Mayor Mike McGinn is inviting Seattleites to participate in the Youth and Families Initiative, a major initiative announced during his inaugural address which will shape the city of Seattle’s agenda on youth and family issues.
The first of five large group meetings about the initiative was held last night at the Rainier Community Center. Over 200 Seattleites participated. Four more workshops are being held across the city in March. The most meeting closest to Green Lake will be at Northgate Elementary School (11725 1st Ave NE) on Monday, March 1, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
In addition, the Mayor’s Office will be be holding several Community Caucuses between March 22 and April 30. From Community Engagement Coordinator Sol Villarreal:
Our goal with the Youth and Families Initiative is to get input from everyone in Seattle who cares about these issues. We realize that not everyone is going to be interested in attending or able to attend one of the large group workshops, so in order to make sure we’re hearing from a representative sample of the population of the city, we’re also going to be holding up to 100 Community Caucuses around the city. The idea is that instead of asking someone to come to us, we’re going to go to them to make sure that their voice gets heard.
Community Caucuses are an opportunity for groups that want to make their voices heard to meet, with a facilitator, in living rooms, coffee shops, community centers—anywhere where people gather naturally. Each Community Caucus will elect one delegate to send on to the broader Kids and Families Congress on June 5 at Seattle Center.
If you’re interested in hosting your own Community Caucus, you can sign up here.
Can’t make it to a meeting or community caucus, but have something say about how best to create a healthy, positive and equitable environment for all families in our city?
Seattle’s Department of Information Technology has created this form, which you can fill out and submit right here, for collecting community input for the Youth and Families Initiative:
