The five large group workshops for city residents to discuss the Seattle Youth and Families Initiative are underway - but that's not the only way you can participate.

The Youth and Families Initiative, announced by Mayor Mike McGinn during his inaugural address, will shape the city of Seattle's agenda on youth and family issues. The Youth and Families Initiative is committed to eliminating racial disparities in key indicators such as education, child care, children's health and the criminal justice system.

The Youth and Families Initiative plans to hold up to 100 Community Caucuses around the city between March 22 and April 30. These caucuses are part of the city's commitment to active involvement by Seattle's diverse communities and neighborhoods, including communities of color and immigrant and refugee households.

"I am pleased to serve as co-chair of the Youth and Families Initiative," said Estela Ortega, executive director of El Centro de la Raza. Ortega also sits on the City's Race and Social Justice Initiative Community Roundtable. "As a community organizer, I know how important it is to reach out in different ways to diverse communities, to ensure that all voices are heard. We are a great City when we work to end race-based inequities."

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.

"Inclusive outreach and public engagement is a cornerstone of the Youth and Families Initiative," said Glenn Harris, who manages the city's Race and Social Justice Initiative. "Our communities' racial, cultural, and socio-economic complexity is one of our greatest assets. The 50 to 100 small Community Caucuses are crucial for reaching those Seattleites who may not normally have their voices heard in an important process like the Youth and Families Initiative."

Learn more about the Seattle Youth and Families Initiative, and get involved by volunteering at a large group meeting or helping to put together a community caucus with your friends and neighbors.

"Community outreach is essential for a strong public process," said McGinn. "I am confident that the good work of those in the Office for Civil Rights, Office for Education, the Department of Neighborhoods and many others will ensure that all those in our city who want to participate in the Youth and Families Initiative will get their voices heard."

What is the Initiative?

Large group workshops
February 22nd – March 22nd

This is the first phase of the Initiative, where people from across our community will come together to make their voices heard and talk about the issues facing our children and families in Seattle today in small-group breakout sessions. Each small group will have a facilitator to guide the discussion as well as a note taker to record the group’s comments and the priorities and possible solutions that are raised during the discussion, and each table will elect one delegate to attend the Kids and Families Congress on June 5th at Seattle Center.

There will be 5 large workshops where the general public can can participate in the process, as well as a special 6th workshop on April 8th that’s going to be geared specifically towards students from our public school system:

February 22 (general public) – Rainier Community Center 7-8:30 p.m.
March 1 (general public) – Northgate Elementary School 7-8:30 p.m.
March 8 (general public) – Van Asselt Elementary School 7-8:30 p.m.
March 15 (general public) – Denny Middle School 7-8:30 p.m.
March 22 (general public) – Garfield Community Center 7-8:30 p.m.
April 8 (youth workshop) – Bertha Knight Landes Room in City Hall, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Community Caucuses
March 22nd – April 30th

The city's goal with the Youth and Families Initiative is to get input from everyone in Seattle who cares about these issues. Not everyone is going to be able to attend one of the large group workshops, so in order to make sure they get a representative sample of the population of the city, and especially from historically underrepresented groups and communities, they are also holding up to 100 Community Caucuses around the city once the large group meetings are finished. Each Community Caucus will be an opportunity for a group that wants to make its voice heard to meet, with a facilitator, in a living room, coffee shop, community center—anywhere where people gather naturally in a community; the idea is that instead of asking you to come to the city, they're going to go to you to make sure that your voice gets heard. Each Community Caucus, like each small table at the large group workshops, will elect one delegate to send on to the broader Kids and Families Congress on June 5th at Seattle Center, so holding a Community Caucus will be a great way to ensure that your group’s voice is heard as the Initiative moves forward.

If you’re interested in hosting your own Community Caucus, please sign up here.

Kids and Families Congress
June 5th
All input and ideas raised at the caucuses will be advanced to the Kids and Families Congress, an all-day gathering where the delegates from the large group workshops and the Community Caucuses will focus on on refining priorities, talking about solutions, and building concrete action plans to address the priority issues that are identified over the course of the coming months.

Working groups will be formed to begin mapping out specific action plans aimed at these issues using the resources at our disposal – from our city, county, and state government agencies, our school district, and our partners in the labor community, the private sector, and the non-profit community, as well as individual citizens, particularly parents and students. At the close of the Congress, Action Planning Groups will be formed to further refine plans and identify needed resources.

Action Planning Groups
September to December

Using the work accomplished at the Community Congress, planning groups will map out more detailed action plans and start identifying the resources and partnerships needed to implement them.

Hearing directly from youth will be an vitally important part of this process. The mayor will be visiting Hamilton International Middle School, Franklin High School and Chief Sealth High School, and as noted above, on April 8th the Mayor’s Office will be holding a large group workshop specifically for youth at City Hall in the Bertha Knight Landes Room (600 4th Avenue). Youth and groups that work with youth are also strongly encouraged to host their own youth-focused Community Caucuses; please contact Sol Villarreal at 206-233-2656 or sol.villarreal@seattle.gov for more information.