2022 ZONE Awards

On Wednesday, January 11, 2023, Northeast Community Center and ZONE staff, residents, partners, and City officials gathered at the Community Center to reflect on our collective impact. We celebrated Amber Waldref, who served as ZONE Director for five years, and recently moved on to be our new County Commissioner. We also celebrated some of our partners and residents who have made particularly large impacts over the past year.

The Resident of the Year Award is given to a northeast Spokane resident who volunteers time and talent in an exceptional way to connect community and help neighbors thrive. Our 2022 Resident of the Year is Pat Castaneda. She has started her own non-profit, Manzanita House, serving our refugee and immigrant communities, and lives into the 2Gen model of serving the whole family with wrap around services including literacy courses, financial stability workshops, housing supports, legal services, and connection to mental and physical health programs. She also serves on our Resident Steering Committee.

The Partner of the Year Award is given to a collective impact partner whose organization innovates roles, funding, and strategy to meet community needs in NE Spokane. Our 2022 Partner of the Year is Community in Schools of Spokane County. The ZONE co-funds positions staffed by CIS and they are embedded in schools throughout NE Spokane. Our shared focus of thriving students and families has created a blended team sharing resources, strategies, and relationships to increase opportunities for students and families. We appreciate the willingness of CIS staff to innovate and collaborate at such a deep level. Deb Raub, CIS Executive Director, also serves on our Resident Steering Committee.?

The Agency of the Year Award is given to a Campus partner who goes above and beyond to support the entire Northeast Community Center, living into our mission of improving the quality of life for residents of northeast Spokane. Our 2022 Agency of the Year is Children’s Home Society of Washington. As Campus experts in trauma informed approaches, Amanda Russell, CHS Clinical Supervisor offers free trainings for all staff on Campus. We learn how to recognize triggers when interacting with residents and clients, how to reduce stress, and connect with compassion. The shared language we hold contributes to our coordinated referrals and warm hand-offs Campus wide. Amanda also offers free yoga classes for staff on Campus, providing us the time to reflect, heal and re-energize so that we can walk beside NE Spokane families with strength and compassion.

Additionally, we were able to announce that Amber Waldref won the 2023 Leadership Spokane Alumni Achievement Award, recognizing an alum who is the embodiment of Leadership Spokane’s mission of being a catalyst—educating and uniting diverse, collaborative leaders to ensure a vibrant Spokane?

Amber Waldref has dedicated both her professional and volunteer efforts to lifting up all residents in our community by providing systems and supports so that all households thrive. Her approach is to walk side by side residents, being informed by goals set neighborhood by neighborhood. As a City Council member for 8 years she led by asking critical questions- Are we including diversity; Are we including community voice; Are we being led by goals set by our constituents; Are we collaborating; Are we innovating; Are we thinking cross-sector; Are we thinking 2 Generationally. After terming off the City Council she has been Founding Director of the Zone, a collective impact initiative aligning the work of over 50 partners in NE Spokane to resident priorities. Over eight million dollars have been raised and distributed through the ZONE to NE Spokane programming this past four years for children, youth, and adults, building capacity of community-based organizations along the way. Amber now has been elected Spokane County Commissioner, where she will bring what she has learned in this place-based work to the County level so that systems and supports reach our greater community with equity, respect, and impact.