Community Highlight: Dante Pollard

Dante is a born and raised Washingtonian who has seen Western Washington top to toe. After growing up in Yesler Terrace until he turned 11, Dante and his family started facing increased instability – moving from Seattle to Tukwila, to Federal Way, to Kent, then to Auburn, living with family and facing multiple evictions when employment was unreliable. This housing instability as a child, he shares, was difficult. His family’s apartment in Yesler Terrace, which is Washington’s first public housing development, was “stability for us, stability for me…once we moved from that one spot, everything else just turned into nightmares and stuff.”

Dante stayed in the Seattle area as an adult to raise his children – two daughters, now 16 and 18, who he speaks about with warm familiarity and pride. His experience as a single father was his pathway into advocacy. Over a decade ago, CPS opened an aggressive investigation which turned a misunderstanding into incarceration for Dante and a foster care placement for his daughters.

In the face of this devastating separation, Dante took it upon himself to learn about the system and how to better navigate it. While working inside and outside of incarceration to reunite with his daughters, he experienced a system that left parents behind and invested more into the foster care system than into parental support. He got involved with the YWCA Passage Point, a supportive housing reentry and reunification program for people who were incarcerated or have a CPS case. Passage Point introduced him to phone banking and voter registration, developing his interest in advocacy.

While waiting at the juvenile courthouse for a hearing about his daughters, he also met an advocate who worked with Parents for Parents, a peer-mentoring program in Washington that works to support families while navigating the child welfare system and reunion process. Dante quickly got involved with Parents for Parents and a support group called Fathers Engagement – a 12 week program offering support for dads seeking reunion. This support groups helps walk fathers through the many requirements set by CPS that are often poorly communicated and facilitated. Dante shared that “that’s one of the first ways that I had to start advocating for myself, learning how to get my kids or how to do the things that I’m supposed to do without knowing how to do the things I’m supposed to do for CPS.” He connected with his daughters’ foster parents, developing a system with them to help track food and naps during visitation. Step by step, Dante advocated for his family and within a few years was granted full custody of his children from the state.

During his fight for the return of his children, Dante also spent time volunteering, where he connected with longtime Poverty Action community member Juanita Maestas. In 2018 Juanita invited him to join the Poverty Reduction Workgroup Steering Committee, which guided the 10 Year Plan to Reduce Poverty under Governor Inslee. This major step brought Dante closer to state-level advocacy and offered him the opportunity to travel outside of his home state for the first time to visit Washington D.C.

Dante is now widely involved in advocacy and has been a long-time member of Poverty Action’s community groups as well as other volunteer and advocacy programs. Parental rights are still a main focus of his advocacy. He says “I knew exactly how people were feeling when they felt like they didn’t have no help...I just can’t help myself from helping people.”

Now, Dante enjoys spending time with his daughters as they approach adulthood. They play video games together, which he can only handle for up to an hour before responsibilities tug at him and he “stresses on stuff that need to be done.” Another passion of his is mechanics. While living in the transitional housing center Passage Point after incarceration, Dante would support other residents by working on their cars and diagnosing mechanical issues without a trip to the auto shop. Now he’s fixing up his Buick Regal Premium. He just discovered a crack in the Turbo which is burning oil and smoking, so the work has just begun on a new install.

Dante’s story reveals the cracks in a child welfare system that invests significantly more into foster families than it does into supporting parents who are desperate to reunify. It highlights the passion of a parent to be there for his kids, and shows how community support is the bedrock that uplifts other families trying to navigate a hostile system. Dante’s advocacy has touched families across Washington and beyond, and we are grateful to have him work with us and uplift our community.

Gratitude to Dante Pollard for sharing his story with us for our Community Highlight Series. Interested in sharing your story and helping to change the narrative around poverty? Reach out to celestel@povertyaction.org.