by Rene Murry
The Advocacy Team at YDEKC is in transition!
After over six years at YDEKC, I will be retiring as of April 28. There have been many successes that we can celebrate. From the early days of Best Starts for Kids, conversations have been growing at all levels of government about Youth Development.
Over the past several years, with the creation of the Youth Development Strategy Table (YDST), a growing group of dedicated advocates are joining together once a month to plan ways to shape the field to create the foundation of a youth development effort for Washington State. Our annual Youth Development Advocacy events have grown from a one-day event to a full week in 2022! We can celebrate that we were able to offer a Youth Advocacy Boot camp, Advocacy 101 and an Advocacy Kick-Off for Youth Development Week, and there were over 100 meetings with policy makers! A formal legislative work group was included in the 2021 state budget with a charge to have a report to the legislature Fall 2022. Watch for focus groups and surveys for providers and for young people in May to add your voice to this important effort.
Many of you may know that Guneeta Chadha moved on in March to a position at Pokemon! She will be on the Corporate Social Responsibility and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team. It is a great opportunity for her and we at YDEKC wish her well.
YDEKC has represented our Members in advocacy across city, county and state governments and I am proud to have been a part of those gains. Stay tuned over the next few months as YDEKC decides what we need next to staff our efforts moving forward.
I want to thank you all for your dedication to the children, youth, and families of our community. I also thank the various YDEKC members that served and are serving on the Advocacy Committee! Thank you all for being a part of shaping our advocacy in King County. I have been honored to serve among you.
Come join us at Judkin’s Park at 3:00 p.m. on April 28 to say “see you later”! Let Jessica know if you’d like to join us. May you be well.
Rene Murry