A local advocate for queer and homeless youth has resigned as executive director of Northwest Youth Services, which provides support for unhoused 13- to 24-year-olds in Whatcom and Skagit counties.
Jason McGill told The Bellingham Herald that the Northwest Youth Services board last week accepted his resignation effective Nov. 4.
Meanwhile, McGill is on paid leave pending an investigation, he told The Herald in a text message. He wasn’t able to comment further, directing questions to the Northwest Youth Services board.
“I’m still very proud of my approach to leadership in this community. My two passions in life are Black liberation and abolishing youth and young homelessness. I was able to bring awareness to both because of the deep intersections of both. Our liberation is tied together,” McGill said.
In a post Thursday on Facebook, the Northwest Youth Services board said McGill was on paid leave pending an independent investigation into “allegations that run contrary to our core values of community, justice and liberation, humanity and accountability.” It didn’t say who was conducting the investigation.
Northwest Youth Services board president Michelle Harmeier wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Harmeier is also head of the Bellingham Queer Collective, which shares space with Northwest Youth Services at its Q Center in downtown Bellingham.
McGill submitted his resignation in a Sept. 17 post on the organization’s Facebook page, saying that he wished to pursue work closer to his family. Both his father and stepfather recently died, and he wanted to be closer to his mother, he told The Herald.
“I’m proud of what’s been accomplished as a community and of the positive impact we have made,” he said in his letter of resignation.
A strong advocate for queer youth in his four years with the organization, McGill helped move a teen shelter called the PAD from a space above a storefront in downtown Bellingham to a house in the Samish neighborhood in 2021, despite local opposition, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting.
McGill also campaigned against a sales tax to build a new jail that Whatcom County voters approved in 2023.
Most recently, he advocated for 22 North, apartments run by the Opportunity Council that provide supportive housing for people with health issues who were recently homeless.
The Northwest Youth Services board of directors issued the following statement Sept. 26:
To our community,
Together, we have set an intention to end youth and young adult homelessness and dismantle their perpetuating systems. Powered by your time, efforts, capital, energy, collaboration, and love, these intentions are becoming reality. For almost 50 years, you have helped make Northwest Youth Services a doorway to safety and the pathway to progress for thousands of young lives…thank you.
At present, our organization finds itself in a moment of transition; recently, the Board of Directors accepted the resignation of Jason McGill, who joined NWYS in 2021. We have taken steps to begin an independent inquiry into allegations that run contrary to our core values of Community, Justice & Liberation, Humanity, and Accountability. To protect the privacy of all parties involved and the integrity of the investigation, the Board has placed Jason on paid administrative leave; an interim CEO will be appointed in the coming days.
We are committed to holding space to confront, discuss, and navigate through the results of this investigation upon its conclusion. Our brilliant, dedicated staff have the full support, thought-partnership, and stewardship of the Board.
Today, the youth we serve continue to access and benefit from our healing and affirmative programs, services, and safe spaces. Our organization will always center our community’s youth and their well-being; fifty years from now, we are certain that our community will look back with pride at not only the work we accomplished, but how we accomplished it.
Thank you for your continued support.
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