“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
I am so proud and continue to be amazed, that there are so many who repeatedly step up to lead and to inspire all of us to do more for our children and youth in the community. This happens more than you can imagine, and in my position of working with so many, I get the opportunity to see it firsthand.
A recent example of so many stepping up was at our last Eastside Pathways All-Partner Meeting on October 20. The theme of the meeting was Partner Recommitment: The Collective Impact Theory of Action. One of the key elements of the theory of action to achieve systems change is that the “partners align and allocate resources to improve community-level outcomes.”Basically, it takes everybody to contribute and play their part if we’re going to achieve systems change for the children in our community.
This was particularly true at the All-Partner Meeting. In particular, I want to thank:
- Josephine Young, COO, Allegro Pediatrics, who was the master of ceremony for the meeting, sharing her own story and sharing insights throughout,
- Amy Mack, CEO, Year Up Puget Sound who has stepped up to chair the Partner Leadership Committee as well as join the board of the Backbone in that role,
- Julie Benson and Sujata Agrawal, who as individuals in the community are embracing the opportunity to share their strengths to help make the partnership stronger,
- Helena Stephens, City of Bellevue, and Shomari Jones, BSD Dept. of Equity, leading the Eastside Pathways Racial Equity Team along with Tom Brewer, Jubilee REACH,
- Susan Sullivan, who has poured her passion and time over the last several years into leading the work of Eastside Pathways in the Community Engagement work and serving as the board chair of the board of the Backbone,
- Kelly Jones and Nahyeli Mendivil, who both do yeoman’s work behind the scenes,
- Ted Dezember, Cara Ianni,Ken Nsimbi, Sue Baugh, and Beverly Jacobson – providing muscle and support to set up and greet people, and
- The City of Bellevue for providing the space free of charge.
Taking a look at how we all can contribute to HOW we work together is really important. Critical to improving community-level outcomes for our children, every organization must look at WHAT they’re currently doing, and then understand how they can tweak their work to help change the current system.
We, as a Partnership, will continue to dive deeper into the Theory of Action throughout 2017. I look forward to seeing how we each answer the question, how will I do things differently in 2017 to improve our community level outcomes?
Until then, as we head into the start of the holiday season, please know how thankful I am for the passion, dedication, and drive you bring to our community as individuals, organizations and as partners in this collective work we do together.
Article written by Stephanie Cherrington, executive director at Eastside Pathways