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Our Challenging Environment

The Coming Age of Austerity■Stimulus funding to states for IV-E and Medicaid ending

■State budgets to worsen

Largest Scale Political Transitions in our Lifetimes■Biggest changes are in state legislatures and governorships

■New commissioners/secretaries/directors will be dealing with multiple challenges on many fronts

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Our Challenging Environment

THE SMART PERSON ACCEPTS,

THE IDIOT RESISTS. - Sign in Greek Monastery

This is the secret of success for anywhere in the world.

- Father Arsenios

First rule of any collaborative enterprise: - Take what you have and build on it.

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Our Challenging Environment

How Do We Survive ─ Thrive ─ in This Environment?■Give voice to our young people – engage them in authentic

ways

■Nurture partnerships

■Identify and seize opportunities

■Build a constituency that is a force – a national movement

■Pay close and strict attention to communication and data

These are the Jim Casey Strategies

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Our Challenging Environment

The Art of Communication is the Language of Leadership.

- James Humes

What Are Our Messages:

■Cost of bad outcomes: $6 billion per year is not tolerable in age of austerity

■Policy is driven by stories, by anecdotes. But the plural of anecdotes is not data. We must have both stories and data.

■We are – legally and morally – the parents of these young people

■Successful strategies, and data to back them up, with youth voice overcomes the perception of bottomless pit

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www.jimcaseyyouth.org