***YouthMOVE Ohio council Meeting March 31, 2019

Council members participated in a meeting either in person at the YouthMOVE Ohio NAMI office in Columbus, Ohio or via conference call. The main objective of the meeting was to plan and assign tasks for the 14th Annual Resiliency Ring Event scheduled for May.  A secondary objective was to understand the stakes for mental health funding within the upcoming Ohio H.B. 166, Operating Budget Bill. Angela Lariviere, director of YMOhio, educated the council on the issue. As she shared advocacy goals regarding particular targets of mental health funding including: maintaining Family Children First Councils, preventing the custody relinguishment occurring within middle class families in order to access mental health services and improving at-risk specialized education services, Jade and her mother shared lived experience stories that improved understanding of the challenges that some families face navigating the systems of care. It was determined that Jade's lived experience would be particularly valuable for others to hear at the Resiliency Ring Event occurring at the State House prior to the vote on H.B. 166. Jade  agreed to be a youth speaker at the event.