Lisa Etter-Carlson is grateful to be able to spend her days in her neighborhood at the Aurora Commons and at home with her husband Andy and two kids, Cedar and Kipling. Lisa is Co-founder of the Aurora Commons in Seattle, WA. Prior to that, she Co-founded the Green Bean Coffeehouse (a non-profit cafe). Most recently, Lisa, in partnership with University of Washington/Harborview Hospital, created and launched the Safe, Healthy, Empowered (SHE) Clinic: an accessible, kind, non-judgmental, quality health care clinic for female-identified people who sleep and work along Aurora Avenue. All of these movements were created and are currently curated by a community of folks that, together, long to midwife spaces where precious human beings from all walks of life can live as though we belong to one another. Lisa has been living with intention towards her neighbors who are unhoused, drug-dependent, and involved in street-based sex work for more than 15 years. She is a member of the City of Seattle Adult Survivor Collaborative (ASC) and is a proponent of harm reduction, safe consumption facilities, and loving absurdly. Lisa has a Masters of Theology and Culture from Seattle School of Theology and Psychology.
One of our alumnae, Lisa Etter-Carlson (MATC ‘11), is the co-founder of Aurora Commons, a “neighborhood living room” (day shelter) in Seattle. Here, she calls us to see how the COVID-19 pandemic exposes systemic racism, poverty, and the criminalization of poverty—particularly among the unhoused. As this Pandemic has spread, it has exposed and exploited the […]
To highlight our newest certificate program – Leadership in the New Parish – we conducted an interview with people who are doing the work of understanding the mission of the church through their neighborhoods. First interview is with Lisa Carlson, one of the creators of Aurora Commons and graduate of the MATC program. The mission of […]