SNOHOMISH COUNTY—Former Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney, his wife Jill, and Jose Garcia, who owns Team United MMA in Lake Stevens, have partnered up in launching a brand-new nonprofit called the LEAD the Way Program aimed at helping Snohomish County youths develop leadership skills, seek mentorship, or otherwise just keep out of trouble.
The nonprofit is an extension of a program kickstarted by Fortney while serving as Snohomish County Sheriff, from 2020 through 2023, also called Lead the Way, but no longer under the banner of local government.
LEAD stands for leadership, encouragement, and direction for youths living in Snohomish County.
Earlier this month, on Wednesday, October 8, 12 youths (aged 13-17) met for the first time since the nonprofit’s founding at the Sno-Isle Skills Tech Center in what will be the start of an eight-week program. The first session was primarily just an opportunity to get to know the youths and have an opportunity to share the overall scope and mission of the weeks to come which includes guest speakers, mentorship, and guidance.
Jill Fortney came prepared with specific questions Wednesday such as “what are challenges you see in your own family,” to get the kids thinking about why they’re there and what they are hope to accomplish.
“As I told them Wednesday, you will get what they want out of this program. If they want a mentor, if they want someone to bounce leadership skills off of, if they need help in decision-making, we will provide that to them by the end of these eight weeks,” said Fortney. “There’s always hope and there’s always a path out of that but struggles, whether it’s in your family, out in the community, business struggles, work struggles, life is going to throw those to you and it’s okay to rely on other people.”
When the first round of youths complete their program on November 26, the Fortneys hope they have established some trust, and connection, with both youths and families.
“We don’t want to raise their kids, they’re their kids, we just want to be a resource for them,” said Fortney. “What I think kids can get out of this is, we have a lot of youths who are out there making mistakes and I’m one of them. But we want our kids to hear them [our guest speakers] talk, and say we don’t need to go down this path.”
Fortney shared with the Lynnwood Times he, too, made mistakes when he was younger. He grew up with a divorced family and essentially was on his own from the age of 15. Through these times he made a lot of good decisions (such as staying in school, graduating, and joining the military) but he also made a lot of mistakes. These mistakes, he shared, has allowed him to meet kids where they are. Still, he admitted, him and Jill won’t always have all the answers but what they hope to accomplish is instilling in youth there’s “always a way out.”
The LEAD the Way program meets every Wednesday at the Sno-Isle Skills Tech Center from 5:30 to 7:30. For now the Fortneys plan to keep classes short (capped at 15) to ensure proper, one-on-one, mentorship. As things grow in the future they could potentially also grow their class size, as well as implement more workshops (such as a career day, a resource day, and so on).
While the program is open to ages 13-17 Fortney added 12-year olds can also enroll on a case-by-case basis.
The Fortney’s program tends to attract troubled youth but it’s open to any youths who may feel like they can get something from the program’s lessons and leadership.
“I feel like there’s a void with our youth today and I don’t meant that with any judgement whatsoever, I just mean I think the youth sometimes need to be pointed in the right direction, if you will, a little bit of leadership, and sometimes a little bit of encouragement and they can sometimes get on a much better path than what they are currently on,” said Fortney.
The Fortneys ultimate vision for their nonprofit is to develop a relationship with youths, and their families, and continue to support them through helping out with extracurricular activity costs once the nonprofit has the resources.
The LEAD the Way program also hopes to expand its staff through volunteerism but wants to be extremely careful who they bring around youth, Fortney added, so aren’t quite at that stage yet.
Those who are interested in joining the Fortney family’s LEAD the Way program can reach via email at: theleadthewayfoundation25@gmail.com
Author: Kienan Briscoe
2 Responses
This article could use some editing:
These mistakes, he shared, has allowed him to meet kids where they are. Still, he admitted, him and Jill won’t always have all the answers but what they hope to accomplish is instilling in youth there’s always a way out.
Should read (corrections in all caps):
“These mistakes, he shared, HAVE allowed him to meet kids where they are. Still, he admitted, HE and Jill won’t always have all the answers…”
For now the Fortneys plan to keep classes short (capped at 15) to ensure proper, one-on-one, mentorship.
Should read (corrections in all caps):
“For now the Fortneys plan to keep classes SMALL (capped at 15)…”
Ughhh. Great work Sheriff. Nice to see you are still leading. Something the current Sheriff, not leader, should consider. I’m looking forward to being edited.