Gov. Gregoire addresses the Consejo Counseling & Referral Service 30th anniversary celebration

September 6, 2008

AS WRITTEN

Good evening, and thank you for the kind introduction.

I�m honored to be here this evening to help you celebrate 30 years of incredible service!

Wow. You�ve been in the trenches for three decades now -- not only to strengthen our Latino communities on both sides of the mountains �but to strengthen communities for all Washingtonians.

I�m extremely grateful for the work you do � mental health and substance abuse treatment � domestic violence and sexual assault prevention�

�And the helping hand you extend to the kids in so many ways.

When you boil it down � Consejo is all about building strong, healthy families.

Speaking of families, may I digress a little bit and fill you in on the highlight of my summer?

Would you like some inside information about the August wedding of my oldest daughter � Courtney?

How many of you were heavily involved in a wedding this summer? Raise your hands.

Well then, you will be able to relate.

That was one kind of milestone. For all of you in this room -- tonight is quite a milestone of another kind. It amazes me to think of the thousands of lives and families Consejo has touched in the past 30 years.

You have helped Washingtonians � often some of the poorest, most invisible people in our state � get back on their feet and strengthen their communities and lead happier lives.

I am very mindful that Consejo is a model in this state for cultural competence � that you are a model in that you have so much respect for your clients!

You deliver your services skillfully to the rapidly growing population of Latinos in our state � fully aware of the needs and challenges they face as Latinos.

It goes without saying that you offer your services in Spanish -- but I know you also are involved in a continuum of services, including issues around immigration and discrimination.

Your work will become only more vital in the years to come. Our Hispanic population is expected to triple by 2030 to more than 1 million � the fastest growing minority population in Washington.

Speaking of immigration � (as was mentioned when I was introduced), my mind has been on that difficult issue from the day I took office.

As you heard, I recently created the New American�s Policy Council in recognition that we very much need strategies to help legal, permanent immigrants learn English�

�To recognize the rich knowledge and skills immigrants bring, and to find ways to transfer that knowledge and skill into professional credentialing�or to guide them to the education and training they still need.

�And to create public-private partnerships to make it all happen from the ground up.

Let me talk for a minute about your core mission.

The fact is, we have invested significantly in expanded treatment for mental health and chemical dependency -- including community based services like Consejo.

At the same time, we have improved the quality of counseling services to make sure Washingtonians are cared for by trained professionals.

I have long been a strong supporter for sexual assault victims -- and one of the most recent steps I�ve taken is to aggressively go after the likely offenders.

We know for a fact that the poor are especially vulnerable and that a lot of mental health treatment is a sad by-product of sexual assault.

Now let me talk about something that is a major issue for families and, I�m sure, your clients � health care.

You know as well as anybody that families can�t be healthy if their kids are sick and their parents can�t go to work.

So I�m very pleased to say that in the past nearly four years we have added 84,000 Washington kids to our health care rolls.

Every kid in Washington � and I mean every kid � deserves to see a doctor to stay well and happy.

We expect to add thousands more kids through our current �Apple Health for Kids� campaign to cut red tape to sign up even more children on both sides of the mountains.

And I�ll keep my pledge to cover every kid in Washington by 2010.

I�m extremely pleased to know that Consejo is working hard to tackle the growing problem of street gangs.

And I�m grateful that your approach mirrors my own. It�s not just about suppressing gangs. That simply will not work if we don�t do a whole lot more.

Our children turn to gangs in search of identity and sense of belonging when they feel excluded in our communities. It is our job to reach out to all children and let them know they are important and respected members of our communities.

I firmly believe the best gang-prevention program is an educational system that values, challenges, and meets the needs of all children. This is why we are creating a world-class, learner-focused education system, including early learning.

Last session, I also signed strong bi-partisan anti-gang legislation. This legislation came out of a workgroup of people from community activists to police.

We are now giving law enforcement officers the tools they need to intervene with gang members and hold them accountable when they commit crimes.

But more importantly we are intervening to break the cycle of gang activity. Unfortunately, the final bill that passed the legislature removed funding for prevention, which was originally included.

But, I worked with the Washington Sheriffs and Police Chiefs to ensure that every community applying for grant funding for suppression efforts had to have a prevention component of their plan in order to receive any funding.

Let me conclude by congratulating Consejo for 30 years of service to the community. Your efforts may seem invisible. But I see them, and I see the result.

A healthier, happier Latino community, and a healthier, happier Washington.

Thank You

And Viva Consejo!!