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When the administrators from the U.S. Dept. of Health of Human Services Administration for Children & Families called ECIC for our recommendations six months ago, no one knew exactly what to expect. The opportunity? The federal government, at the request of the President, aimed to organize the “first federally-sponsored national conference solely devoted to creating an inclusive human services delivery system.” Because of ECIC’s work with our partners at Region 5 of the Administration for Children & Families over the years, the planning for this national conference began with parent voice and leadership.
Four parent leaders—Anthony Queen, Zach Ben, Amber Robinson, and Sadia Batool—representing communities from Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
and Federally Recognized Sovereign Tribes, gave their time and talents to help plan the national conference. Thanks to a generous partnership with the Pritzker Children’s Initiative to cover
the cost of travel to the Washington DC area, three of these parent leaders were also able to participate in the two-day national convening with 2,000 attendees from across the country.
“I appreciated that we were asked to be part of this, and it seems like our feedback was really valued,” said Amber Robinson.
“Throughout the planning stages I spoke about my lived experiences and how my trademarked tag line, ‘Collaboration moves at the speed of Trust’ came about,” said Anthony Queen. “They decided to use it as a title for the breakout session on Building Bridges Among Communities of Color, Person of Color, Building Bridges session."
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