Seattle Community Conversation Recap
•Last week, we participated in a dynamic conversation hosted by World Vision, Seattle Community Colleges and the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development with 50 opportunity advocates in Seattle. As you know, the Opportunity Nation team has been traveling this spring to deepen our national network, share our resources and learn about successful local work that can inform and strengthen our policy agenda. These community conversations have been energizing and incredibly helpful, and we are grateful to our Steering Committee and event co-hosts for making them possible.
It was fantastic to build and strengthen our relationships in Washington, where we already have several Opportunity Leaders and Steering Committee members. State Rep. Drew Hansen joined the conversation, sharing his work on job training, colleges and K-12 education. We especially thank Chancellor Jill Wakefield from Seattle Community Colleges (Steering Committee member); Steve Johnson from the Office of Economic Development; Brian Boyd from World Vision (Steering Committee Member), Bryan Wilson from the Washington State Workforce Board; Remy Trupin from the Washington State Budget and Policy Center; and the 15 young adults in the room, such as Damari Hogwood, who inspired us throughout the conversation.
All of the attendees talked about the challenges and benefits of cross-sector collaboration and the importance of state and federal policies to advance opportunity – key themes to keep in mind as we prepare to return to Seattle this fall with America’s Promise Alliance.
On June 20, we’ll be in Providence, Rhode Island, cohosting a conversation at the Community College of Rhode Island.
