Charlotte Alden

Cascadia Daily • February 17 2024

‘There’s a chance to take back your life’: Mental Health Court provides alternative to jail

The courtroom was packed on a recent Tuesday, with dozens of people lining the aisle as Amber Black walked amid cheers, music and applause to receive her diploma during graduation from Mental Health Court.

In addition to Black’s support circle of friends and family, Bellingham City Council members, members of the Opportunity Council’s Homeless Outreach Team and police officers looked on, smiling.

Then, Commissioner Nicholas Henery said the words that had been nearly two years in the making: “T

December 22 2023

Bellingham's Terminal Building, destroyed in Fairhaven fire, had 135-year history

The Terminal Building was the oldest surviving commercial structure in Fairhaven until Saturday, when a fire gutted the historic brick building.

The loss is immense. Dozens of people are now out of work, and Nathaniel V. Breaux, the owner of the building’s most recent tenants, Harris Avenue Café and the Old Independent Coffeehouse, is still missing. A statement from his family on Dec. 20 said he was working late in the cafe the night of the fire, and they expect his body to be recovered within

Broadview Magazine • November 8 2023

How Lytton, B.C., is preserving its history after a devastating wildfire

Two years and four days after wildfire incinerated most of Lytton, a village in the Fraser Canyon of British Columbia, I drove into its barren downtown. The breath caught in my throat. So little was left that I looked around, wondering if I’d driven right past. The area was free of debris, but what remained was mainly construction fences, imprints of buildings and a scattering of small flowers bursting out of the dirt.

The air smelled dusty and dry. Scorched trees rose up from the great Thompso

November 3 2023

Demand for rental assistance dwarfs available funding

For six months, Karina Davidson had some wiggle room in her budget.

The Eleanor Apartments resident received rental assistance through subsidies from the Opportunity Council starting in January this year, until the pandemic-era program ended in June.

Davidson, 70, said the program allowed her to pay her bills and save a bit of money. Now, with little rental assistance currently available in Whatcom County, she’s worried about January, when her rent will go up 4% in a building-wide increase. Wi

Cascadia Daily • October 5 2023

Partisan politics are infiltrating school boards — Whatcom County isn't spared

From book bans to protests over critical race theory and sex education curricula, local school boards across the country have become heightened political battlegrounds.

While officially nonpartisan positions, Whatcom County's open or contested board positions illustrate a greater political divide, as shown in recent candidate forums and interviews.

Between conversations about low academic performance post-pandemic and the need for upgraded facilities and balanced budgets, some candidates are d

The Ubyssey • July 22 2022

BC’s autism assessment process is slow and expensive. For students seeking accommodations, that’s a problem

Kip Chow didn’t realize they were autistic until they were an adult.

Cascadia Daily • June 23 2022

East Whatcom navigates food insecurity: ‘We can’t do everything’

Executive Director Sam Norris wants to expand the Foothills Food Bank’s hours. He wants to purchase healthier food and let people take as many items as they want off the pantry shelves.

But he can't. Norris doesn’t have the funding nor the manpower to expand the food bank’s reach in its 600-square-mile service area.

“We’re just not as accessible as we need to be for as many people as could use our food bank,” Norris said. “I'm at a point where I don't really feel like we can expand too much [m

Cascadia Daily • July 7 2022

'A well-thought-out Band-Aid': East County seeks adequate health care

To receive consistent access to health care, residents of East Whatcom County must come to Bellingham.

That means at least a 26-mile trip with gas prices skyrocketing. Or residents take the bus.

But it’s a bus “that won't make it so that you can be home to get your kids off the bus from school,” said Jessica Bee, coordinator for the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center for the Opportunity Council.

In the rural part of the county, access to health care is made up of patchwork solutions coordi