When I took over as Executive Director of Western States Center from founding Director Jeff Malachowsky in 1996 I had this huge fear. I’d become such an admirer of the Center over the years and thought so highly of the organization that I was afraid if things turned south after I took over and the organization foundered it would be all my fault.

I’m sure people who take over from charismatic founding directors must all feel this at some level. And in many ways you really don’t know whether an organization has become truly established or institutionalized until it’s gone through at least one major leadership transition. That’s when you find out if it’s really a solid organization, or was just coasting on the reputation of the founder or key staff.

It took a while, but I finally did get my legs under me and started feeling more confident that I wouldn’t completely wreck the organization. More important, I learned pretty quickly that the Center is far bigger than any one person or group of people.

Don’t get me wrong: we’ve had some truly amazing, talented and dedicated staff and board members over the years. But there isn’t a single person now active on the staff or board (excepting our emerita board member, Sharon Gary Smith) who was there when I took the reins from Jeff – and yet we continue to thrive, constantly re-energized by new staff, relationships and groups who are at the core of our programs.

Western States Center is much more than its staff or board. The essence of the Center is how we think about our work, and the web of interrelationships that we’ve helped to develop among a host of leaders and organizations across the region and allies across the country. THEY/YOU are what make up the movement – and our success is inseparable from your success. So at the age of 21, not despite but because of the transitions we’ve been through and all of the remarkable people who have worked for and with us over those years, we’re stronger and more vibrant than ever.

So here’s my story: Some years back the Board of Directors of one of our foundation supporters (the Veatch Program) came out to meet in Portland. They have a practice of meeting in different parts of the country as a way to help ground themselves in the work they fund. We were asked to host a meeting with the Veatch board and folks from the Center and a few other groups in the region. But then Veatch director Margie Fine said that we HAD to have them come visit the Center itself – that is, our office.

Now, a site visit to Western States Center isn’t like a site visit to, say, our good friends at PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste) down in Woodburn, Oregon, which as many of you know is something like the mother of all site visits. I mean, our office is just that: an office. There’s my desk, Kelley’s desk, Lucilene’s desk (lots of desks!), the copier, the closet where we keep our file and web servers, a noisy conference room with chairs that have seen better days, a tiny sink that always gets clogged, etc. But unlike a visit to PCUN, what you see isn’t what you get. You can’t walk into our office, look around, and see or understand very much about who we are what we do. For that you need to talk to people all around the region, to hear their stories.

So I invite all of you who’ve worked with us over the years to help us celebrate our 21st Birthday and honor that spirit by using this space to tell us your stories of the work that we’ve done together.

Dan Petegorsky,
Executive Director