Dear TeamChild Community,

This holiday season, we are counting down our top 10 moments of the year. Our next highlight is our Youth Action Coalition.

TeamChild's Youth Advisory Board started a few years ago as a way to center the voices of youth in changing the systems that affect them. 2025 has been a year of big shifts for this group, beginning with a name change. The group is now the Youth Action Coalition (YAC), a name that better reflects the power young leaders hold, especially when paired with elders who help open doors to advocacy spaces youth often can’t access alone. We were honored to welcome our new YAC Elders, Yvonne Monique Aviva and Natalia Gutierrez, and through their relationships we’ve grown by four new YAC members from across Washington State.

TeamChild remains deeply committed to supporting the YAC, showing up alongside youth as they set their legislative priorities and showed up to advocate in Olympia during the 2025 legislative session. In the fall, three YAC members spoke at the Access to Justice Conference, sharing their stories of perseverance in the legal and education systems, and even receiving a personal invitation from Justice Steven González to visit the Capitol. These are just a few of the moments that made 2025 a powerful year, and we’re excited to step into 2026 with a renewed vision and growing momentum.

The Youth Action Coalition is preparing to advocate in Olympia at the Day of Empathy - a powerful event dedicated to raising awareness and fostering understanding for those impacted by the criminal-legal system.  If you'd like to join them on February 11, please complete the registration bit.ly/WADayOfEmpathy

We couldn't do this important work without your support.  We invite you to consider making a gift to make it possible for TeamChild to continue to advocate with young people for the rights of young people in Washington. 
We hope you continue follow along as we count down our top 10 of 2025! 

Thank you,

TeamChild Board and Staff

If you are interested in learning more about how you can support the work of TeamChild, please respond to this email or call 206.322.2444.