Citizen Engagement

Governments will respond to the will of the people provided we tell them what we want. And what we want is a livable world.

This is what the Citizens’ Climate Lobby works for. To empower citizens to connect with and influence their members of Congress. To spread the idea that each one of us can address climate change.

Working together we can make this happen.

Contact Marty Bishop to get involved.

RESULTS is a movement of passionate, committed everyday people. Together they use their voices to influence political decisions that will bring an end to poverty.

Volunteers receive training, support, and inspiration to become skilled advocates. In time, volunteers learn to effectively advise policy makers, guiding them towards decisions that improve access to education, health, and economic opportunity.

Contact Alan Newberg, Beth Wilson, Diana Tyree, or Karen Leader Scott to get involved.

Striving to Nourish and Enrich the Lives of Our Neighbors in Need.

The mission of the Bremerton Foodline is to provide food assistance and other services to reduce hunger and improve self-sufficiency for those within our community.

Contact Dirk or Birgitta Van Zanten to get involved.

Know where you stand, and stand there

Ground Zero offers the opportunity to explore the meaning and practice of nonviolence from a perspective of deep spiritual reflection, providing a means for witnessing to and resisting all nuclear weapons.

Contact Mack Johnson, Brian Watson, or Phil Davis to get involved.

LIVE UNITED. It’s a credo. A mission. A goal. A constant reminder that when we reach out a hand to one, we influence the condition of all. We build the strength of our neighborhoods. We bolster the health of our communities. And we change the lives of those who walk by us every day.

Contact Ellen Newberg to get involved.

KIAC Immigration Legal Services is dedicated to helping immigrants integrate into our community. Our Citizenship Program will help you apply to become a citizen. Our services are very low-cost or free.

In the West Puget Sound there is an invisible web of immigrants striving to become productive, contributing members of our community. They face bewildering challenges – from learning English to finding work, from accessing health care to finding educational opportunities and legal aid. The Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center (KIAC) is the only organization in the West Puget Sound dedicated to assisting immigrants from all nations in meeting these challenges.

Contact Phil Davis or Mack Johnson to get involved.

We are a local chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice, SURJ is a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice. We do this work with a strong commitment to accountability to people of color.

Kitsap SURJ began in August 2016. Agendas and notes from past meetings are in the Files section of this group page. You will find answers to most of your questions about what we do and how we do it: our organizing structure, in those documents. We are working hard to build our community in ways that ensure our sustainability and accountability for the long haul in this work for racial justice in Kitsap County.

Contact Jo Walter to get involved.

The Bremerton Backpack Brigade exists to provide a supplemental food source on weekends for children in need throughout the Bremerton Elementary School District.

Each week during the school year, volunteers fill backpacks with practical kid-friendly foods; including fresh fruit and vegetables, shelf-stable milk and juice. Those backpacks are then delivered to the schools, where the staff discreetly distributes them to the students enrolled in the program. The students return the backpacks to their school on Mondays, to be picked up and refilled for the following weekend.

Contact Jenell Dematteo to get involved.

A hot, nutritious meal is served every Saturday at 2:30 PM at the Lord’s Neighborhood Diner in a spirit of compassion, respect, and dignity. All are welcome, all are served, free of charge.

The Lord’s Neighborhood Diner is located at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 700 Callahan Dr., Bremerton, WA 98310.

Contact Eric Harrold to get involved.

The Northwest UU Justice Network is a growing group of Unitarian Universalists (UUs) and like-minded justice allies who are working to build a more just and sustainable world. We “do more, more easily and to greater effect” by working together.

NWuuJN connects and supports UUs who are working on various environmental and social justice issues, whether they are working on their own, through their congregations, advocacy networks, issue-specific organizations, in their communities… actually, anywhere.

Contact Jo Walter to get involved.

The Kitsap Equity, Race And Community Engagement Coalition, aka Kitsap ERACE Coalition is a coalition of organizations and people in Kitsap County who are working towards an end to oppression. It is rooted in relationships, collaboration, and commitment to racial justice, and organizes for thriving community and for profound, accountable, and liberatory institutional change.

Kitsap ERACE Coalition meets by Zoom on the first and third Fridays from 4:30 – 6:30. If you are interested in joining the Coalition, please be in touch with Verneda Byron or Beth Wilson or visit the Kitsap ERACE Coalition Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/KitsapERACEcoalition.