January 31st, 2014

Massachusetts Directors Participate in Capitol Hill Day in Washington, DC

Seven Directors from the Massachusetts YouthBuild Coalition spent four days in Washington DC at the the YouthBuild National Directors Conference.  This annual event brings Directors together from around the country to share ideas, learn new techniques and advocate for YouthBuild.  The conference ends with a day on Capitol Hill meeting with Legislators.

The day began with a gathering in the Kennedy Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building.  This room is the site of many historic events including the McCarthy hearings in the 1950's.  

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The group was first addressed by John Phillips, Chief of Staff for Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.  John had previously served as the Chief of Staff for twenty years of then Senator John Kerry who was responsible for creating the National YouthBuild Act.  

The Directors then had the pleasure of hearing the remarks of Senator Markey who spoke about the great service that YouhBuild provides to our young people.  He added, "You are on the front lines and we thank you for all of your great work."

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Directors then spread across the Hill to advocate for the YouthBuild students n their districts.  In Massachusetts, our visits consisted of a big thank you because of all of the support that we have already received.  These meetings gave the directors the opportunity to discuss the success of YouthBuild in Massachusetts, the need for additional federal funding and to extend invitations to visit the programs back home and a chance to meet our students first hand.  These requests were well received and we will be following up on each of our meetings addressing specific requests for information. 

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Sometimes, the impact of Capitol Hill day extends behind our meetings.  Unexpectedly, Kristin Anderson and Christina Conti from YouthBuild North Shore found that one of the people traveling on their flight home was Senator Markey himself.  We are hoping that the events of today will serve to increase the wonderful support that we enjoy from the Massachusetts National Delegation.

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