Jene was a classroom teacher for twenty years, teaching preschool through high school before moving to the district level to teach and coach teachers. Her experience includes five years of state level education funding and policy work in Olympia, as well as Directing Operations for an education research center at the University of Washington Tacoma, where she focused on trauma informed instruction, the effects of poverty on learning, and diversity training for staff of both school and out of school programs.
Jene currently serves as The ZONE’s Director and Associate Director of the Northeast Community Center, aligning partners and developing programs with residents in Northeast Spokane to catalyze multi-generational outcomes in housing, safety, health, economics, and education.
Jene currently lives in Spokane, where her community has compassion fatigue when it comes to homelessness. She works with the hidden homeless. Families living doubled and tripled up, in tents, trailers, and cars. Many often think of this as an adult problem, but Jene sees it as everyone’s problem, and one we can work together to solve.
What you can look forward to in Jene’s Talk:
- The story of the children and youth caught unstably housed as they try and navigate out of this reality struggling daily where to sleep, what to eat, and how to keep themselves and their siblings safe.
- Compassion for the reality of what many children’s lives are like in our community today. -Understanding of the generational effects and amount of unstably housed families including costs of these outcomes for all of us.
Fun Fact: Jene enjoys reading books in French, walks in the sunshine, & sipping wine with her feet up.
Find Jene on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jene.jones.33 https://www.facebook.com/theZoNESpokane Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jene-ray-spokane https://www.linkedin.com/company/thezonespokane