"Washington's Efforts to Create the Nation's First Commission of Boys and Men"

Blair Daly and Valerie Tarico - Grassroots Advocates & Writers

Washington Initiative for Boys and Men (WIBM)
A growing bipartisan group of state legislators have been trying for three years to get a bill passed establishing a Washington Commission of Boys and Men. Blair Daly and Valerie Tarico, leaders in the grassroots movement backing this effort, will present the case for a government commission tasked with improving the well-being of Washington’s boys, male youth, and men. They’ll describe barriers to success so far and ideas for succeeding with this groundbreaking legislative effort going forward. Males in Washington are more likely to be homeless, to die by suicide, to overdose on drugs, to end up in youth detention and prisons, to fail to complete high school, to lack a parent of the same sex in their house when growing up, to lack access to their children when they are parents, to be seriously injured or killed while earning money, and they are underrepresented in some professions of public importance, like teaching, social work, and mental healthcare.

About the Speaker

Blair Daly is the founder of Washington Initiative for Boys and Men (WIBM), which does advocacy journalism and grassroots political organizing focused on boys and men's issues. WIBM initiated the grassroots campaign urging the legislature to create a state commission focused on improving the well-being of Washington’s boys, male youth, and men. A total of 14 legislators sponsored the bill in 2024, which was the bill’s third year of falling short of getting a public hearing. Among the sponsors of the commission on boys and men bill, over half are women, and there are equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. Blair grew up in Bellevue and played baseball and jazz drums at Newport High School. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Washington, and for his day job he works on transportation programs for the City of Kirkland.

Valerie Tarico has a PhD in counseling psychology. She headed the Children’s Behavior and Learning Clinic at Seattle Children’s in Bellevue before opening a private practice focused on children and families and then transitioning to focus on writing and advocacy. She is a co-founder of the Progress Alliance of Washington and has served on nonprofit boards with a focus on broad, durable prosperity and women’s health. It is through these roles that she has become increasingly concerned about the challenges facing young men and boys.