Casey Family Programs President and CEO William C. Bell addressed 350 business, non-profit and government leaders gathered at a Seattle Rotary on June 17, 2009.

Bell spoke about Casey's 2020 Strategy for America's Children, the imperative to address the needs of children in foster care and how meeting the goals stated in our 2020 strategy can help strengthen the community and nation.

Service before self
Throughout his speech, William referred to the Rotarian principle of service before self. He also spoke about the enormous opportunity each of us has to successfully create positive change in the lives of foster children.

"We should see youth in foster care from a perspective of opportunity, expectation and action, because what you expect to see is what you will work to see. No one rises to the level of low expectations."

"We as a nation tout our technology and we tout our riches, yet we say we don't know what to do about half a million children in foster care. We must act on what we already know. We have the knowledge about how to raise children and we have the power to create successful change."

Run-time: 42 minutes