{"id":30970,"date":"2013-05-23T20:53:02","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T20:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caseyfamilyv2.wpengine.com\/wake-county-speech\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:36:13","slug":"discurso-del-condado-de-wake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/es\/wake-county-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Haciendo realidad la esperanza en los c\u00f3digos postales del condado de Wake"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-section light fresh-text single wp-block-fresh-text backgrounds-and-margins-aware-block margin-top margin-bottom\">\n <div class=\"container mx-auto px-5\">\n\n \n \n <!-- The CTA is moved up next to the title when in the Head Section style -->\n \n  <div class=\"callout\"><p>Casey Family Programs President and CEO William C. Bell joined local child welfare leaders and community members for a \u201cMaking It Happen\u201d event in Raleigh, N.C., on May 23.<\/p>\n<p>About 150 people attended the daylong conference, which featured speeches by Dr. Bell, Wake County officials, and representatives of Children\u2019s Home Society of North Carolina, the faith community, and a former foster youth.<\/p>\n<p>Break-out sessions focused on how children and families can be better served in the Hispanic community, how the faith community can be involved in strengthening vulnerable families, ways to address racial disparities in the foster youth population, and how community leaders can support families and foster youth and help child welfare agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The event, \u201cWake County Making It Happen: Strengthening Families and Building Communities of Hope,\u201d offered attendees simultaneous translation of the day\u2019s speeches in Spanish. In fact, one of the breakout sessions was conducted entirely in Spanish for the more than 30 people who attended.<\/p>\n<p>According to the U.S. Census, the Hispanic population has increased dramatically in Wake County since 2000, and child welfare agencies are working hard to build bridges to the community.<\/p>\n<p>A film crew commissioned by Casey captured the event for a future video presentation on how Wake County is building a Community of Hope.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <!-- conversly to above, we need to not show the CTA here if it's the Head Section style -->\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"featured-video is-style-simple wp-block-featured-video\">\n  <div class=\"my-[100px] text-revolver\">\n    <div class=\"container mx-auto px-5\">\n\n      \n      <div class=\"embed\">\n        <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Making hope happen within Wake County\u2019s ZIP codes\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/w9gcLDsBPi8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"content-section light fresh-text single wp-block-fresh-text backgrounds-and-margins-aware-block margin-top margin-bottom\">\n <div class=\"container mx-auto px-5\">\n\n \n   <h2>Transcript<\/h2>\n  \n <!-- The CTA is moved up next to the title when in the Head Section style -->\n \n  <div class=\"callout\"><p><!-- wp:paragraph -->Good afternoon, it\u2019s a pleasure to be with you this afternoon and, you know, I greet you this afternoon in the language of the Maasai, people of East Africa.\u00a0 The Maasai, a nomadic tribe, moves repeatedly. But every time the Maasai move, they build a perimeter around the new village.\u00a0 And the Maasai in their greeting they say to each other, \u201cKasserian ingera\u201d and Kasserian ingera means, \u201cHow are the children?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->And one of the things the Maasai have come to understand \u2013 I always take my watch off because I know at some point somebody\u2019s going to get tired of listening to me \u2013 the Maasai, whether they have children, whether they expect to have children, or never have children, understand that the care of its children is the responsibility of everyone in the village.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->And so, I greet you this afternoon because I know that here in Wake County, you have begun a process that says you value your children and you, like the Maasai, understand that the concern for our children has to be everybody\u2019s concern.\u00a0 That you understand that caring for your children has to be my obligation and caring for my children has to be your obligation and if we don\u2019t live that, then we will never be the nation that we called ourselves to be.\u00a0 We will never be as great as we sometimes suggest that we are.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->You see, all of our children must be raised to live with a sense of hope. And living with a sense of hope means that you live with this deep, abiding expectation that the thing you desire, that future that you leave, is going to be yours.\u00a0 You live with this expectation, that that is going to be real someday.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->The challenge:\u00a0Too many of our children don\u2019t have that hope inside of them.\u00a0 It\u2019s been written somewhere that without a vision, the people perish.\u00a0 And far too many of our children today are growing up in a world where they don\u2019t have that clear vision that tomorrow is possible for them.\u00a0 There are children across this country that if you ask them what they are going to do when they get 25, most, many of them will tell you, \u201cI don\u2019t expect to see 25, so I will do what I need to do today because tomorrow is not promised to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->That\u2019s not living hope.\u00a0 And the challenge for us at Casey Family Programs is to have this conversation with America.\u00a0 To ask America, \u201cHow are your children and what are you planning to do to ensure that all of your children know this thing we call hope?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Every day in America, on average, these children who live without this vision experience a life where over 2,000 children are confirmed as victims of child abuse and neglect, on average, every 24 hours in this country.\u00a0 On average, every 24 hours in this country, 700 children are removed from their families and placed into foster care, supposedly on a temporary basis.\u00a0 But far too many of them leave that system when they become adults \u2014 \u00a0with no place to go.\u00a0 Every day, on average, every 24 hours in this country, four babies die from child abuse and neglect, most of them before they reach their fifth birthday.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Every day in this country \u2014 land of the free, home of the brave, one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world \u2014 7 million of our children wake up living in homes where they live off approximately $8 a day per family member.\u00a0 Our U.S. government calls that \u201cextreme poverty,\u201d but extreme poverty is just another label that traps us into believing that we can distinguish in that manner.\u00a0 Because if $8 is extreme poverty, then what is $10?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that $10 a day per family member will take you very much farther than $8 a day.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->But every day, without a vision, approximately 13 young people under the age of 25 lose their life to homicide and more tragically, approximately 12 young people in this great nation, every day, living without hope, take their own lives.\u00a0 For them, death holds a better proposition than living one more day of life as they know it.\u00a0 That\u2019s America.\u00a0 Twenty-nine young people under the age of 25 lost every single day.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->And I was giving this speech in D.C. the other day and it struck me that those 29 lives, every 15 days, total 435.\u00a0 Every 15 days we lose enough young people to fill the House of Representatives in this nation. The challenge is: What are we going to do about it?<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Because looking at this picture, I\u2019m sure that there\u2019s nobody in this room that\u2019s looking at me saying, \u201cThat\u2019s an acceptable reality for me.\u201d\u00a0 If that is not a reality for us that\u2019s acceptable, then what are we going to do about it?<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->What are we going to do to change that picture in the living of children, because living without hope changes you?\u00a0 \u00a0I don\u2019t know if any of you have spent any time wondering if tomorrow was going to happen for you.\u00a0 But when you live a prolonged life where you don\u2019t have hope that tomorrow exists for you \u2013 someone once wrote that, \u201cIf you remove hope from the heart of a man, you make him a beast of prey,\u201d \u2013 and I wonder if that translates into the violent behavior that we see from so many young people.\u00a0 I wonder if that translates in the lack of energy and effort that we see for so many of our young people.\u00a0 I wonder if the loss of hope has changed their trajectory for their own lives.\u00a0 What future will we create if we don\u2019t change?<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->I ask you, \u201cKasserian ingera?\u201d \u00a0How are your children?<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Seven years ago, at Casey Family Programs, what was started by the late Jim Casey, the founder of UPS, we asked ourselves a question in 2006: \u201cWhat would happen in America if nothing changed in the way that we were treating children in child welfare over the 15 years from that point in time to the year 2020?\u201d\u00a0 And the answer was unacceptable: Over nine million more of our children would experience foster care in this country if we didn\u2019t change anything.\u00a0 That over 300 thousand of our young people would age out of foster care in this country with an expectation that only about 3% of them would get a college degree from a four-year college if we didn\u2019t change something in this country.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->And so, because of that question, we set out on a path to have a conversation with America. And that conversation is one that says, \u201cWhat are you willing to change?\u00a0 What do you know about your children?\u00a0 What do you know about their futures?\u00a0 What do you know about the fact that it\u2019s not all children in Wake County that we\u2019re talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->It\u2019s not even all children in Raleigh that we\u2019re talking about.\u00a0 There are certain ZIP\u00a0codes, that I\u2019m sure you know better than I do, that if you want to change the trajectory of Wake County\u2019s future, we need to visit those ZIP\u00a0codes.\u00a0 We need to stop by and begin to have a long-term exchange with the people who live in those ZIP\u00a0codes to say, \u201cYou can participate in changing your future.\u00a0 It is not government\u2019s responsibility to make you whole.\u201d We must do this together.\u00a0 But as a sign of good faith, we will begin to behave differently as government, we will begin to behave differently as philanthropy, we will begin to behave differently as educators.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->You know, I don\u2019t know about the other Ph.D.\u2019s in Wake County or in this room, but it took me a long time to get those three letters behind by name.\u00a0 [Low laughter in room]\u00a0 At one point I wondered, after 12 years, was I having the right conversation?\u00a0 But I persisted and so I\u2019m pleased to know that I\u2019m standing in a county where over 47% of the residents over age of 25 have either a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher.\u00a0 But I\u2019m challenged by the reality that in this same county, 44% of the residents over 25 don\u2019t have a college degree \u2014 and what that 44% can do for themselves and their children is far less than what that 47% can do.\u00a0 And the question is not that it is your fault that it is that way, the question is, \u201cWhat will we do to change it in the long-term proposition?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->That\u2019s what making it happen and building Communities of Hope seeks to push for us in this country.\u00a0 It seeks to push this notion that we cannot overlook the fact that where you live is one of the biggest determinants about where you will end up in this country.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fact.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->In Seattle, where I come from, there\u2019s a ZIP code, 98108, that is separated from another ZIP code, 98040, and they are separated simply by one mile of water.\u00a0 On one side of that mile of water is South Seattle.\u00a0 The other side of that mile of water is Mercer Island, and some of our most renowned CEOs and executives \u2014 I\u2019m not counted in that number, [laughter in room] \u2014 but some of our most renowned CEOs and executives in the state of Washington live on Mercer Island.\u00a0 And one of the sad realities, that still hurts me today, every time I see it, is that a baby born in 98108 has a ten-year shorter life expectancy than a baby born the same day in 98040.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Something needs to change, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something that\u2019s in the water in 98108, although the EPA suggests that it might be.\u00a0 [laughter]\u00a0 Because 98108 is the most polluted ZIP\u00a0code in the entire King County area and we have known this for years.\u00a0 And therefore, the health disparities in 98108 greatly outweigh those in 98040.\u00a0 And I use those ZIP\u00a0code numbers because they matter.\u00a0 They matter because when you do the hot spot here in Wake County, you might register \u2013 let me see if I can remember what it was \u2013 is it 276, somebody know what I\u2019m talking about?<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->[Man in audience] 7610.<\/p>\n<p>27610<\/p>\n<p>That number might come up when you do the hot spot.\u00a0 You see when you start to look at who has a college degree in, who\u2019s in the 44% and who\u2019s in the 48%?\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019m not Mitt Romney now, I\u2019m not saying that, but when you start to look at that, the ZIP code might tell you something.\u00a0 But, you know, I was challenged so I looked a little bit farther than 610 and I looked at 601 \u2013 not too far apart \u2013 one central, one east.\u00a0 And I looked at 601 and I said, \u201cWell, wait a minute, the greater percentage of residents in 610 and 601, they are both African American, there\u2019s a smaller percentage of white people living in both, there is a smaller percentage of Latino, what\u2019s the difference?\u201d<\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"27610\"><!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ol>\n<p><!-- \/wp:list --><!-- wp:paragraph -->I looked at the schools: \u00a0601, performing above average on test scores; 601, nobody getting free and reduced lunch.\u00a0 610, below average on test scores; 610, close to 60% free and reduced lunch.\u00a0 The picture tells something, and I\u2019m not telling you that I just walked up into Wake County today and I know what the picture is saying.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m saying that the work that you have in front of you today is to ask yourself, \u201cWhat does the picture say?\u201d\u00a0 And when we conclude what the picture says, what are we willing to do about it?\u00a0 What are we willing to invest in doing something about it?\u00a0 Who do we need to engage in this conversation about doing something about it?\u00a0 And how do we spread this conversation beyond Wake County to the rest of North Carolina and to the rest of this nation and take it to D.C.?<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Because, you know, the citizenship of Wake County suggests the citizenship of America.\u00a0 And we need to have a conversation with those who are in charge of making decisions in America, because as long as it is okay for the federal government to spend $6 on foster care for every $1 that it spends on community building and community support services, we\u2019re going to have the picture that that money buys.\u00a0 That old \u2013 this thing that you get what you pay for.\u00a0 If your financing structure says buy foster care, then guess what you\u2019re going to have? Foster care. The states didn\u2019t have to match (the funds), and so the direction of federal dollars determines the direction of state dollars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <!-- conversly to above, we need to not show the CTA here if it's the Head Section style -->\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"quote content-section light wp-block-quote backgrounds-and-margins-aware-block back-warm-ceramic margin-top margin-bottom padding-top padding-bottom\">\n <div class=\"container mx-auto px-5\">\n  <div class=\"basic-quote text-revolver\">\n <blockquote class=\"relative z-0\"><p>It&#8217;s time for us to decide that every child in America deserves a community of hope<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n  <figcaption class=\"text-md text-right mt-9 font-sofiapro\"><cite>&mdash; Dr. William C. Bell, President and CEO<\/cite><\/figcaption>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"content-section light fresh-text single wp-block-fresh-text backgrounds-and-margins-aware-block margin-top margin-bottom\">\n <div class=\"container mx-auto px-5\">\n\n \n \n <!-- The CTA is moved up next to the title when in the Head Section style -->\n \n  <div class=\"callout\"><p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->And what we\u2019re saying is, \u201cThat\u2019s enough. It\u2019s time.\u201d It\u2019s time for us to decide that every child in America deserves a Community of Hope.\u00a0 It\u2019s time for us to decide that every child in America deserves to be raised in a community, where if their parents have mental health issues, they have some place to turn.\u00a0 If their parents have substance abuse issues, they have some place to turn.\u00a0 If their parents are struggling with how to even change a diaper, you \u2013 how many of you as new parents knew exactly \u2013 you read the manual. You knew that we learn. And the question that we need to ask ourselves is, \u201cHow will they learn without a teacher?\u00a0 And if you are socially isolated, who is teaching you?\u201d\u00a0 Human capital is a very important conversation, but we must make some other economic positions.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Most people that you meet would love to be able to take care of themselves and their family, but if you can\u2019t find a job, is that your fault?\u00a0 If you find a job and it doesn\u2019t have benefits and therefore, you\u2019re working but you can\u2019t, still can\u2019t fully take care of your family, is it your fault?\u00a0 If you find a job and it doesn\u2019t pay you enough money to live on \u2013 there are more people who are working and still having to rely on federal and public assistance than there are who are not working and getting it.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->We must make some economic decisions in this country, to create an opportunity for everybody to be in a position to instill hope.\u00a0 Because even my three-year old, who cries when I leave, who was crying this morning when I called on the phone [sniffling sound] \u2013 no, just kidding, [audience laughs] that\u2019s what my wife was doing [laughs] \u2013 is able to comprehend, \u201cI don\u2019t like it when my daddy is gone, but I understand that him being gone is a part of his job.\u201d\u00a0 And she said to her mother, \u201cMommy, I get hurts but I\u2019m not upset because I like to eat.\u201d\u00a0 My three-year old gets the concept that if you work you should be able to take care of your family.\u00a0 We need to get that concept down here in America.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->And we need to make some decisions going forward about how do we move this conversation away from being a conversation about what government and philanthropy and others can do for and to a community,\u00a0and move it to a place of, what can we do together with communities?\u00a0 How can we work with communities to empower them to be the leaders and the determiners of their future?\u00a0 How can we work with communities to help them teach their children and their children\u2019s children that tomorrow may not be promised to you but if you work hard enough and you get your education, you can be in the conversation, and that\u2019s in your hands?<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Because we can\u2019t \u2013 I told somebody once, \u201cI can explain it to you, but I can\u2019t understand it for you\u201d \u2013 and we\u2019ve got to get our children to a place where they understand that they have to understand it and internalize this education for themselves.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->But we can do that.\u00a0 You know why we can do it? Because we did it for the 47% and if we can do it for them then we can do it for the 44% that haven\u2019t quite gotten there yet.\u00a0 But if we don\u2019t change something now, ten and twenty years from now we\u2019re going to be in a tougher place.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->And I realize that my time is vastly approaching, and I didn\u2019t even go to slide one yet. [Audience laughs] And so I\u2019ll just go to the most important thing up here and that\u2019s that.\u00a0 That\u2019s a picture of how we came to think about child welfare intervention and other government associated interventions.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->That green box are the vulnerable members of our community where people are struggling.\u00a0 And the blue box surrounding that is where your faith community lives, where your neighbors live, where your local not-for-profits live, where the food banks are, where the grocery stores used to be.\u00a0 And then I say that with knowledge and intention, because grocery stores leaving blighted communities is one of the most significant challenges to the health of people in those communities, because nutrition and lack thereof has been linked to both aggressive behavior and poor performance in school.\u00a0 And if you have to fill your stomach with stuff that does not give you the nutrition that you need, you may be full but you\u2019re not healthy, and we can do something about that.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->The maroon box is where government sits and, in most jurisdictions, you guys may be different, but in most jurisdictions the way we work in child welfare, something from the blue box, or maybe even the green box calls child welfare to say somebody did something to the kid in the green box. \u00a0We leave the maroon box, go to the green box, have a conversation with the family, retreat back to the maroon box.\u00a0 If we decide that something is wrong or something that needs to happen, then we might call up a not-for-profit in the blue box and say, \u201cCan you work with us in this foster care situation?\u201d\u00a0 And then a not-for-profit might call a neighbor in that blue box and say, \u201cCan you be a foster parent this this situation?\u201d\u00a0 But then we retreat back to the maroon box having not engaged in what happened really in the community that allowed the folks in the green box to be so isolated and hurt their children without the necessary support.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->What I\u2019m suggesting to you is that in a Community of Hope, all of those boxes work together, and that orange box where philanthropy sits. \u00a0It is time for philanthropy to stop bypassing the maroon box, going into the blue box and talking to a not-for-profit and saying, \u201cI have this brilliant idea that if these five things are to happen, we can end homelessness.\u201d\u00a0 Test it for me, then come back and write me a report and tell me how right I was, and I\u2019ll put it in my annual report and then I\u2019ll tell the maroon box, \u201cLook at my annual report and you might also try to do some of these things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->We\u2019ve got to change the conversation, and the conversation is about, \u201cHow do all of these boxes work together, including the green box, to understand where we\u2019re going?\u201d\u00a0 The commissioner, your words were so profound.\u00a0 The person with the problem knows more about the problem than any expert will ever learn, no matter how many years you spend on the job.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->It\u2019s time for us with my one minute remaining \u2013 I didn\u2019t even know that sign was over there \u2013 [laughs]\u00a0 it\u2019s time for us to decide what we\u2019re going to do.\u00a0 What are we going to do about this thing called hope?\u00a0 Because where there\u2019s hope there\u2019s life and life is the ability to keep growing.\u00a0 Where there\u2019s hope there\u2019s faith, and faith is the capacity to keep believing in spite of what you see. And where there\u2019s hope there\u2019s light and light is the capacity to see in the midst of darkness.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Someone once said that hope begins in the dark.\u00a0 When you cannot see the success that everything inside you tells you is possible, but because of hope you just keep moving forward, trying to do the right thing.\u00a0 You keep moving forward, believing that if you don\u2019t stop the light of day will come.\u00a0 You keep moving forward.\u00a0 You keep working.\u00a0 You keep watching.\u00a0 You keep waiting.\u00a0 Because hope won\u2019t let you give up.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Every child in America deserves a Community of Hope and I greeted you with a question, \u201cKasserian ingera?\u201d \u2014 how are the children?\u00a0 The Maasai response to that question is: \u201cSapati ingera.\u201d And \u201cSapati ingera\u201d is a hopeful declaration that one day, if we don\u2019t quit, all the children will be well.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->Thank you, and God bless you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <!-- conversly to above, we need to not show the CTA here if it's the Head Section style -->\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"call-to-action-banner wp-block-call-to-action-banner content-section light\">\n\n  <div class=\"bg-warm-ceramic text-center py-[48px] md:py-[150px]\">\n <div class=\"container mx-auto px-5\">\n  <div class=\"pb-8\">\n <span class=\"label\">\n Dr. William C. Bell\n <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"inline-block ml-[5px] print:hidden\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/wp-content\/themes\/casey-v2\/public\/build\/assets\/brush-stroke-preheader-post-BDcrNgUR.svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" \/>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n  <h2>A voice of hope<\/h2>\n <div class=\"text-salt-box mt-7 mb-7 inline-block w-full sm:max-w-[720px] lg:w-[720px]\"><div class=\"my-6 text-salt-box print:my-0\">\n<p>Dr. Bell frequently shares his expertise and messages of hope in appearances before policymakers, child welfare leaders and others. Explore this collection for transcripts and videos of his speeches and public testimony.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n  <div>\n  <a class=\"btn font-bold\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/resources\/dr-william-c-bell-speeches-and-testimony\/\" target=\"\">Speeches and Testimony<\/a>\n  <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>El presidente y director ejecutivo William C. Bell se dirige a los l\u00edderes locales de bienestar infantil y a los miembros de la comunidad en Raleigh, Carolina del Norte, el 23 de mayo de 2013.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[272,282,267],"content_type":[199,197],"hidden-tags-misc":[],"audience":[316,317,318,325,326,327],"content_location":[329],"topic":[413,414,420,428,457],"class_list":["post-30970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-engagement","category-partnering","category-promote-shared-responsibility","content_type-speeches-and-testimony","content_type-video","audience-business-leader","audience-child-welfare-leader","audience-community-based-organization","audience-nonprofit-faith-based","audience-philanthropy","audience-policymaker","content_location-national","topic-collaboration-and-partnership","topic-communities-of-hope","topic-dr-william-c-bell","topic-government","topic-public-policy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Making hope happen within Wake County\u2019s ZIP codes - Casey Family Programs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President and CEO William C. Bell addresses local child welfare leaders and community members in Raleigh, N.C., on May 23, 2013.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/es\/discurso-del-condado-de-wake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making hope happen within Wake County\u2019s ZIP codes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President and CEO William C. Bell addresses local child welfare leaders and community members in Raleigh, N.C., on May 23, 2013.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/es\/discurso-del-condado-de-wake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casey Family Programs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-23T20:53:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T20:36:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casey Communications\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casey Communications\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.casey.org\\\/wake-county-speech\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.casey.org\\\/wake-county-speech\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Casey Communications\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.casey.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6ce7bdd412dcaa3bf11bc4795552771d\"},\"headline\":\"Making hope happen within Wake County\u2019s ZIP codes\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-23T20:53:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-18T20:36:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.casey.org\\\/wake-county-speech\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":9,\"keywords\":[\"Building Communities of Hope\",\"North Carolina\",\"Videos\",\"William C. 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