A Message from Jake
Hello Beacon Network!
For those who are unfamiliar, my name is Jake West and I am Beacon’s Executive Director, Head of Operations.
A little about me, I was born and raised in Upstate New York. I grew up talking to trees and eventually people (even though trees to this day are better listeners). Nonetheless, I found early on the importance of connection—only together we can enact the change that ripples into better tomorrows.
I then studied several subjects, traveled for many years, and helped dozens of nonprofits in various roles. Throughout all of this, I was driven by a deep understanding that mutual aid and reciprocity are the foundations of a holistic society.
I have now invested hundreds of hours in helping build Beacon, and I first wanted to tell you all why.
Enacting change is hard. The act of “thinking outside the norm” is exhausting. Like anything, what’s been done before is easier to do again. Just how the things that already are, will always come more naturally than the things that could be. What could be is new, non-legitimate. It’s the first attempt, a game without practice, the other way home, a freehand sketch, a rough draft. Change is hard, yet it’s necessary.
If things hadn’t changed we’d have a lot less Amendments. If things hadn’t changed there’d be slavery, or sharecropping, or segregation, or redlining, or mass incarceration (oops, still working on that one). If things hadn’t changed, if people hadn’t advocated for change—hadn’t fought for it—we wouldn’t have what we forget was ever controversial.
Change is progress without the clarity of hindsight. It’s a messy, slippery slope that can tumble onto itself, but also a necessary force for a better tomorrow. Change is tricky, especially since the “counterculture rebel” tends to stand alone. That’s where Beacon comes in.
Through Beacon, we are building a community that brings people together through the change they commonly look to enact. There’s so much good work going on, so I say, let’s do it together. For both existing groups and interested individuals, the Beacon Network serves as a central hub for collaboration, education, and empowerment.
We provide action sheets to make involvement and staying informed easy, post personal anecdotes from individuals to share their stories, a podcast that hosts community leaders, enhance the visibility of good-faith initiatives and their work, and just last week we put on our first in-person event. Beacon is bringing people together so that change doesn’t have to transition from a rough to a final draft alone.
Now with a team of 6 staff members and interns, 3 departments, a year road map developed, and dozens of organizations ready for onboarding, Beacon is ready to enact the change I’ve been working towards my entire life. We just need to start building the network.
If you can pass Beacon’s website, or even my email, along to people you know who resonate with the mission, that would go a long way. Show them the newsletter here for frequent updates and the podcast for good chats. We’re also looking for more leadership, interns, and even advisors, so again, if you know people who are interested in working on these types of things, please let them know.
Most importantly, I want to say thank you. How I see it, is that life is a series of opportunities to create. What you create, and what capacity you create, depends on the moment. Creating isn’t just about art - creating is taking an idea and grounding it for others to experience. Creating is a teacher’s lesson; the transition from a carpenter’s pen to hammer; a policy maker’s final draft; a mechanic’s running engine. Your support for Beacon is creating. Together, we’re creating an idea around action into an empowering community. So thank you, thank you for choosing this opportunity to help create something amazing.
:)
Jake
