Dear friends, 

If you’re like me, you’ve probably spent the last few months alternating between feelings of fear, loss, and anger as each day brings new threats to the institutions and values we once took for granted.

This is not a moment for equivocation, so I’ll be blunt: Things are happening in our nation’s capital and across the country today that pose a grave threat to the freedom and wellbeing of every one of us – but particularly the immigrant, LGBTQ, and BIPOC communities that are so often vulnerable and marginalized even in the best of times.  

“What we do know is this: We have entered a time that demands courage from each of us.”

~Shalimar

The onslaught of unilateral executive orders, funding cuts, and mass firings coming from the White House – though currently blocked by the courts in some cases – have the potential to rapidly erode our community’s ability to keep our most vulnerable neighbors fed, housed, and healthy. For many of us, they have already made it difficult, even dangerous, to exist as our full selves, without fear or prejudice.  

And yet, we still don’t know which of these threatened actions will actually take place. We don’t know what proposed federal budget cuts will mean for the agencies, programs, and services on which so many of us rely. We don’t know what else may come next. 

What we do know is this: We have entered a time that demands courage from each of us. 

For Solid Ground, this means we will not capitulate in the face of threats from our federal government. Our commitment to countering racism and other forms of oppression is literally written into our mission. We have no intention of backing away from this work – not now or ever. 

I say this knowing that organizations like Solid Ground are already squarely in  the crosshairs of this administration. One of its first acts – though quickly rescinded – was to try to freeze all federal grants and loans to nonprofits like ours. When a judge blocked that order, the administration issued a memo demanding a review of all federal funding to nonprofits to assure that they align with its “goals and priorities.” 

“Our commitment to countering racism and other forms of oppression is literally written into our mission, and we have no intention of backing away from this work – not now or ever. “

~Shalimar

Solid Ground relies on a diversity of both public and private support, but a cut to our federal funding would still threaten our ability to assure that thousands of people in King County are housed, fed, and able to pay their bills and get where they need to go. With our federal funding increasingly at risk, we will be leaning even more heavily on the partnership and generosity of our community to ensure that we can continue to provide these crucial services. 

In the coming months and years, our goal will be to reduce, as much as possible, the harm that this federal administration inflicts on our neighbors. Already, we are doubling investments in our community’s food access networks, connecting residents of Solid Ground housing with onsite behavioral health support, and partnering with other nonprofits to protect tenant rights. Going forward, we may also face difficult choices that impact our staff, participants, and residents, but that will never mean abandoning the values and mission that makes Solid Ground who we are.  

I hope you have the courage to stand with us – because courage matters in moments like this. 

In Community,

Shalimar Gonzales
Solid Ground CEO

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Image at top: Shalimar Gonzales at Solid Ground’s 50th Anniversary Gala in 2024 (photo by Jordan Somers, Converge Media)