Sierra Jackson
Sierra’s compass in life so far has been finding a profession in which “…[her] deep gladness and the world’s hunger meet”. Her passion to serve and advocate for the historically underserved was sparked in seeing her parents’ mentoring underserved adolescents in which they provide stable relationships, advocacy, and compassion. She hails from northern Idaho, graduating from the University of Idaho in 2012 with her B.A. in Foreign Language-Spanish and International Studies-Global Resources and Development. Her capstone research was done on the efficacy of indigenous mentoring relationships on children experiencing cyclical poverty.
After college, Sierra took an internship on an organic farm in Central Washington, with the intention of exploring using gardens and farms as a space for healing individuals who have experienced trauma. She met the love of her life in 2017, married him in 2018, and the two took off on their own adventure into Central Oregon two weeks after their wedding, where they have felt the most at home.
Sierra has worked at various capacities within the human services: as a volunteer mentoring adolescents and teen mothers, as a cross-cultural leader with an organization reaching out to at-risk adolescents in order to start the process of racial reconciliation in a community, as a case manager, as a paraprofessional in the elementary school and middle school setting, and most recently as a crisis associate within a crisis facility, aiding individuals experiencing mental health crises.
Sierra now serves as a CARE Coach in Central Oregon with the Jefferson County ESD, working alongside a dynamic team that continues the good work of increasing staff resilience, shifting systems and breaking down barriers.
When she isn’t working, Sierra is enjoys hiking, fishing, keeping plants alive, mushroom hunting, swing dancing, watercolor painting, and most recently mountain biking- all of these with her forever-adventure-buddy.