OUR HISTORY

Spark Central is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that ignites the creativity, innovation, and imagination necessary for people to forge the path to their best future. We break down barriers to creativity like cost, confidence, and access by offering transformative programs, access to innovative technology, and a welcoming creative community for youth, teens, and even adults of all economic backgrounds. While our station and many of our programs are open to anyone, we have a special focus on serving the West Central neighborhood, which has been historically underserved due to redlining and few allocated resources.

Before Spark Central, there were two organizations: Spark Center and INK Art Space. 

The seeds of the original Spark Center were planted in the summer of 2014 when local community leaders Jim and Joe Frank of Greenstone Homes, Ben Stuckart of Spokane City Council, Vinny Alfonso of Gonzaga University's School of Education, and Debra Park, a Kendall Yards resident, gathered to talk about equitable education resources for the West Central community. Greenstone Homes and Greenstone Foundation made a commitment to move forward with plans to create a “library of the future” for West Central community and beyond.

On the other side of town, INK Art Space, a youth arts education program founded by international bestselling author and West Central resident Jess Walter and artist/developer Dan Spalding in 2014 was growing thanks to the leadership of the first executive director, Bess Butterworth, and Mischa Jakupcak, an award-winning writer, director, and film producer who now resides in Seattle.

INK Art Space and Spark Center collaborated closely for a year. In July 2016, with Brooke Matson as the founding executive director, these two mighty organizations merged to form Spark Central, a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a new focus on igniting the creativity, innovation, and imagination necessary for people to forge the path to their best future. This organization has been igniting imaginations ever since.


BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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SYLVIA BROWN

PRESIDENT · She/HER

A southerner at heart, Sylvia’s values and soulful leadership are anchors for how she moves in the world. As a transplant to the Pacific Northwest from the sunshine state, Florida, Sylvia is warm, charismatic and cares deeply for the communities in which she has lived. As a graduate of University of Washington, Sylvia’s love and commitment to the betterment of the Pacific Northwest has been demonstrated in both her leadership career and over 30 years of civic engagement. After over 20 years of Leadership in the Insurance Industry, Sylvia was excited to bring her unique style of leadership to the telecommunication industry. In her current position at Xfinity Mobile (Comcast), Sylvia manages various teams while overseeing multiple Employee Resource Groups (ERG’s) including the OUT (LGBTQ+) group as well as the Black Employee Network (BEN) which she also serves on their Board of Directors. As a 2009 Leadership Spokane alumni, Sylvia remains committed to strengthening Spokane’s communities. Sylvia brings her heart to her civic engagement and has supported Spokane’s community by serving on numerous boards including Humanities Washington Advisory Board, Spark Central Board of Directors, KYRS Thin Air Personality, United Way Day of Action – Coordinator and KSPS and KCTS Public Television – Volunteer Telethon Fundraising.

Liz Rognes

Vice President · She/THEY

Liz Rognes is a singer/songwriter, composer, teacher, and writer. She grew up on the Iowa prairie, and spent a decade of her adult life in St. Paul/Minneapolis, where she studied music at St. Catherine University. She moved to Spokane in 2009 for the MFA in Creative Writing program at Eastern Washington University. Liz co-founded Girls Rock Lab, a Spark Central youth music program that amplifies the voices of girls and non-binary kids. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Philosophy at EWU.

 

KRISTENE GILLMER

Secretary

 

Tom McLaughlin

Treasurer

DEVONTE PEARSON (AKA T.S THE SOLUTION)

HE/HIM

Devonte Pearson, also known as T.S The Solution, is an Audio Engineer, performing Hip-Hop artist, and Owner of Panoramic Dreams Recording. Above all he is a father of twins, a husband, and a leader in his community. He has called Spokane home since 2013 after coming from the Tacoma/Seattle area.


Spencer Shanholtzer

Spencer Shanholtzer was born and raised in North Eastern Washington. He currently works as the Director of HR & Culture at Canopy Credit Union where he gets to help foster a vision of growing a happier and heathier community through financial inclusion. He’s passionate about family, leadership, hunting, golfing, and reading.

Spencer considers himself extremely lucky to be a board member for Spark Central. He says, “This organization has a unique and special purpose of helping others find their passions and interests to create their best future. I love that I get to be a small part of that purpose.”

 

Latrice Williams

Latrice Williams is the Designated Broker and Owner of Vision Properties (Real Estate Firm) and MoVin Properties (Property Management Company). She assists all of Washington State with a high focus on Spokane County's, lower income population with housing in all forms. Housing from ownership to transitional. She works directly with Governor Inslee's office, building bridges of diversity, equity, and inclusion within ALL government agencies in the state of Washington, and is the legislative lead for District 4 for Housing and Homeless Advocacy. She uses these platforms to ensure that spaces are created and modeled to bring forth positive, committed, change to these communities and those that have been statistically marginalized.

In conjunction with real estate, Latrice runs an accountability program called Account Me In that hyper focuses on goals, gratitude and affirmations.

 

Susan Ashe


OUR STATION STAFF

Dr. Melissa Bedford

Executive Director

She/Her

A wearer of many hats, Melissa Bedford is a former public-school teacher and teacher educator, current school board director, community leader, super nerdy bibliophile, and proud Asian American. Her love for working with kids and families started when she was an elementary school teacher at Title I schools in her hometown of Reno, NV. After graduating with her PhD, she moved to Spokane to begin her career in higher education as an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at EWU. Her passions in the field of education include children’s and young adult literature, critical literacy, literacy-STEM integration, and culturally responsive teaching. Melissa is also involved in the local community, working with organizations like Asians for Collective Liberation (formerly APIC-Spokane) and Spokane Pride, and can often be found reading stories with families at Wishing Tree Books. During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her partner, Jeff, and all their fur babies, and mastering her mom’s infamous lumpia recipe.

WILSON FAUST

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

HE/HIM

Wilson is a Spokane native with passions for learning, creative problem-solving and chicken. He discovered Spark Central as a volunteer after returning to Spokane from a seven-year stint in Seattle, where he graduated from the University of Washington and worked in the field of political research. Wilson is a long-time enthusiast for roleplaying and strategic games, doodling and fiction-writing. He is energized and propelled by helping and learning about the needs and interests of others.

LEAH DAWDY

PROGRAM & VOLUNTEER MANAGER

SHE/HER

Leah is a writer, doodle-ist, and educator from the dry deserts of California. She moved to Spokane in 2020 and has a love-hate relationship with actually-defined seasons (mostly love). Her work won second place in the Masters Review’s 2020 Flash Fiction Contest and was later anthologized in Best Small Fictions 2021. When she’s not wandering about in nature, you can find her trying to beat Pokémon. More than anything, she believes practice makes progress!

Terra Price

NEIGHBORHOOD YOUTH PROGRAM COORDINATOR

She/THEY

Mx. Terra Price is a lot of things, but most of all identifies as an artist. Terra was born in West Central and returned here quite intentionally to raise a family. Terra received their AFA in Fine Arts from SFCC before enlisting in the army where they were top of their class in Nutrition Care. Terra then served at Madigan Army Medical Center while earning their BA in Psychology from Antioch University. After graduating with their degree and being honorably discharged from the Army, they moved back to Spokane to work with historically underserved teens. From this experience, Terra and their spouse chose to become foster parents, fostering over a dozen youth in their home before being handed a tiny foster baby for a "temporary placement"; that baby became Terra's first forever child through adoption. That baby was later joined by two other siblings, all proud West Central citizens and loyal Spark Central patrons. During their time as a foster parent Terra earned an M.S. in Psychology from Walden University. Terra was also heavily involved in the Spokane Folklore Society, serving on the board of directors for several seasons, bringing techno-contra to Spokane and working with the Spokane Symphony to present the Fall Arts Preview.  Spokane, particularly West Central, is one of the great loves of Terra's life, so it is a dream come true to serve their beloved community in their new position at Spark Central!

PAM ROLLISON

STATION LEAD

She/HER

Pam was born and raised in Mt Clemens, a small town in Michigan, 20 miles northeast of Detroit. She has always been an advocate for historically marginalized communities; that has shaped her into the person she is today. From using her voice and being a part of the Civil Rights Movement to working with adults with disabilities to ensure they have the same access and opportunities as others, she is passionate about supporting the community. Starting as an employee via AARP, Pam has been with Spark Central since 2019 and loves working with all the youth and their families. She wouldn’t trade this job for anything - this has been her favorite job ever!

Nicki

AdminISTRATIVE Assistant

She/They

Nicki is a mammal inhabiting the area near Mount Spokane, and is larger than a mouse, but smaller than a walrus. As an herbivore, Nicki is sustained by berries, nuts, and spicy baked tofu. Nicki is a semi-nocturnal creature, and can sometimes be spotted among the bookshelves of Spark Central’s library.


WEST CENTRAL PUBLISHING UNION

Snoz

Assistant to the Editor · HE/HIM

Sir Hamish Snozzelwit III, affectionately known as Snoz, is a hippopotamus amphibius with a proud weight of 3,000 pounds. He prefers swamp lettuce to the iceberg kind, and admits a partiality to parsnips. Having written twenty-two essays on the subject of the Oxford comma, Snoz will sit on anyone who forgets to put it in its proper place.

Penelope Bucket

Magnanimous EDITOR · SHE/HER

Editor Penelope Bucket has been an editor for nearly 77 years, is a Virgo, and loves water chestnuts. She highly recommends time travel, particularly the Cretaceous Period. She prides herself on having good taste in imaginative stories, and wishes everyone to know that Snoz owes her a new desk for chewing away the left corner of hers—an aggressive habit that simply MUST stop.