2019 Meeting with the Governor's Office

Click to enlarge photo

Link to more photos.

On Tuesday, January 29, 2019, Ohio foster care youth, alumni and allies held an introductory meeting with LeeAnne Cornyn, Director of Children’s Initiatives for the Office of Governor Mike DeWine and Chelsea Cordonnier of ODJFS.

Participants included representatives from the OHIO Youth Advisory Board, ACTION Ohio, Adoption Network Cleveland, and the Columbus State Scholar Network.

The agenda focused on:

1. Introductions and well-deserved congratulations to LeeAnne Cornyn
2. Appreciation for Governor Mike DeWine and the many ways that he has served as a champion for Ohio foster youth in his former role as Ohio Attorney General
3. Creating a statewide Foster Care Ombudsman’s Office
4. Reforming Ohio child welfare funding
5. Establishing an ongoing communications mechanism to stay in touch and keep working together

2019 January OHIO YAB Meeting

Click to enlarge photo

Link to more photos.

During the 2019 January Statewide Quarterly Meeting, OHIO YAB Founding Member
Kierra Williams shared creative hands-on Leadership Skill Building Activities.

She also facilitated the breakout session on Strategic Sharing.

The OHIO YAB agenda also included:

1. Updates on how the Sibling Bill is progressing on a statewide level.
2. Next steps regarding federal advocacy to end the Foster Care to Homeless Pipeline.
3. Providing printed copies of a draft Toolkit to support county and regional Youth Advisory Boards for participants to field-test in in their area.
4. Additional break-out sessions on Bridges, Mind Matters, and Ohio CASA's upcoming new webpage for foster youth.
5. Mind Matters was a decision-making guide that was created back in 2015. Ohio foster youth have expressed interest in renaming, redesigning and relaunching a tool to inform and empower youth regarding both medication and emotional health.