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 this newsletter. Please scroll below and click on the links.
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
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Expanding the Backbone Team |
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The backbone team prioritized equity and adaptive leadership in a unique interview process for the Community Engagement and Marketing Communications positions. They evaluated 51 and 79 applications, respectively, scoring them across various categories, and invited shortlisted candidates for a virtual group interview to assess interactions and virtual participation skills. In the final round, the candidates met in person with four panels. The team invested over 25 hours in ideation and creation, and the execution and outcome proved immensely satisfying.
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In 2021, after adopting the Eastside Pathways Equity Pledge, in an effort to mobilize the commitment to “reduce harm and increase equity”, we explored the learning culture (pedagogy) in Eastside Pathways.
We confronted the intersectional need to be affirmed in the goodness of who we are as diverse people and the desire to learn in a way that affirms that diversity. This resulted in the launch of the Wisdom Series – a mixed media program that centers authors, creatives, and thought leaders of color to learn and unlearn about different concepts.
CLICK HERE to read about the media we are exploring through this program.
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At the beginning of June, the Eastside Pathways Partnership released the 2023 Community Report detailing its work supporting the personal, structural and systems-level changes taking place in the partnership addressing certain challenges in East King County. The report also highlights changes within the partnership and how Partners continue to meet the moment for the success of their communities.
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At the June meeting, Eastside Pathways Partners reflected on the partnership's work and shared what they might STOP, START or CHANGE in their role. The responses were rich and wide in categories including Partnership Level Action, Individual Partner Action, Curiosities, Greater Community Level Action, Partnership Level Competencies. A few highlights:
STOP
- Thinking we have to do things as we have always done.
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Excluding youth voices.
START
- involving the leadership of community organizations to be aware of what is happening.
- Providing culturally sensitive services for BIPOC and LGBTQT youth.
- Connecting local, state, and federal governments.
CHANGE
- The way we use data (include all individuals, not just larger organizations).
- The way we ask questions to change who is heard.
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The existence of silos between local government, schools and colleges.
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Accelerating Collaborative Action for Outcomes Improvement
Kalika Curry and I participated in this 9-month cohort, hosted and facilitated by StriveTogether along with representatives from eight Cradle to Career Partnerships from across the country.
The program supported leaders in thinking innovatively and systemically about how to address root causes and adaptive challenges to ultimately accelerate progress in their respective outcome area centering thrival of their focus populations.
The cohort wrapped up in a two-day in-person session at Cincinnati in the last week of May. A photograph is shared from our time together!
Sandy Nathan, Community Engagement
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StriveTogether’s Annual Policy Summit
In early June, members of the Eastside Pathways team and I traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in this summit. In addition to aligning as a WA State Policy Collective with other WA State partnerships (pictured), our team participated in all sessions focused on federal, state, and municipal level policy. Each day was geared towards building a civic infrastructure centering youth and families, and we gained insight into tapping the wisdom of our Partners to create a taskforce on policies relevant to East King County.
At a systems level, we brought back strategies to effectively advocate for the necessity of community partnerships in policy discussions around improved outcomes for children, youth, young adults, and communities.
Payton Richardson, Data
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I joined Eastside Pathways to rekindle the relationship with the partnership and the partner network. As a small nonprofit focused on education and community outreach, I believe that leveraging the partnership's valuable resources while contributing to their community-driven knowledge will greatly benefit our organization.
By becoming a Partner, I aim to learn, grow, and contribute our expertise to the collective knowledge that each Partner uniquely brings, fostering mutual support in a tangible and meaningful manner.
Andrew Walsh, Executive Director
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I joined the partnership because I wanted to be part of a community of like-minded people in my neighborhood. I believe in the power of 'working together' to make a greater impact.
Being a Partner means I can align and engage with other Partners to work together towards the same goal. Moreover, as a small business owner, I feel isolated sometimes, so partnering with Eastside Pathways and getting involved in the initiatives gives me a sense of connectedness, allyship, and belonging.
Angelica Zapata, Founder
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San Francisco | September 19 to 21
StriveTogether's annual convening is an opportunity to connect, learn and create change. There are options to attend in-person or virtually.
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Centering Communities of Color |
Bellevue | July - August
Join the City of Bellevue and Centering Communities of Color Coordinating Team in a series of community dialogues focused on race and social justice.
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Giving every child the opportunity to thrive from cradle to career requires dedication and teamwork.
Eastside Pathways helps individuals and organizations collaborate to focus their efforts, find
efficiencies and increase their impact. Together, using a proven framework and data-driven strategies, we create better outcomes for children, youth, and young adults.
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