Community lifeline

Julie Honekamp runs SNAP, a Spokane nonprofit that connects low-income residents with resources and opportunities.

The organization was started in 1966 by Catholic Charities when it opened community centers in three distressed neighborhoods: Hillyard, East Central and West Central.

By 1985 the centers had outgrown Catholic Charities and were incorporated on their own. Six years later, the organization changed its name to Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs – or SNAP – to reflect services beyond the neighborhood centers.

In 2008, the official name was changed again, to Spokane Neighbor Action Partners.

Besides its headquarters at the Dominican Sisters’ former communal home on Fort Wright Drive, SNAP operates six sites and works with 200 agencies and businesses.

During a recent interview, Honekamp described her path to organizational leadership, and why flexibility – including the occasional name change – is essential to nonprofits’ survival.

S-R: Where did you grow up?

Honekamp: In Downers Grove, Ill., near Chicago.

S-R: What childhood memories stick out?

Honekamp: In fifth grade, I did a project about Hull-House (Chicago’s first social settlement, where immigrants gathered to eat, debate and learn assimilation skills). I remember my dad and me down in the basement, building a scale replica of this whole community. My folks often reminded my siblings and me that we lived a kind of privileged life and should be of service to others. Also, my dad was very good at making sure the girls learned how to do boys’ stuff – changing oil, mowing grass – and the boys learned to do girls’ stuff. We were a very equal-opportunity family.

S-R: What else?

Honekamp: As a sophomore, I was chosen for a leadership class. Until then I’d never thought of myself as a leader.

S-R: What career did you envision for yourself?

Honekamp: When I was in high school, my dad took me to meet a female lawyer, and said he thought I’d be good in that arena. So law was in the back of my mind, and I studied political science and public administration at WSU. Later, I earned a master’s in organizational leadership at Gonzaga.

S-R: What brought you from Illinois to Washington?

Honekamp: My dad (a chemical engineer) moved out here in the early ’80s as part of an effort to save the whole WPPSS (nuclear energy) system. It just about killed them all.

S-R: What did you do before becoming SNAP’s CEO?

Honekamp: I worked for a nonprofit called Youth Help Association, which was started in the late ’80s (by a local group concerned about young people’s growing use of addictive drugs). It’s called YFA Connections now. Next I worked for SLIHC (the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium), and then came to SNAP and focused on affordable housing for eight years. I left to run a nonprofit called Transitions (which works to end poverty and homelessness for women and children in Spokane). While I was off doing that, the SNAP board invited me back to help guide the organization through a major transition – a lot of 30-year veterans were approaching retirement.

S-R: Did you have a mentor?

Honekamp: I’ve had several here at SNAP, including Ray Rieckers and (longtime SNAP executive director) Larry Stuckart.

S-R: Which lessons stuck with you?

Honekamp: Patience and perseverance – to not get swept up in the day-to-day craziness. We’re in it for the long haul.

S-R: Why did the organization change the last word in its name from “programs” to “partners” six years ago?

Honekamp: It was an acknowledgement that we couldn’t be everything to everyone. We had to narrow our focus. And in order to be successful, we had to have partners.

S-R: Who’s your biggest partner?

Honekamp: Avista. They work with us on weatherization, energy assistance and small-business lending.

S-R: And what’s your focus?

Honekamp: Affordable housing, personal financial stability and community action. We’re one of 1,100 community action agencies across the country that were part of the Kennedy-Johnson administrations’ war on poverty. That’s where all our energy-assistance programs live, as well as programs that engage the community on issues of poverty.

S-R: Who pays the bills?

Honekamp: Fifty-six percent of our revenue is government, 33 percent is corporate and private, and the rest is client fees and in-kind matches.

S-R: And who are your clients?

Honekamp: One group is people we’re trying to stabilize – those on fixed incomes or disabled who need help keeping a roof over their heads and staying warm. The other group is people we’re helping equip to exit poverty – those looking for job skills, help managing debt or taking care of legal problems.

S-R: Do you think typical middle-class professionals appreciate what it’s like to be low-income?

Honekamp: There can be a disconnect – the perception that poor people are somehow gaming the system. Some of our clients have two or three minimum-wage jobs and are doing everything they can just to hold on.

S-R: What impact did the recession have on SNAP and its client base?

Honekamp: Back in 2009, ’10 and ’11, we saw a lot of new faces – people who didn’t know how to navigate the system. It’s really hard for the new poor to walk through the door the first time. But a lot of those people also managed to quickly find their way out. As far as the recession’s impact on our budget, we received some large chunks of the stimulus package, so we staffed way up and then came way down (when stimulus funding ended).

S-R: What impact has technology had on the way you deliver services?

Honekamp: We use social media a lot. Clients can schedule energy-assistance appointments through our online calendar faster than if they were to call us.

S-R: What changes have you made since becoming CEO in 2011?

Honekamp: As we’ve become clearer about our mission, we’ve spun off 11 programs. We no longer administer food banks, and we handed off a utility assistance program to the Salvation Army so we can concentrate on things such as housing counseling, which is a more technical field.

S-R: What changes would you like to see?

Honekamp: I’d love to have more unrestricted money. Funding has gotten much more regulated and complex since I joined SNAP in 1996. For instance, funders might pay for staff but not for their space or their phone. Having some flexible dollars would allow us to fill some gaps, like when someone walks in needing a bus pass.

S-R: What do you like most about your job?

Honekamp: The SNAP staff. We have three values – community, respect and justice – and just about everyone here walks the talk.

S-R: What do you like least?

Honekamp: There’s never enough time.

S-R: Are there new directions you’d like to take SNAP?

Honekamp: We’d like to start businesses that can help our clients get out of poverty and also spin some cash back to SNAP. One possibility is a senior chore service. Another is something related to construction or weatherization – things we already know how to do.

S-R: Is Spokane a relatively good place to be low-income?

Honekamp: I think so. We have an amazingly generous community, and our social service providers are unusually collaborative.

S-R: If you were to move on, what advice would you offer your successor?

Honekamp: Keep your eye on the organization’s long-term goals. Surround yourself with good employees – particularly your fiscal team, because our funding is so complicated. Stay connected with the community – don’t hole up in your office dealing with day-to-day fires. And finally, go home and rest sometimes.