For youth program coordinators Yusuf Ali-Halane and Ankita Gupta, engaging with quality improvement has been a journey of both individual growth and collective transformation for the youth and families they serve at Living Well Kent.
As a Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-led organization funded by the King County Best Starts Expanded Learning Initiative, Living Well Kent receives ongoing coaching support from lead coach at School’s Out Washington (SOWA), Lynda Llavore.
“Lynda helped us grow as individuals, helped us know our own strengths,” said Ankita. “That has helped us cultivate programs that work for the benefit of youth.”
SOWA’s coaching practices are informed by the Youth Program Quality Intervention model developed by the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality. In addition to the foundations of this model, Lynda provides continuous support to the providers she works with, including curated resources driven by the direct needs of providers.
“She’s like an encyclopedia,” Yusuf said. “She can think up immediately [something] that targets what we’re talking about. That’s one of the best things, learning from a coach like that.”
“I know if anything happens, I can always go to her,” Ankita reflected. “She’s almost like a family member—I don’t think of her as a coach.”
Yusuf and Ankita have witnessed the positive impact of the quality improvement process on the youth they serve at Living Well Kent. “We’re fostering connections between these youth,” Yusuf said. “We have kids that want to come to this program, they’re looking forward to it, they’re asking, ‘Why can’t the program be longer?’ Those are the things we want to see from our youth.”
The beauty of SOWA’s approach is that it really is holistic. You have that immediate impact, but the overall impact will be the transformation—because coaching is transformative.
Lynda Llavore, Lead Coach at SOWA
They’ve also received positive feedback from parents—including an increase in parent-to-parent referrals for their program.
“It’s really a gift to coach,” said Lynda. “This is successful … because of ongoing communication [and] reflective listening—really listening to what they’re saying.”
This story was originally posted in our 2023 Annual Report.
Read the full report here.