“In Spokane, We all Belong”, is a phrase our guest speaker, Breean Beggs, has been reflecting on for the last two years. He writes, “It is both a truth – even when we ignore it – and an aspiration that can drive us towards justice, inclusion, and healing. I look forward to sharing the connections I see between this phrase and how we meet the challenges of criminal justice and police reform, homelessness, environmental sustainability and racial and other forms of personal exclusion.”

Biography: Breean Beggs serves as Spokane City Council President. For more than twenty years he has effectively presented causes and cases to juries, appellate judges, mediators, community groups, and the media. Highlights of his work include substantial police reform in connection with the death of a mentally disabled janitor in Spokane; substantial national reform on oil pipeline safety in connection with the death of of three children in the Olympic pipeline explosion; and multiple jail and criminal justice reform issues in Spokane county.

He is currently leading efforts to increase housing units in Spokane, decrease homelessness and crime, and facilitate community conversations on equity and inclusion. Breean is married to another social change lawyer, Laurie Powers, and they parented three now-grown together near Manito Park in Spokane.