Kyle Baker, founder of The Partner Foundation and Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor recipient.

MEET THE FOUNDER

BUILT FROM LIVED EXPERIANCE

KYLE BAKER | FOUNDER, THE PARTNER FOUNDATION

Police Officer ~ Medal of Valor Recipient ~ First Responder Advocate

The Partner Foundation wasn’t created from an idea on a whiteboard. It grew from an experience that changed my life and from the people who helped me find my way forward afterward.

P.A.R.T.N.E.R. Coins created to connect first responders with support, resources and people who understand.

THE NIGHT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

DECEMBER 16, 2020

On December 16, 2020, I responded to what began as a single-vehicle crash. Within minutes, it became an active shooter situation.

During the encounter that followed, Officer Jason Shuping was killed, another officer shot and I came face-to-face with the armed suspect and was forced to defend my own life and the lives of others.

That night became part of a much larger season of loss. My father had been killed in a tractor-trailer crash a little over a year earlier and just 36 hours after the shooting, my wife and I lost our first child to miscarriage.

Three life-changing traumas, one after another, and no roadmap for what came next.

“WE ARE TRAINED TO SURVIVE THE CALL.
WE ARE RARELY TRAINED FOR WHAT COMES AFTER.”
— KYLE BAKER
Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor

WHAT CAME AFTER

THE ROAD BACK WASN’T STRAGIHT.

Grief. Trauma. Guilt. Anger. Fear - An 18-month fog I couldn’t climb out of.

Through faith, therapy, EMDR and the support of organizations and non-profits, I started to heal.

There wasn’t one program that fixed everything. There were people.

People who understood. People who connected me with something helpful. People who stayed around.

Cross symbol representing faith as part of the founder’s healing and recovery journey.

FAITH

Leaned on something bigger than me.

One person helping another, representing peer support and the power of lived experience.

PEER SUPPORT

Connecting with those who get it.

Chair symbol representing therapy and professional support as part of the healing process.

THERAPY

Finding help that worked.

Medical kit symbol representing health, wellness and recovery resources for first responders.

RESILIANCE

A slow daily decision to keep moving forward.

The Partner Foundation shield representing its mission to support first responders and their families.

RESOURCES

Finding the tools I needed.

Winding path through the mountains representing resilience, recovery and the journey forward after difficult experiences.

FAMILY

The reason I kept fighting forward.

WHY

THE PARTNER FOUNDATION

That experience changed the way I think about supporting First Responders.

Sometimes what a First Responder needs after a critical incident aren’t another brochure, another phone number, or someone telling them what they should be feeling.

Sometimes they need another human being who can say, “I’ve been there, here’s what helped me.”

That is the heart of the idea behind The Partner Foundation.

Medical kit representing health, wellness and recovery resources available to first responders.

Resources that help

We connect First Responders with vetted resources that actually make a difference.

Through The Lived Experience Network (LEN). We connect First Responders with others who have walked a similar road.

a symbol that starts conversations

Conversation symbols representing connection, communication and shared lived experience among first responders.
Two people connecting, representing peer-to-peer support through shared lived experience.

connection that helps

The P.A.R.T.N.E.R Coin opens the door to connection, support, and hope for what comes next.