and not neighbors who also have a stake in creating a community in which everyone can thrive, we will continue to see the disconnect that happens when a city engages homelessness.
Aurora Commons 2020-2021 Impact Report
It’s always amazing to step back and see the collective numbers of how we, as the Aurora Commons community, were impacted in the last year.
Click here to download the full Impact Report for July 2020 - June 2021.
A Letter of Transition from Co-Founder Sparrow(Lisa) Etter Carlson
Who of you are tired out there?
Who of you are weary?
Who of you have lost a friend or family member?
I greet you in your grief, in your uncertainty, in your pain and your exhaustion.
My god, what a year.
I must also greet within you the ways that this year has brought some things into focus. The places within you that have been tilled and harrowed so hard that something new has been birthed or must be.
I put before us now, all the ways we long for a new way. The jaw clenching hope we must dare have for the reordering and restoration of our society and ask the wind of courage to blow hard and the ground beneath us to remind us of our common humanity. The fact that we are inextricably bound together must be our sustenance for the long road ahead.
As many of you are bone dry and thirsty-I ask you/beg you to keep on. And I thank you for how far you’ve come. I thank you for believing in and supporting Aurora Commons as an expression and animation of our collective hope.
It’s been this absurd, jaw clenching hope of a new way and the brief glimpses of restoration and healing that has kept me sustained for the last 12 years of co-creating and nurturing Aurora Commons.
As a Co-Founder of Aurora Commons; a partner, creator and midwife of our programs, it has been an extraordinary honor to be a part of growing this beautiful community response from its inception in a backyard to what it is today. Now, after careful deliberation, I have determined that the time has come for me to step down and onto something new. I’m sure you can understand this decision does not come easily, but it is emboldened by my deep belief in the organization. The Commons has become widely recognized as an innovative model of care, and as an essential fixture in Seattle’s social fabric. My resignation comes at a time of expansion, financial stability and growth, for which I am truly grateful.
Like many of you, this year has been a refining fire in my life and my slow burning desire has turned into a call to create a new expression of care in this Aurora community called Sacred Streets. I will still be around Aurora Commons as a Founder and will continue to grow and deepen my relationships with our unhoused neighbors, but my focus will be more on consulting and education as well as soul care on the streets. Please know that I bless this place and it’s people and leave with more certainty than ever that the Commons is the most special place I have ever been a part of.
I wish more than ever that we could gather together, that I could see each of your faces and embrace you but alas, that time has not yet come but I can almost taste its sweetness in the anticipation. As I approach my formal end to “job duties” here at the Commons, please know I think of all of you and welcome any questions, comments or encouragement. Thank you again, each of you, for your continued belief and support in the Commons. And thank you, each of you, for your belief in me through the years. I look forward to seeing you still and continuing on in the good hard work.
Please keep on.
And may we keep on until there is no more breadline.
And- please keep in touch!
sparrow@oursacredstreets.com
oursacredstreets.com
Your neighbor in the journey-
Sparrow Etter Carlson
Co-founder, Aurora Commons
Help us celebrate & encourage Sparrow onto her new adventure on Aurora Ave.
Post a photo, memory or word of encouragement to this online board to share with her.
COVID-19 Resource Handout
Aurora Commons FY19 Annual Report
"We Cannot Respond to Hate With Hate" - A Speech by Elizabeth Dahl, Executive Director
Chris Cerrato, "The Pain of Being a Man"
When I was asked to share my story, a lot of things flashed through my mind. "Wow, my community at the Commons thinks of me even when I’m out of sight?" Also, "they value my thoughts and feelings enough to ask me to share?"
Now let me tell you why I would be a tad taken aback by their request. I definitely haven’t always lived in what you would call the light, but I was always supported by people whom I am truly proud to call my friends at the Commons who never seemed to give up on me, no matter how dark my life had become, and even as I had begun to give up on myself. I had resigned myself to the fringes of society. I was a thief and in the throes of a deadly active addiction which has claimed many people that I care deeply for. However, no matter how dark things became I would show up at the Commons and I would be treated with respect, my opinions would be valued, and most importantly to me, I felt this overwhelming love.
Well, long story short, my life- (for lack of a more fitting word), caught up with me and I was sent to prison which didn’t help with the main problem that I had, which was how I felt about myself. So, I did my time, and when I was released, found my way back to drugs immediately, and so I spent some short stints in jail for probation violations: 30 days, 15 days, and so on, and the one thing that I feel I had during this time was that I was still accepted by my family at the commons and encouraged to keep fighting.
After one violation my Probation Officer Lillian, asked if I would like to try something different. She was talking about treatment. I was ready, really ready. A few weeks later, on a Monday, I received a bed date for Wednesday morning and I was told that this would most likely be my last opportunity as I’ve never really given Lillian an indication that I had any intention of getting clean before. I talked to Lisa about this on Tuesday at the Commons, her Karen and Jackie were so proud of me for taking this step and I felt myself that though I often thought about getting clean I had never moved it from my brain to my heart - I was even a little proud of myself even though I was still actively using. Well, here comes the scary part: I stayed up all night on Tuesday because I was afraid that if I slept, I would miss my Wednesday morning check-in for treatment. But, I guess I was so tired that I fell asleep early Wednesday morning, missing my transport to treatment and it was then that I really fell apart. I did not know my next move but I did know that the Commons was open, it was about 10 o'clock when I came in and made a cup of coffee.
I believe I always did a very good job of hiding the pain that I was in emotionally but when Lisa saw my face she read me like an open book, she knew something was wrong, and we began to discuss the situation. Lisa's suggestion was to get in touch with Lily and tell her what had happened, my suggestion was to not. But, I decided to make the call and got the voicemail. I was so overwhelmed- I decided to go outside to breath, have a smoke, think. Unbeknownst to me while I was outside Lily called back and somehow Lisa was able to get across to Lily but I was really ready and willing to try something different, ready for treatment and to give me another chance. While her and Lily were talking on the phone the police had seen me, knowing of my Probation Violation- they had pulled up to the Commons and I was taken into custody. Lisa ran out just as I was pulling away...
Thinking I was going to return to prison, I began to mentally prepare myself for the long road ahead. After a few weeks in prison, I got a visit from Lily explaining that I would in fact be afforded another chance. And also that the main reason for this opportunity was because of the support I received from the people I love and respect of Aurora Commons. Presently, I am five months clean, working as a painter and managing a clean and sober living facility and I owe a lot of this to the Commons- I would really like to convey this. There is a quote from author Hunter S Thompson and it goes, "he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man" and I thought that very profound when I read it, but I think the flipside to that is "a good man gets rid of the pain of being a beast” that’s a lot more fitting of how I want to live my life and how our friends at the Commons do. Thank you.
Chris Cerrato
Chris shared his story at the Aurora Commons benefit, Aurora Means Dawn in October 2017. He is starting a business painting houses inside, outside, and commercial. We're so excited for him. "Commercial and residential painting, no job too small! Interior, exterior, staining, detailed, color matching, woodwork & more. Fair Pricing, Call Chris: 253-733-9781. "