Cohort 2 Attends Preservice Training in Seattle

Following their week in Boston, our second cohort of fellows came together to complete their final week of preservice training in Seattle, WA from January 16-18, 2018. The week’s activities and speakers included:

• A cocktail reception to celebrate the launch of the second Foster America fellowship cohort with honored guest Washington State Department of Children, Youth, & Families Secretary Ross Hunter;
• A discussion about child welfare systems in the 21st century led by David Sanders, Ph.D., who is the Executive Vice President of Systems Improvement at Casey Family Programs;
• A result based leadership data walk and workshop with Raj Chawla, Principal of The OCL Group;
• A site to visit to nonprofit partners Treehouse and The Mockingbird Society
• A panel on the use of data and technology in child welfare featuring Emily Putnam-Hornstei of the Children’s Data Network, Susan Smith, the Senior Director of Data Advocac for Casey Family Programs, and Brian Clapier, former Associate Commissioner for Research and Analysis at New York’s ACS.

Learning from and working with leaders in the child welfare sector, our Cohort 2 fellows gained vital information to begin their own projects at their new host agency sites. We look forward to following their progress and continuing to see all that they will accomplish throughout the Foster America fellowship.