BY KEELIN EVERLY-LANG for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 11/6/2026
A community conversation around public safety and needs brought together a few dozen youth, young adults, community leaders, and elected officials from Pierce and King counties on Oct. 29.
Hosted in Federal Way at the headquarters of nonprofit Progress Pushers, the event invited small groups to discuss questions starting with: “What does safety look like for you and your family and your community in Federal Way?”
While the event focused on South King County and Federal Way in particular, the geography of the participants emphasizes the way county borders do not contain community problems, and that solutions will also require collaboration.
This event was hosted by Federal Way Black Collective, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (VMFH), Build2Lead and the Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention under Seattle and King County Public Health.
Regina Tillman is a mother from Tacoma who shared in her small-group discussion that she lost her son Moses at age 15 to gun violence.
Tillman has started the Moses Isaac Foundation in her son’s memory, which is “dedicated to spreading awareness and fostering community unity” by creating “a safe, supportive environment where individuals can come together to tackle pressing social issues” through programs focused on “education, mentorship, and community outreach, empowering young people to build brighter futures for themselves and those around them.”
The organization is still new, and right now, they are focused on trying to figure out what youth do and don’t need. So far, one big need that youth have shared is that “they need a spot. All of them have said ‘we just need a spot where we can come and we can feel safe and where we can be vulnerable in that space,’” Tillman said.
“Public safety looks like for us … in our family would be having a safe space for our youth to congregate and just be, even if it’s a meet-up spot,” Tillman said.
Eddie Purpose is one of the founders of Progress Pushers, where the event was hosted, and shared that this need has been an ongoing one for decades.
When he moved to Federal Way at age 12, he was immediately swept up in harmful activities that ultimately landed him in prison to serve over a decade, Purpose said.
After incarceration, he has used his lived experience to create the organization that works directly with youth who are most at-risk of following that same path.
One thing that hasn’t changed since he first moved to Federal Way: the problem of not having enough safe and positive spaces for youth to spend time.
One teen from Tacoma said another issue contributing to violence is a lack of conflict-resolution skills in his peers.
He described this as seeing people he knows having a “short fuse” and that saying the wrong thing to someone can get you shot.
The conversation then turned to the way this problem interacts with social media, where people can hide behind a screen to say hurtful things or threats that they might not make in person. Once that statement is out there, some feel they have to back it up in real life, leading to violence.
Tillman highlighted that this issue and others impact young people both in Tacoma and Pierce County.
“Our focus also is on bridging the gaps. We’re not just focused on Tacoma… because we know that it’s happening everywhere…What would it look like if a lot of the nonprofits were to come together and have this one big event, or bring in all these different youth from different cities and different communities together, and not just that, bring the families together? What would that look like?” Tillman said.
Regional approaches that bridge the county line do exist. There are also many different organizations throughout both counties making a positive difference for youth.
Cynthia Ricks-Maccotan is a Community Health Program Manager for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (VMFH), which operates eight hospitals in the region, including one in Federal Way and one in Tacoma, and was one of the partners that hosted the event.
Their programs look at community violence, including youth violence,
Youth used their civic engagement and leadership skills to talk about their needs and ideas, especially around community safety and preventing violence at this event on Oct. 29 in Federal Way.
through a public health lens and run a variety of programs focused on prevention.
Since she started in her role, she said a big focus of hers has been to make sure that the youth who are impacted are at the table, making sure that the organization representing them is also a safe space for them to be heard.
Some of their work starts at the bedside of someone who has recently experienced a gun violence incident. VMFH operates under CommonSpirit Health and one resource they share with providers is the PEARR Tool.
The tool was based on a universal education approach that focuses on educating patients about violence, and the local version of it provides resources in Pierce, King and Kitsap counties. It’s publicly available at www.vmfh.org.
Another regional coordination program is the Center for Children and Youth Justice, which is hosting their annual Leadership, Intervention & Change (LINC) conference on Nov. 5-6.
When programs or data collection stop at the city or county line, it can be harder to see the big picture of community needs.
This is exactly why programs like VMFH and the upcoming CCYJ conference – and community conversations like the one held recently in Federal Way – can be an important tool in creating impactful solutions.
