Best Practices: DC's Council of the Whole

Assignment: Read the brief below. Then answer the following questions.

The District of Columbia's Council Chairman Vincent Gray has created a group for DC residents 21 and under to share their thoughts on challenges facing the District.

Article: DC Council: Youths Invited to Testify at Hearing (scroll down)
By Nikita Stewart, The Washington Post, District Briefing, Friday, October 12, 2007;
Page B04Summary:

The Council's Committee of the Whole will hold its first youth hearing at 10 am tomorrow, part of an effort by Chairman Vincent Gray to hear about the District's problems from the perspective of young people. The hearings will be held once a month and will be limited to youths 21 and younger.

People can sign up to testify by contacting Aretha Latta at (202) 724-8196.

1. Can you imagine what kind of input we'd gather if executives convened Council's of the Whole, composed entirely of patients under a set age, in the hospital setting? Or if we convened Council's of the Whole as H/HC advisory boards, composed solely of patients in general?

2. What would happen if we included the views of young patients and families in our Board/Strategic Planning meetings? Would your to-do list change? What items/topics do you believe would be added? What would be removed?