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Gonzaga 51�Թ�s Ashley Painter (‘26) and Mia Foster (‘24) sat down with Samuel McLaughlin (‘24) to share about their experiences working with partners and communities of Northeast Spokane. Ashley serves as a Wolff Fellow through the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) at the Zone, a resident-led organization working to improve the lives of neighbors in Northeast Spokane. Mia completed her Health Equity Internship at the Gonzaga Family Haven, a 72-unit housing community working to address intergenerational poverty by providing stable housing and wrap around services.

SAMUEL: How and why did you come to work at your current position?

ASHLEY: I’m from Spokane so I knew about the issues in our community and wanted to make a difference. I was also a Wolff Fellow and The ZONE’s [mission] to build hope and opportunity through collective action resonated with me.

MIA: I have two positions that interact with the Northeast Spokane community. I work for CCE [The Center for Community Engagement] as an Advocacy Liaison for Health Equity and Migration, and for my Health Equity minor I have an internship with Gonzaga Family Haven.

The Haven’s mission of providing holistic support to end the cycle of intergenerational poverty drew me in. Having supports in one spot is a sustainable model for helping people exit poverty.

Before, I was a participant and then trip leader for Justice in January starting in my sophomore year, which made me passionate about migration justice. After my time as trip leader, I was offered this position [at CCE].

It opened my eyes to health equity, which is not just healthcare, but overall access to a healthy lifestyle. I’ve researched many organizations and exemplary people in Spokane that work in these areas of health equity and migration. For example, I had a wonderful chat with Manzanita House a bit ago!

What were your expectations before starting? Were they accurate to your work now?

ASHLEY: When I first started, I [imagined it to] be very hands-on. The spring that I applied to the Wolff Fellowship I was involved in the construction of Habitat for Humanity houses. [I imagined] I’d be on the frontlines building these things.

I quickly realized there were a lot of grant proposals and meetings. It takes a while to develop different grants. There’s back and forth between organizations. Things might not work out. After being in this position for about a year, even sending out an ADA fact sheet to community residents is huge, and that’s only a small portion of a bigger project. Those small milestones are way more important to me than I thought before. It’s been eye-opening on how much of a process this all is.

MIA: I’ll echo what [Ashley] said. Both positions I have now did not exist prior to me having them. Combining that with just how long it takes to get this kind of work off the ground, there’s been so much research. I feel like I don’t always have a lot to show for the amount of work I’ve done. But building these relationships takes time. I’ve learned that relationships are proof of work, and listing work off doesn’t necessarily make it worthwhile.

ASHLEY: Yes. You need a foundation before you can build actual progress.

(Ashley Painter, '26)

What values do you feel your work has helped to cultivate in yourself or the community?

ASHLEY: There was a lot I was taking for granted. Working with the Housing Diversion Program which offers technical, employment, and rental assistance, I hear many stories about how housing affects everything else in life. Clients may say they are struggling to pay 100 dollars for gas. I’ve been very blessed to have a stable income and family, never having to worry about where my meal was coming from or whether the mortgage was going to get paid.

I recognize that these are challenges in Spokane and that in itself makes me motivated to help. It’s heartbreaking and it’s motivational at the same time. There’s so much we don’t realize in Gonzaga’s little bubble. Coming out of that [bubble] is eye-opening.

MIA: My work has continued to renew my passion for social justice and shown me a real sense of community-based justice.

We often think about fixing poverty on either an individual scale, giving someone a house, or on a national/global scale of ending homelessness. But then there’s all of these people who reveal another option, community-based, somewhere in between those two. The power of communal effort is incredible.

I saw that in Manzanita House. Many people who work there are immigrants or refugees themselves and created the organization to provide for a lacking need in their community. That’s beautiful, powerful, and incredibly worthwhile. It’s given me faith in the ability of ordinary people to make lasting and important change.

Did you feel in touch with NE Spokane before these experiences? If not, do you now?

MIA: I definitely didn’t in the beginning. I [entered Gonzaga] during COVID which made it hard to put down roots. There’s a lot of negative sentiment towards Spokane from Gonzaga 51�Թ�s. I could go on about the classist origins of that. But I won’t. (laughs)

But my work, especially meeting [community] leaders and seeing how much heart and soul they’re pouring into Spokane, has made me love it, too.

ASHLEY: I’m from the South Hill and wasn’t super familiar with Northeast Spokane. I wanted to learn more about the issues here and create change. For me I’m always so astounded at people using words like ‘Spokie’ and even using that term to refer to Logan residents. It basically refers to ‘cracked-out homeless people’. I’d never heard it used that way until I came to Gonzaga.

SAMUEL: Yes, I’m a lifelong resident and it’s the same for me.

ASHLEY: People [at Gonzaga] can have such a negative mindset about our neighbors. We need to realize their importance and respect them, on and off campus.

MIA: There’s a lot of fearmongering about the local population on campus, especially with the ‘Spokies’ thing. The [biased] associations with poverty and crime need to be deconstructed because housing and food insecurity are huge issues in Spokane. And yes, drug use is an issue, but that’s also a response to these other issues. None of them are independent of each other.

It’s discouraging to hear all this fear [from Gonzaga 51�Թ�s]. I’d love to see more investment in changing that culture to be respectful.

ASHLEY: That respect is necessary for creating even a small amount of social change.

MIA: I sometimes feel like people treat the Logan neighborhood as disposable because they’re on their way out. Respect it, even if it’s only [your] temporary home. This neighborhood is integral to the Gonzaga community and basic human decency [is important].

SAMUEL: Right. This is a colonial institution on many levels. The people in Logan don’t have a say in whether or not Gonzaga is here. Gonzaga has more money and presence in Spokane. The residents couldn’t get rid of it even if they wanted to.

MIA: Student housing has also displaced long-time residents, families that have lived here for generations. I think there needs to be more humility from Gonzaga and the 51�Թ� population.

We discussed how people talk negatively about Northeastern Spokane. But what’s special about it?

ASHLEY: At least in my work in the Hillyard community, the people who live there have a passion to make their community better. They’re driven. The ZONE has these steering committees where neighbors come together and discuss different local issues they want to change. It gives me hope to see that.

MIA: [Northeast Spokane] has a lot of resilience. People show up for each other. For example, where I live off campus there’s a community of stray cats. The neighbors, without speaking about it, take turns refilling the cat food, bringing them water, and checking up on them. It’s a group effort of caring.

I also love how expressive people are with their homes. I grew up in a neighborhood with a strict HOA where no one was allowed to show an ounce of personality in front of their house. So, seeing how people decorate their homes with their flags, garden gnomes, paved paths, a swing for the kids, all of that-- I love how people have made it home.

How has your work here informed what you might do next in life? What will you always carry with you from this experience?

ASHLEY: My experience changed what I want to do with my career. As a business major, I hear my peers say they want to become an accountant or an economist. I knew from the get-go I didn’t resonate with that and I told my mom, “I want to do that something that creates change.” Being able to pinpoint that [want] led me to look into nonprofit work.

I’ve also worked with housing developers. I [might[ want to get a master’s degree in urban planning and design. I have every intention to stay in Spokane and help out through my career.

MIA: My roots are back home: my family’s there, my partner’s there. Man, I love Spokane though, I’m going to miss it.

Career-wise, I’m graduating soon. I’m still not sure where I want my whole career to go. I have a couple different paths in mind: nonprofit work, NGOs, or getting a PhD and becoming a professor. No matter what I do, I want it to be about investing in community and addressing disparities in determinants of health and [people’s] wellbeing.

Aside from that, seeing how people care for each other outside of a job has made me realize that a career is not the only way to make change. I want to feel like I’m helping people [in my work], but I also want to involve myself in my community, whether that’s going to the events that people put on, having a plot in the community garden, seeing my neighbors, joining in social organizing wherever I’m at, really putting down roots and building community where I’m at.