By Stacy Segal | Strategic Development Director
Dale Turner Family YMCA
A crowd of 90 representatives from local business, schools, community organizations and elected officials met with families to discuss opportunities for greater collaboration within our communities. “With vital social and educational programs at risk, we believe that now more than ever is the time to work together. There are so many resources available; our goal is to work together across organizations to meet our community’s growing needs,” said Courtney Whitaker, Dale Turner Family YMCA Branch Executive.
The event, hosted by the Dale Turner Family YMCA and moderated by Jim Hills of Shoreline Community College featured a thoughtful discussion around challenges and potential solutions to several key issues in the Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and Edmonds communities.
The topics included: serving youth better during out of school time; resources within our local business sector; maintaining good health during tough times; and the opportunity for generations to learn from each other. At the top of the agenda was how to serve youth better during out of school time. Issues like transportation, communication, and developing programs with youth involvement, were discussed by participants as areas that could be addressed through collaborative means.
As part of a commitment to continuing this discussion the Dale Turner Family YMCA has pledged to produce a report of the results of the forum and to host future discussions to facilitate further collaboration.
“The resources are there, what it will take is working together to ensure that everyone in our communities receive the support they need,” Whitaker said.