Dear Friends,
It has been an incredible three months since I took on my new executive role, and I am enjoying the tremendous responsibility and boundless potential that accompanies it. This journey has allowed me to make new connections, grow the partnership, and with it our collective potential to transform systems. Thank you all for all the things you do that are both visible and invisible that support each other and our children and youth – it takes a village!
While managing the day-to-day operations alongside our dynamic and amazing backbone team, I have also had the pleasure of launching some new opportunities for connection:
- C-Suite Gathering
- Interviewing new talent for Marketing Communications and Community Engagement
- Success (Strategic) Planning Meeting Series
- Featuring the City of Kirkland and the City of Bellevue DEIB efforts at the Racial Equity CAN meetings
Another initiative that I am excited about is the Youth Task Force. We had our first orientation meeting this week for a summer youth program opportunity. A small but engaged group explored the partnership, backbone, and different areas of development. They created working agreements for authentic, meaningful participation and started ideating on various things they could work on together —a special shout out to Aashvi and Madeena as co-facilitators and Fernell Miller, founder of the Root of Us, for her contribution. We look forward to seeing new folks join as the program continues. Please stay tuned for an article in the next newsletter.
You can read more about some of our work and programs in our newsletter.
With all the changes that seem to be moving us further away from improving outcomes for kids, I am encouraged to draw upon the words of author, social justice leader, and philosopher Grace Lee Boggs. “We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it’s never a question of ‘critical mass.’ It’s always about critical connections.”
Continue to lean into those Courageous Conversations, take the time to repair relationships, and keep up the good work – we are in this together.
Sincerely,
Kalika A. Curry
Executive