founders
honorary council
board of directors
staff
volunteers

• Jay Jackson, Executive Director
• Dow Gordon, Inside Prisons Program Manager
• Ruby Phillips, Part-Time Staff
• Katie Talbot, Volunteer Coordinator
• Keith Brooks , Community Program Manager
• Verne Garvie, Office Administrator

Verne Garvie

I am flattered and pleased that I have been invited to join  Freedom Project’s office staff.  I was introduced to Nonviolent Communication in 2001 when I was incarcerated at Twin Rivers.  NVC demonstrated how ineffective my interactions with others had been.  I had been judging people, good or bad, on the basis of whether or not they agreed with me, rather than benefiting from their understanding, wisdom and shared life experiences.  When I attempted to communicate in my fledgling NVC, I found more clarity and much less frustration.  My attitude gradually shifted and I was able to see that other people weren't always my enemy.  My social interactions became more satisfying.  If it weren’t for the openness, patience and empathy of instructors like Lucy Leu, Mark Goodman, Janice Eng and Ruby Phillips, along with a list of others too numerous to name here,  the outcome of my experience in prison – and of my life – would probably have been much different.

I bring to the Freedom Project office several years of experience working with inmates on the inside, both in helping facilitate NVC workshops and as an inmate teacher's assistant in the computer labs at TRU.  While working in the computer labs I managed to pick up some training and practice in doing office work and managing a small computer network.  I hope to make use of these skills to help pay back all the people from Freedom Project who helped me redirect my life.

I am excited at the prospect of expanding the resources and services provided by Freedom Project, including offering more programs for people just being released from prison and possibly expanding to other prisons throughout Washington State, thus reaching more inmates.  People who have been sent to prison do not stop being human.  They are still someone's child, deserving of the same respect and opportunities as anyone else's child.  We must acknowledge that  when we don't recognize that a person returning from prison is as human as we are, we are making them something other than human.  The acknowledgment of our common humanity is an important part of our work.