OlyMAP’s story starts before the creation of our organization. In 2016, Tye Gundel and Renata Rollins formed a grassroots advocacy group, Just Housing Olympia (JHO). For its first few years, this group, made up of housed and unhoused community members, was dedicated entirely to advocating for the rights of unhoused people and the de-criminalization of homelessness. In 2018, the organization expanded their scope of work and began providing direct health, safety, and self-governance support to encampments in Thurston County. Between 2018-2020, this organization continued to provide this support while relying on only community volunteers and private donations.
As the number of people experiencing homelessness and living unsheltered continued to grow, so too did the need for encampment support services like garbage removal, laundry, supplies, and assistance in facilitating self-governance. It eventually became clear that in order to sustain and continue expanding encampment support programs, sources of funding and support outside of community donations would be needed—resources that JHO could not qualify for as a grassroots non-incorporated organization. With this in mind, the members of Just Housing Olympia made the decision to divide and create a new, incorporated and fiscally sponsored organization, that would adopt and carry on the encampment support work previously carried out by JHO.
And so, Olympia Mutual Aid Partners (OlyMAP) was created and that is the legacy we carry with us today.
JHO is still active in Thurston County, but now dedicated entirely to advocacy.