Children and Youth Advisory Board

Mackenzie Chase is a Government Relations Manager for Save the Children Action Network (SCAN), where she focuses on expanding access to high quality early childhood education and care for children in Washington. Previously, Mackenzie worked as an Early Learning Policy Associate at Children’s Alliance. She also spent over four years at the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where she worked on diverse policies, including K-12 education issues. Mackenzie is passionate about making sure children have a strong start in life and promoting policies that support children and families.

Bio to come

Abigail Echo-Hawk, MA is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and is also a member of the Upper Athabascan people of Mentasta Village, Alaska. She is the director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, a Tribal Epidemiology Center located in Seattle whose mission is to support the health and well-being of urban Indian communities through information, scientific inquiry and technology. Specializing in facilitating cross cultural partnerships, she has been an integral part of establishing health research projects and public health initiatives with rural and urban tribal communities across the United States. Her work embodies respect for Native culture, pursuit of excellence in providing opportunities and deliverables, and willingness to work in true partnership with communities. Abigail has concentrated her volunteer efforts on policy and institutional change in order to minimize health disparities for women of color locally and nationally, focused on policy advocacy in areas such as maternal and child health, domestic violence, sexual assault, youth prostitution and educational disparities. Her volunteer board memberships include the Native American Women’s Dialogue on Infant Mortality, Hope Heart Institute, Center for Indigenous Law and Justice and the Coalition to End Gender Based Violence.

Karen Hart is the President of SEIU Local 925. After receiving her BA at the University of Washington, she became a community and labor organizer. In the 1980s, she organized retired, disabled textile workers to fight for fair compensation from the southern mills that hurt them. She also organized and directed the South End Seattle Community Organization (SESCO) winning health clinics, drug stores and block grant funding for the Rainier Valley. Her first labor organizing was at Swedish Hospital. She has also worked to organize hundreds of low-income women in clothing factories until the passage of NAFTA, when corporations moved work out of the United States. She believes that working people and low-income communities need to empower themselves to win needed improvements in their lives. In the early 90s, she became involved with middle and high school students in Seattle, working first to gain her Masters in Teaching from Columbia Teachers College and then began a teaching career with the Seattle Public School District. In 2004, she was asked to join SEIU Local 925 as the Organizing Director, Early Learning Division Director, Staff Director and now serves as the President.

Janet Levinger is a Social Impact Leader in the Seattle area. Her vision is to create opportunity through engagement, advocacy and philanthropy, focusing on education, civic participation and reproductive rights. Janet currently serves as a board member of The Seattle Foundation, Thrive Washington, the League of Education Voters, Eastside Pathways and University of Washington School of Education Ambassador Board. She chairs the Outreach Committee for Social Venture Partners Seattle. Janet worked in high tech for 16 years. She has experience in marketing/communications, fundraising, board governance, and training and development. She has a BA in English with honors from Brown University. When not advocating for better opportunity for children and women, she enjoys cooking, bicycling (on a tandem with her husband), hiking, traveling and scuba diving.

Diane Oakes, MPH, MSW is president and CEO of Washington Dental Service (WDS) Foundation where she has worked for 10 years on strategies to prevent oral disease and increase access to care. She has been instrumental in the development of WDS Foundation’s oral health initiatives, which include a nationally recognized program that has increased dental care access for lower income children, significant expansion of Community Health Center dental clinics and successful advocacy to restore dental coverage for low-income adults. WDS Foundation is founded and sustained by Delta Dental of Washington, a nonprofit organization that is the leading dental benefits company in the state. Diane has an undergraduate degree in psychology from Western Washington University and Master of Social Work and Public Health from the University of Washington.

Brian Saelens is a Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington and a researcher at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. He lives in Council District 1. Brian is trained as a clinical/health psychologist. His work focuses on how to help children and families engage in healthy behaviors. This includes developing and testing strategies to improve the impact and reach of family-based weight management interventions. He also explores how environmental factors and policies affect physical activity and eating behaviors in children and adults. He collaborates with community partners and local public health practitioners to try to reduce health inequities through implementing policy, systems, and environment changes around healthy eating and active living in King County.

Bio to come

Nancy Woodland is Executive Director of WestSide Baby, a Seattle area nonprofit providing essential items to local children in need by collecting and distributing diapers, clothes and equipment. Nancy provides vision and leadership to a swiftly growing community cornerstone. Woodland earned her BA in Sociology from Michigan State University and JD from Loyola Chicago School of Law as a member of the first class of CIVITAS Child Law Scholars. She litigated child abuse cases for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office where she handled cases of neglect, abuse and licensing of foster homes and day care facilities and homes. Woodland served on the Children’s Justice Interdisciplinary Task Force and the University of Washington School of Law’s Child Advocacy Clinic Advisory Board from 1996-2006. She volunteered for 10 years for King County Kid’s Court, a program dedicated to preparing child witnesses. She is a founding board member for the National Diaper Bank Network Board. After years of supporting WestSide Baby through donations and diaper drives, Woodland joined the Board of Directors in 2005 and was hired as Executive Director in 2006. Nancy received the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Community Hero award in 2010. She is also the mom to two great kids.

Rochelle Clayton Strunk resides in Council District 3. She is the director of education programs at Encompass, a nonprofit organization delivering early learning programs, parenting education, birth to three early intervention services and pediatric therapy in Snoqualmie Valley. Rochelle holds a bachelor’s degree from Pacific Lutheran University and a master’s degree in public administration from Seattle University. With over 20 years of experience working for various nonprofit organizations, Rochelle has extensive knowledge of many issues facing the most vulnerable residents in our community. For the last five years, children living in rural King County and children with special needs have been an area of emphasis for her. She served on the King County Youth Action Plan Task Force and is currently the co-chair of the Alliance of Eastside Agencies.

Bio to come

Leslie Dozono is a consultant specializing in education policy, advocacy and organizational/coalition development with an emphasis in early learning. Her work focuses on the people, strategies and tactics necessary to achieve results for children – from conceiving of campaigns around state legislation, to writing policy briefs, to creating and facilitating meeting and retreat agendas that help people build relationships and move work forward. In addition to the King County Children and Youth Advisory Board, she currently serves on the board of the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP. Prior to becoming a consultant, Leslie was the Early Learning Policy Director at Children’s Alliance. In that role, she was core in the development of the Early Learning Action Alliance, Washington’s statewide early learning advocacy coalition. Before focusing on policy work, Leslie worked in direct service organizations focused on school-age children, including Atlantic Street Center in Seattle and the National Council of Jewish Women/Los Angeles. She holds a BA in English with honors from Scripps College and an MPA from University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance where she received the Daniel J. Evans Leadership Award for outstanding leadership. Leslie lives in Columbia City with her husband, preschooler, toddler and dog.

Hye-Kyung Kang, MA, MSW, PhD, is an Associate Professor at Seattle University. She is a first-generation immigrant Korean American social worker and received her MSW and PhD at University of Washington. Kang’s research focuses on cultural citizenship, postcolonial social work practice, community organizing in communities of color and critical pedagogy. She is currently focusing on developing a social justice-focused and community-based advanced clinical MSW program at Seattle University where she is Director of the MSW Program.

Bio and photo coming soon!

Debbie Peterson is Founder of Because It Takes a Village: Child Learning Collaborative based in Federal Way, WA. Debbie strives to make a positive difference in the lives of children and families through strength-based practices applied within multiple roles and partnerships in Washington State. She is an Early Learning Advocate, Community Activist, Consultant, Project Coordinator and Leader of Professional Development. Debbie served at the state level as Coordinator to the ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Public-Private Initiative and currently serves as a WA Strengthening Families State Lead to the Center for Study of Social Policy. She also serves as Mentor and Trainer Observer alongside her membership within the WA Department of Early Learning’s Trainer Advisory Board. In Federal Way, Debbie serves as an officer of the board of Federal Way Community Connections and a member of the Federal Way Youth Action Team.

Photo and bio to come.

Photo and bio to come.

Jessica Paul Werner has led Youth Development Executives of King County (YDEKC) since its inception in 2011. Jessica built her interest and expertise in positive youth development theory and practice over the course of nine years supporting youth development programming for the YMCA of Greater Seattle, following the completion of her MPA at the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy and Governance in 2002 with a focus on non-profit management. Jessica is a proud graduate of Seattle Public Schools, Occidental College, and two years of service as an AmeriCorps*VISTA member in Sitka, Alaska and Portland, Maine. Jessica now lives with her family in Shoreline, Washington.

 

Bio to come.

Bio to come.

Photo and bio to come.

Nathan Buck is the Director of Education & Community Services at Neighborhood House, a non-profit committed to partnering with diverse communities and families in King County to build community and improve health, education, housing and employment outcomes for the region’s most vulnerable low-income residents for over 112 years. Nathan holds a Master of Arts in International Studies degree from the University of Washington and has been working with local immigrant, refugee and low-income communities for over 20 years. Nathan’s work at Neighborhood House focuses on breaking the cycle of poverty through innovative programming targeting children, youth, young adults and their families.

Photo and bio to come.

Sophie Theriault is 17 and in her second year of the running start program at Bellevue College. She lives in Duvall, Washington and have a passion for making her community a healthy and safe place. She is pursuing a degree in Social Sciences and eventually wants to work as an advocate for youth that have had significant traumas in their lives.

Photo and bio to come.

Photo and bio to come.

Photo and bio to come.

Photo and bio to come.

Photo and bio to come.

Photo and bio to come.

Photo and bio to come.