Roundtable with MPAC’s 2012 Young Leaders Summit

Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett meets with students attending the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s Young Leaders Summit, July 12, 2012. (Photo by the Office of Public Engagement)

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to speak with 27 outstanding college and graduate students who were attending the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s Young Leaders Summit. Currently in its 5^th year, the summit is a weeklong civic training program that exposes the students to careers in public service and encourages increased engagement in their respective communities. As we sat around the table in the Roosevelt Room it proved to be an ideal setting for them to engage directly with senior Administration officials and share their own unique perspectives. 

The students, whose studies range from psychology and the environment to finance and women’s studies, asked insightful questions around a variety of policy issues. The conversation touched on domestic and foreign policy.  Ronnie Cho, an Associate Director in the Office of Public Engagement and liaison to Young Americans, discussed the President’s work to address issues of concern to the next generation of Americans including college affordability and clean energy policy. Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett welcomed the students, encouraging them to share their stories, insights, and perspectives here in DC and also as they returned home. 

Keeping Families Together to Prevent Youth Homelessness

Sparky Harlan is being honored as a Champion of Change for her work to combat homelessness among children and youth.

It takes great leaders to tackle a huge issue like ending homelessness. I am proud to be working with the White House and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and to be recognized as a Champion of Change for working to end youth and family homelessness. 

In 2010, when I first heard USICH announce the Opening Doors plan, which included ending youth and family homelessness by 2020, I was a bit skeptical. After all, I had been working with runaways and homeless street youth in the San Francisco/San Jose area for over 40 years. How was the country going to end youth and family homelessness during an economic downturn, when families were losing their homes to foreclosures and unemployment was climbing?

Each year the Bill Wilson Center serves over 10,000 individuals in Silicon Valley, providing counseling, housing, education, and advocacy. It is estimated that on any given night there are 1,500 homeless youth in San Jose either on the streets, couch surfing, or trading sex for a place to stay. We provide a continuum of services for youth and young families that includes street outreach and a drop-in center for homeless youth, emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent and supportive housing. Our vision is to prevent poverty by helping youth make the connections they need to be self-sufficient adults. Our primary goal is to keep families together and teach them the skills they need to prevent future crises. 

Advocating for the Health Care Needs of Homeless Youth

Lisa Stambolis is being honored as a Champion of Change for her work to combat homelessness among children and youth.

I’m humbled to be recognized as a White House Champion of Change. I am deeply thankful for the acknowledgement. I am honored to work side by side with the youth of Baltimore City. They inspire me to do my best every day. My work with homeless youth, children and their families is both a privilege and a responsibility. The privilege is in serving, for which the rewards are endless, and the responsibility is advocating on their behalf.

Most nurses work in hospitals, and so did I for my first five years as a pediatric nurse. I quickly realized that I wanted to expand my work beyond the hospital walls and in 1993, after earning my graduate degree to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner I worked with Health Care for the Homeless, Inc. (HCH). This was my first taste of real public health nursing and I was hooked. I spent the next four years absorbing the issues of poverty and health and witnessing firsthand their mutual side effects.