A thank you, a farewell, and a challenge

After three incredible years I’ll be leaving NC Child soon to take on a new opportunity. And that makes this moment bittersweet. I’ll be working on an issue that’s very personal to me (stay tuned for an update). But I will miss the people at NC Child and getting to be a voice for our children. 

Since goodbyes are so hard this one starts best with a thank you. I want to say thank you to all of the people who have made this experience so rewarding (from Erica Palmer Smith and the staff at NC Child, to board members, PAC members, YAC members, and advocates across the state).  

Thank you for the opportunity to have been a part of the work and mission of NC Child and thank you for welcoming me into your towns and communities. Thank you for inspiring and leading by example. And thank you for bringing attention to the issues affecting our kids.  

I didn’t set out to work in children’s advocacy. That was never my ambition. But it became something of a purpose along the way. After graduating from law school I returned home to the foothills of North Carolina where mornings were spent in court representing clients – often children, teens, and parents – in cases where poverty, substance use, and adverse childhood experiences were almost always a part of the story. And those stories have stayed with me.  

After years of representing many of the same clients multiple times I longed for the opportunity to affect policy and to change outcomes and trajectories. And that eventually led to NC Child.  

It was the spring of 2023, and while Medicaid expansion had just passed, the latest Child Health Report Card had just come out with alarming statistics about the state of youth mental health. And then too there was a growing crisis when it came to the cost and accessibility of early childhood education in the state. The important thing was to be getting the word out.  

NC Child has long been a trusted source of research and data. But because of the pandemic there’d been fewer opportunities to share that information and build relationships in person. So that led to bringing back our local State of the Child Conferences partnering first with our Child Advocacy Network Hubs in Wilmington, Asheville, Goldsboro, and Greensboro, and then expanding that outreach to more and more places (including Winterville and Marshall in recent weeks). That also led to bringing back the Youth Advocacy Council and making it statewide. 

From presenting to local governments from Wilmington to Franklin, to holding listening tours and roundtable discussions, to holding field day events for children, to cohosting statewide summits, it’s been a busy and productive three years. And it’s been a joy to support colleagues like Emily Blevins, Taylor Main, Kelvin Stallings, and Neil Harrington (and to jokingly take credit for all of their great work, from media mentions and marketing, to event planning and facilitating, to presenting data and being a YouTube sensation).  

It’s been a joy to watch them grow as leaders and as people. And it’s been a joy to see and to show up across the state with them. From Swan Quarter and Elizabeth City to Sylva, West Jefferson, and a child care center near the Tennessee border where my car got stuck in the snow.  

I took staff to visit the farm where mom grew up and watched a colleague get sworn-in to serve on a city council. Along the way there have been birthdays and milestones celebrated and some awesome memories (from taking a Harvard researcher to Robeson County for a focus group to bringing members of our YAC together with young people visiting from Algeria for a conversation about the unique issues that they face and what they have in common as teenagers).  

Memories like that will stand out. PAC retreats. YAC interviews and graduations. Meeting school principals and teachers who are doing everything possible to make conditions better for students. And meeting parents who have dedicated their lives to advocating for children who are in need. 

There’s also been watching Erica passionately give the State of the Child Address to a packed crowd at the State of the Child Summit and seeing YAC leaders on the same stage speaking with the confidence, clarity, and forthrightness of youth. Those moments were inspiring to me.  

And I look forward to seeing where the work goes from here. NC Child is working hard this session to advance a statewide subsidy floor and suicide prevention training for school personnel. And we are building coalitions to advance priorities on the most pressing issues facing our kids.  

That’s why I would be remiss to say farewell without doing some advocacy on the way out. At NC Child we’ve set a goal and a vision of being the state that is First in Children. In a state like ours that takes pride in being First in Freedom and First in Flight it’s a way for us to lead on some of the most pressing issues of our time (from the impacts of technology on mental health to the increasing epidemic of loneliness, the issues of our time are impacting our children the most).  

That effort begins by putting children first in our policies and in our lives. We believe that every child should have enough food to eat, a safe and stable home, access to healthcare, a network of caring and trusted adults, a strong education, places to play, and hope for the future.  

And we know we have some work to do.  

In the latest Child Health Report Card from last year we received a grade of D for healthy eating, substance use, education outcomes, and oral health, and a grade of F for school health, birth outcomes, and for the state of youth mental health. And those are good places to improve.  

But I’m hopeful. I recently learned about the difference between optimism and hope. Optimism and pessimism are both passive. Optimism is the belief that good things will happen no matter what (so it’s no wonder lots of people aren’t feeling optimistic these days). But hope is better than that. Hope is the belief that things can get better if we take action to make them happen.  

And I for one am hopeful. I’m hopeful because of the people I’ve met from my time at NC Child. People like Erica, Peg O’Connell, Manju Karkare, Carmello Gilliam, Jasmine Smith, Gracie Parker, Christopher James, Jenny Hobbs, Avani Narayanan, Frank Crawford, J’vaneté Skiba, Eric Graves, Joe Waters, Dr. Danny Stedman, Dr. Eric Cunningham, and countless others.  

I’m hopeful about the efforts going forward to make services like oral healthcare more accessible, to protect teens from harmful and addictive vaping products, to protect access to Medicaid and SNAP, to expand access to high-quality early childhood education, and to increase access school-based mental health services.  

I’m hopeful about North Carolina being First in Children. That starts with believing in our future. It starts with the belief that the future can be better than the past and that it should. And then making decisions and choosing where and how to invest while thinking of our future.  

That’s my challenge to the state. But I close with encouragement for everyone in this work. You don’t go into children’s advocacy for the lifestyle. You do it for the purpose and for the impact.  

I’ve been very fortunate in life because of people like you. Because of child care educators. Because of teachers in school like Mrs. Watts and Mr. Clark. Because of youth pastors like Chris Lakey. Because of coaches and mentors. And because of role models like my parents (a mom who ran a used bookstore and who taught me service, empathy and understanding, and a father who taught me enthusiasm and resilience and who was there every time I screwed up).  

People like that matter. People like you matter. The issues will come and go. But we will always need people to do something about them. Which reminds me of a favorite Dr. Seuss quote from The Lorax: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” But I’m hopeful because of the people I’ve met in my time here who care very much.