August 2012

Florida Youth SHINE News

Board of Directors
April White
Statewide Chair Pinellas/Pasco

FYS Elects 2012-2013 Board of Directors

Andrea Cowart
1 Vice Chair - Membership Pinellas/Pasco
st

Georgina Rodriguez
2 Vice Chair - Legislation Hillsborough
nd

Robert Stalker
Fundraising Co-Chair ManaSota From left to right: Stephen Satchell, Andrea Cowart, April White, Georgina Rodriguez, & Robert Stalker

Stephen Satchell
Secretary Broward

Lindsay Baach
FYS Coordinator Ft. Lauderdale

During Florida Youth SHINEs quarterly meeting in Gainesville July 13-15, representatives from 11 of our chapters came together to for a wonderful weekend of team building and leadership development. The members in attendance met with wonderful guest speakers, determined FYSs 2013 legislative priorities, prepared for several upcoming presentations at DCFs Child Protection Summit, and elected a new group of young adults to lead them for the 2012-2013 year. Congratulations to Florida Youth SHINEs incoming Board of Directors:

Chapters:
Broward Hillsborough Jacksonville ManaSota Miami Orlando Palm Beach Pensacola Pinellas/Pasco Southwest Florida Tallahassee Vero Beach

Chair: 1st Vice Chair of Membership: 2nd Vice Chair of Legislative: Fundraising Chair: Secretary:

April White, FYS Pinellas/Pasco Andrea Cowart, FYS Pinellas/Pasco Georgina Rodriguez, FYS Hillsborough Robert Stalker, FYS ManaSota Stephen Satchell, FYS Broward

In addition, a special thank you also goes out to our outstanding 2011-2012 Board of Directors. Their leadership and commitment to FYS throughout the year has been invaluable to our organization and we appreciate everything they have brought to our program. Jesse Wilson, FYS Jacksonville (pictured) Brian Smith, FYS Pensacola April White, FYS Pinellas/Pasco (pictured) Danielle McMahan, FYS Hillsborough (pictured) Manny Oliver, FYS Palm Beach David Gagne, FYS Broward

www.floridayouthshine.org 1801 N. University Drive, Suite 3B , Coral Springs, Florida 33071 P: (954) 796 -0860 Lindsay Baach C : (954) 857-9597 E: lindsay.baach @floridaschildrenfirst .org

August 2012

Florida Youth SHINE News

A Message from our Chair
- April White
I am honored to have been elected as Chair of Florida Youth SHINE. Being with FYS for the last two years I have seen a lot of growth and I have learned that the things that we can accomplish together when we set our minds to it are unlimited. I have wanted to be chair for at least a year now because I am a natural born leader. I have to the ability to listen to my group and by following their cues take charge of a situation and organize and focus the group to achieve the common goal we have in mind. I want to affect the most positive change that I can with the skills that I possess. As this years chair I would like to see FYS - our organization, our accomplishments, and our leaders - continue to grow. I plan to concentrate on working with the statewide board to strengthen our leadership and to empower and foster new leaders, because without a strong foundation we cannot grow to our full potential. I am so excited to get my year as chair under way and accomplish as much as I possibly can in order to leave a more solid foundation for our future leaders. And most important to me, I want to spend the next year getting to know you, our members, so please know you can always email me at chair@floridayouthshine.org.

Look for FYS at DCFs Child Protection Summit in September

We are thrilled to share that Florida Youth SHINE and our parent non-profit, Floridas Children First, will be presenting three workshops during DCFs Child Protection Summit next month in Orlando. Look for us on Thursday, September 6th during: Session A at 9:30am From Babysitting to Parenting: How to Recruit and Train the Next Generation of Foster Parents Seen and Heard: Its Our Case Why Shouldnt We Be There? (Part 1 multidisciplinary panel) Session B at 11am Seen and Heard: Its Our Case Why Shouldnt We Be There? (Part 2 FYS panel) Session D at 4:15pm Behind Closed Doors: What We Hope You Will Do to Find Out What is Really Happening in Placements

www.floridayouthshine.org 1801 N. University Drive, Suite 3B , Coral Springs, Florida 33071 P: (954) 796 -0860 Lindsay Baach C : (954) 857-9597 E: lindsay.baach @floridaschildrenfirst .org