By Linda Li
Traveling has always been my greatest passion. In November 2025, I visited Lugu Lake in southwest China, home to the Mosuo people and their centuries-old matrilineal culture. Surrounded by mountains and impossibly clear, blue water, I was struck not just by the beauty of the landscape, but by how differently the Mosuo organize daily life. Family lineage flows through women. Elders guide with quiet authority. Community decisions center care and shared responsibility.
I didn’t realize then how deeply that experience would shape my understanding of my work back home in Seattle, especially in my role as a Community Liaison.
The Mosuo challenged assumptions I had absorbed growing up in China about family, gender, and power. Their way of life reminded me that no single system for organizing society is universal, and that humility is essential when engaging across differences. That lesson resonates every day in Seattle’s Community Liaison program, where my colleagues and I bring our own languages, histories, and cultural frameworks into public service. Our diversity is not incidental; it is the foundation of how we communicate, find solutions, and build trust.
The Community Liaison program, within Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods, is rooted in a simple but powerful belief: Government works best when it honors the lived experiences of the people it serves. Just as Mosuo knowledge is passed through generations, our program relies on leaders who are deeply embedded in their communities. We bring insight, context, and credibility that the government alone cannot manufacture. We don’t just translate words; we translate meaning.
What makes the program transformative is its recognition of community leaders as social agents. We are not messengers delivering information from the top down. We are partners, co-creators, and bridges between institutions and people who have often been excluded from decision-making. This shift, from service delivery to shared responsibility, moves governance closer to equity and humanity.
My own journey reflects a life lived between cultures. I grew up in China and earned an undergraduate degree in business and later pursued graduate studies in political science in the U.S.. I was fascinated by American civic life, but also disoriented by its openness and complexity. Journalism later taught me how to analyze policy, but it was becoming a Community Liaison that revealed the true power of grassroots engagement.
When I first joined the program, I thought it would be low commitment. I was wrong. Translating city policies, organizing community meetings, and listening to residents describe barriers to housing, transportation, and language access quickly showed me the depth of the role. Like Mosuo elders who guide their households with care, a Community Liaison stands between two worlds: structured bureaucracy and lived reality.
Over eight years, I’ve learned from countless moments. A Cantonese-speaking grandmother hesitant to attend her first public meeting. A newly arrived father navigating Seattle’s school system. A young Asian mother advocating for safer streets. Each story reshaped my understanding of public service.
One project that stays with me is Democracy Vouchers. Many community members came from places where voting felt distant or symbolic. When I explained the program through the articles and conversations, I watched people’s faces change as they realized their voices mattered. That is what being a social agent means: not just informing people but helping them believe they belong here.
I’ve also seen how proactive, community-rooted engagement works in practice. Last year, I reached out to a local Asian supermarket to discuss installing an electric vehicle charging station, well before formal outreach began. The connection built trust early and strengthened the City’s efforts. That’s the power of meeting communities where they are.
Standing by Lugu Lake, I admired the cultural diversity. But in Seattle, as a Community Liaison, I’ve seen how diversity becomes transformative. It shapes governance, strengthens neighborhoods, and gives everyday people the power to influence the decisions that define their lives.
This year, the Department of Neighborhood celebrates its 35th anniversary of community, connection, and the impact of neighbors working together.
So as Seattle looks ahead to the next 35 years, I hope more departments will deepen partnerships with the Community Liaison program. We are trusted, culturally fluent, professionally trained, and cost-effective. Investing in Community Liaisons is an investment in connection. And connection is what holds a city together.
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