FW Black Collective executive to serve on state advisory council

Taniesha Lyons is the executive director of the Federal Way Black Collective and will soon be representing Federal Way voices and small businesses around the state in her new role.

The FW Black Collective shared in their announcement of Lyons’ new role that her “voice at the table ensures that the experiences, needs, and brilliance of our small businesses — especially those owned by Black entrepreneurs and other communities of color — are heard and represented at the state level.”

They added: “Her deep understanding of economic justice, community advocacy, and sustainable business ecosystems brings a vital perspective to shaping how resources and strategies are developed to support small business resiliency across Washington.”

The SRBN itself offers loan programs and culturally and linguistically relevant assistance to small businesses, as well as other business support services through their partners.

Loan programs are designed for small businesses to “help you purchase new equipment, renovate, expand or construct facilities, support early stage product development or repurpose properties that have been abandoned or underutilized due to environmental issues,” according to their website.

In her role at the advisory council, Lyons chose to be on the policy committee.

She said she chose this role because “I understand that if it’s not written, it doesn’t happen,” and that it’s vital to make sure that outcomes are being included in that policy work, assessing gaps and looking at “the impacts of not just who’s affected, but who’s also left out.”

In her experience, she’s seen policies that are written based off of the need in the moment, but don’t look beyond and/or don’t reassess to see “how effective was the policy, and did it do what it was designed to do.”

The team at the Federal Way Black Collective does a lot of work filling in these gaps that policies overlook. This work has simultaneously become increasingly urgent and difficult in the past year as funding has reduced dramatically, Lyons said.

A steep reduction in funding is something that many nonprofits across Washington and the nation are facing and that other nonprofits in Federal Way have also spoken about. For the FW Black Collective, this has meant a reduction in their food access, rent stabilization and mental health programs for the community.

Federal Way Black Collective formed with a mission to empower and unite the Black community in Federal Way, South King County and Washington. They are dedicated to addressing crucial issues such as service disparities, equitable needs, and other social justice issues such as law enforcement’s use of excessive force, according to their website.

Federal and state cuts mean that while nonprofits are losing funding, their services are needed more than ever as community members are also losing access to benefits.

One recent client called and shared that her EBT (food benefits) went from $300 down to $90 a month with the new policies.

“Just this week, we turned away a person requesting housing assistance,” Lyons said. “They’re getting ready to start a job in September, and they have a house full of children, and they are being evicted. They ran out of resources, and they have no place to go.”

The national and local cuts impacting the Federal Way Black Collective have also forced leadership, including Lyons, to cut back their own hours and salaries, which has impacted her own well-being.

Like many in the community, she’s dealing with multiple challenges at once. Earlier this year her, adult daughter was hit by a bus and suffered both physical and brain trauma, and Lyons is handling her care. She’s also dealt with her own share of medical hardship over the years after surviving cancer three times.

Navigating the healthcare system is extra challenging as a Black woman, Lyons said, and learning to advocate for herself within it is actually what pushed her to gain her degrees and education in policy, public administration and law that she’ll be utilizing on the council.

All of these personal challenges and experiences in elevating her personal empowerment has given her a perspective she feels is vital to the policy work she seeks to support through the advising group.

When asked what is the most important thing to focus on right now to help the community, putting all of her professional and personal experience together, Lyons had one answer: mental health.

“If we don’t start really seriously pouring money into mental health, we can’t expect people to sustain housing. We can’t expect people to get off drugs and to be clean and sober when their mental health is not stabilized. We can’t expect people to be able to go to work when their mental health is not stable. We can’t expect people to go to school when their mental health is not stable. And we certainly can’t expect our young people to go to school when their friends are dying, and their cousins are dying, and their family members are dying,” Lyons said.

Investment in mental health at a systemic level is vital because people will always have to choose to pay for food, rent or transportation to work before they can spend money on a therapy appointment.

The problem is that when mental health starts to deteriorate, it can cause all of the other challenges to become unmanageable, she explained.

Just as rent assistance now can stop someone from becoming homeless and needing more resources later, stabilizing supports like mental health care and investment in local small businesses and entrepreneurs can improve long-term well-being in the community.

FW Black Collective is working to try to address both these urgent needs and stabilizing supports as their grant funding permits.

One recent Small Business Sip and Pitch networking event was hosted at PYC Sweets and Wine Bar in Federal Way gave local business owners the opportunity to pitch their businesses to guests and each other and be considered for some financial supports to help boost their work.

In Lyons’ role on the small business advisory council, she plans to bring all of these experiences to the table to advocate for programs that support the well-being of the community of Federal Way and the state.