🌱 Founder Spotlight: Kurtis S. Robinson 📍 Executive Director | Revive Center for Returning Citizens “I didn’t grow up dreaming about cages. But when you’re born into trauma, poverty, and generational pain—when your skin is weaponized before you speak—you learn quick.” -Kurtis From 1984–1987, Kurtis served time for a strong-armed robbery committed while deep in addiction... But that sentence wasn’t the end of his story. It was the spark. Rather than stay on the mountain and complain, he came down and started building. For over a decade, he fought wildfires across Washington. Along the way, he earned peer certifications, became a recovery coach, and took on reentry navigation work—refusing to let his past define his future. Kurtis didn’t emerge from comfort. He emerged from the fire.... a multiracial father, justice disruptor, and system reformer, Kurtis carries the lived experience of incarceration, addiction, and generational trauma—and transforms that pain into purpose every single day. “I’ve been locked up, labeled, counted out, and blamed for being there. Systematically stripped—my culture, my identity—everything that made me me—reduced to a number in a system.” Today, Kurtis serves as the Executive Director of The Revive Center for Returning Citizens and I Did The Time. He’s also a three-time past President and current 3rd Vice President of the Spokane NAACP, a Governor-appointed Commissioner for Washington’s Criminal Justice Training Commission, and a leader on multiple boards including Better Health Together and the Spokane Human Rights Commission. One of the most powerful reflections of his vision is Shemuel’s Space—a housing community named after his son and created through Spokane’s Encampment Resolution Program (ERP). It’s one of three trauma-informed housing sites built for people exiting unsheltered homelessness. “Shemuel’s Space isn’t a program. It’s not charity. It’s not a seat someone else pulled out for us. It’s ours.” Kurtis leads with conviction, soul, and the memory of every person who didn’t survive. He’s a father, a visionary, and a builder of the very future he was once denied. “I’m done asking for space. I take it. I make it. And I hand it back to the people it was stolen from.” #FounderSpotlight #ReviveCenter #ReturningCitizens #ShemuelsSpace #EndMassIncarceration #HealingJustice #HousingIsHealing #YouBelongHere #LegacyInTheMaking #TheRealNotSanitized #WeDidThis (fb)

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