Vol. 17, No. 1 • November 2012
SaySo's Celebrating Its Quinceanera (15th birthday)!
by Lauren Zingraff, SaySo Program Coordinator
Exciting things are happening with SaySo, Inc. (Strong Able Youth Speaking Out). As you can tell from the update below, we continue our motto of "Speaking Out Today, While Making Changes for Tomorrow."
Legislative Page Week 2012
SaySo hosted its 9th Annual Legislative Page Week at the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh, June 25-29, 2012. Three SaySo youth served as Pages in the House (Mary L., Ashley H., and Derrick M.) and two (Damonique L. and David R.) served in the Senate.For the third consecutive year, a SaySo member also served as a summer intern with the NC Division of Social Services. Titianna G., who served on the SaySo Board of Directors, was selected for this exciting opportunity.
Our Foster Club All-Star
Marcella M., another of our Board Members, received the prestigious honor of being both nominated and chosen as a Foster Club All-Star. FosterClub is the National Network for Youth in Foster Care and each summer they host their All-Star internship at their headquarters in Oregon. All-Star Interns receive training in public speaking, advocacy, and professional development.National Independent Living Conference
SaySo attended the 25th Annual National Independent Living Conference in Atlanta on September 4-7, 2012. This was a big gathering of more than 600 people from across the country. A delegation of almost 40 SaySo representatives attended. We chartered a bus from Durham and picked up more SaySo members in Gastonia on the way to Atlanta. SaySo members presented two workshops at the conference, one on social networking and another focused on the importance of strong support networks for youth transitioning from foster care to independence. Fifty people attended each of these workshops. Special thanks to our Assistant Program Coordinator, Chaney Stokes, as well as Marcella M., Roman R., and Chris W., for facilitating our workshops and representing North Carolina so well on the national level.Welcome Chantelle!
We have had an addition to SaySo headquarters--Ms. Chantelle Craig, our new Communications Coordinator! An alumna of the foster care system, Chantelle is doing a wonderful job overseeing our social media, including our SaySo website, Facebook Page, and Twitter account.Come Celebrate Our Quinceanera
SaySo will be celebrating its 15th Birthday (you read that right--we really are turning 15 years old!) at our annual "SaySo Saturday" event on March 2, 2013. This serves as both our family reunion and birthday party. If you know any SaySo alumni, please spread the word that they are invited to come and celebrate with us! We hope to have our biggest and best turn-out ever at the Medlin Center on the Guilford Technical Community College campus in Jamestown, NC. Please mark your calendars and check for additional updates on our website (http://www.saysoinc.org/).
SaySo would like to remember Ms. Makeisha A. Williams, who passed away on August 3, 2012. Makeisha served on the SaySo Board of Directors from 2003-2006 and was elected twice to the NILA Board of Directors as a youth representative. She was also awarded National Youth of the Year in 2005.
Makeisha lives on through SaySo as she encouraged foster youths to complete their education and provided the inspiration for our annual Make a Difference Day "Give a Child a Smile" suitcase collection event since 2004. Our October 2012 Make a Difference Day event was held in her honor.
Thank you for touching our lives so sweetly, Makeisha.
You will be missed.
~ Family and Children's Resource Program, UNC-CH School of Social Work ~
