There is a general acknowledgment that systemic racism has yet to be properly addressed. A cultural shift in how we address race is overdue.

Institutions across the country are making public statements to do better, but we need to move the conversation Beyond Words.

Join us on Friday, October 30th at 11:30 am, for a “town-hall” style discussion with Gordon McHenry Jr, CEO at United Way of King County. 

United Way's Stance on Injustice:

"While we at United Way alone cannot end the structural and historical racism that has oppressed African Americans and other people of color for centuries. Until it is undone, we are committed to addressing the symptoms of that ugly legacy...

...we’re intentional about identifying inequities and designing our work to address them. We’re committed to building an equitable, resilient and just society—and ask you’ll join us in doing that difficult and necessary work."

Read the full statement on injustice here.

About the Guest: 

In October 2019, Gordon McHenry, Jr. took the role of president & CEO of United Way of King County. United Way is a nonprofit organization that brings people together to give, volunteer and take action to help people in need and solve our community’s toughest challenges. United Way works to ensure people have homes, students graduate and families are financially stable.  

Prior to United Way of King County, McHenry served as president & CEO of Solid Ground, Executive Director of Rainier Scholars and as corporate counsel and then in a variety of executive leadership roles at The Boeing Company.

Mr. McHenry, a lifetime resident of King County has served on a variety of boards involved with education, social service and environmental issues, and currently serves as Chair of the Washington State Partnership Council on Juvenile Justice, member of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority Implementation Board, and as a member on the boards of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust.

Gordon will answer questions from the community and discuss steps he and United Way are taking to address the systems of racial injustice and discrimination

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Upon registering for the event, you will be given the opportunity to submit your own question and indicate whether you would like to ask your question yourself or remain anonymous or have someone ask your question for you.

How the town hall works:

• Event attendees will be able to submit questions for the speaker at registration and indicate if they would like to ask the question themselves or not. Priority will be given to those asking the question themselves.
• 30 minutes before the event starts (11:30am), event attendees can join to hear a local community leader talk about the work they are doing to fight discrimination and how you can get involved.  
• During the event, the speaker will be asked 5 questions - 2 from the YP Media events team and 3 from the questions voted on by participants – either by us or the attendee who submitted the question.
• We encourage any additional comments or questions during the event. But please do so in the chat, as we will deliver them to the speaker after the event.
• Speaker is committing to a follow-up response to the chat commentary (within a week) to ensure the voice of the community is heard.