Class of 2023 - Leadership Kitsap Foundation

Leadership Kitsap Class of 2023

TEAM 1 | Jenifer Andersen, Susan Van Ort, Misty Tobin, Peter Tunis, Roxy Hockett
Community Partner: Boys and Girls Club of South Puget Sound
Project: This Youth Academy is designed to assist in breaking down the barriers and stigmas between Kitsap County community youth and the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) and Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue (CKFR) and vice versa. While there will be an element ridding the stigma of talking to an officer, the project’s primary motivations are to address a societal problem created by the pandemic, which is that children have either forgotten how to, or never learned how to, play in person and that there is a technological addiction that is prevalent hindering social interaction. KCSO and potentially other organizations can build trust with the youth in our community and also serve as good examples for the children in activities that help them integrate with more conventional in-person, engaging activities.

TEAM 2 “Team Pivot” | Jeremiah Marchand, Martha Evenmoe, KistiAnn Stecker, Jason Hedstrom, Jess Reicks
Community Partner: Kitsap County Public Works – Solid Waste Division
Project: Produce an educational video highlighting the importance of Securing Your Load for Safer Roads. The purpose of the video is to decrease litter and improve safety on Kitsap County roadways. Raising awareness will reduce accidents and increase safety on our roads. The video will be debuted at the Bremerton Transfer Station to raise awareness, educate drivers and share free resources with the public such as load securement tools.

TEAM 3 “SWAT” Strong Women Advocating Together | Jayne Barton, Hailey Crow, Vanna Lombardi-Gillies, Tiffany Hye, Amanda Tjemsland
Community Partner: Graduate Strong (Kitsap Strong)
Project: Collaborate with Graduate Strong to create a repository of career videos that target youth, introducing them to different career paths. Kitsap Strong is a community initiative to improve the health and well-being of all children, families, and adults in Kitsap. Graduate Strong is a program within Kitsap Strong that works with youth in Kitsap County to build on their individual capabilities so they can thrive in their future. This video project hopes to help youth identify potential career paths, especially those that are Kitsap-specific.

TEAM 4 “The Kinder-Gardeners” | Anna Aruzia, Joshua Goss, Michael Carson, Melynda Phelps, Kim Cizek-Allen
Community Partner: Catalyst Public Schools
Project: The Kinder-Gardeners will plan and execute a redesign of the kindergarten/first-grade garden area at Catalyst Public Schools in Manette to enhance the educational values, as well as the social and emotional benefits of the space for the Catalyst scholars. Catalyst Public Schools, along with the Family Action Network, will provide the space, as well as input and advice about what is needed for the garden. The garden space was newly acquired by Catalyst and has existing overgrown garden beds. Students and families may be involved in garden workdays to get the space setup.

TEAM 5 “Money Matters” | Allie McLaughlin, Jill Stanton, Ronnie Oswald, Pete Boissonneau, Branden Davis
Community Partner: Olive Crest
Project: Create a financial resources fair for teens aging out of the foster care system; bringing in local financial experts to set up booths that can assist with bank accounts and credit cards to build credit, with how to fill out their taxes, with writing resumes to apply for jobs, and with long-term financial planning. Post-event, working with Olive Crest to critically assess the fair will give them a list of community contacts to assist them in recreating a successful fair in future years.

TEAM 6 “The Leftovers” | Roniqua Smith, Brittany Corona, Tony Ives, Cammy Mills, Kelly McKinley
Community Partner: Birkenfeld Stella Maris House (Saint Vincent de Paul)
Project: Develop a brief survey to be administered to residents of Stella Maris to identify educational offerings they find beneficial. This may include financial management, parenting, healthy relationships, or something else. Based on the feedback received in the survey, the team will identify and recruit potential speakers, willing to work with clients at Stella Maris to deliver a series of classes or workshops. The team will work collaboratively with Stella Maris and the content experts to develop curricula that are appropriate to the needs of the Stella Maris clients. In addition, the team will work with speakers and sponsors to ensure that the series of classes and curriculum developed will be sustainable past the term of the Leadership Kitsap project. The team will also work with Stella Maris staff to develop and exit survey for clients. This will help determine the impact of the classes, but over time, will also help Stella Maris staff identify further needs their clients may have and the overall performance of Stella Maris itself. The team will create a system to track the data recorded from these forms. We will work with the team at Stella Maris to ensure that the system created is usable long-term for staff to track and analyze the data they collect.

The team is approaching this project by building on the foundational work of Team Hope Hustlers. The work they did was substantial, however, extenuating circumstances (turnover of key staff and the onset of a pandemic) prevented it from flourishing.

2022-2023 CHALLENGE DAY DATES

Orientation: Thursday, August 18 from 6-8PM

Opening Retreat (Positive Leadership: Introduction): Friday, September 9
& Saturday, September 10 (Overnight, Seabeck Conference Center)

Local Government (Authenticity): Friday, October 14

Education (Purpose): Friday, November 18

Economics (Advocacy): Friday, December 9

Healthy Community (Resilience): Friday, January 20

State Government: Friday, February 10 (Trip to Olympia)

Law & Justice (Community Building): Friday, March 10

Arts & Culture (Reason): Friday, April 14

Environment & Planning: Friday, May 12

Personal Reflections (Conclusion: Thriving): Friday, June 2