[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 180 (Monday, November 6, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1507]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       RECOGNIZING MICHELE BLAKE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, November 6, 2017

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Michele Blake, 
a proven leader in the Yuba City, California community with a strong 
desire to make a difference. Michele currently serves as the Executive 
Director of the Sutter County Children and Families Commission, also 
known as First 5 Sutter.
   Michele has been a strong advocate and was instrumental in making 
positive changes in her role as executive director. She is responsible 
for ensuring children ages 0-5 reach their full potential by 
administering and coordinating community programs and activities that 
have a positive effect on their development. She has collaborated with 
Friends of the Sutter Library to implement a program which delivers 
books directly to preschool children's homes to increase literacy 
awareness; she has worked with the Sutter Sheriff's Department to 
implement a children's lifejacket loaner program which increases water 
safety; and working alongside healthcare clinics, she was instrumental 
in implementing breastfeeding friendly practices in existing Commission 
programs. Michele is also a strong advocate for Mothers Against Drunk 
Drivers and, together with her family, established the Nicole Bull 
Memorial Scholarship Fund.
   Michele's experience includes her previous work as the Health 
Education Director and Public Information Officer at the Sutter County 
Public Health Department where she planned, created, budgeted, 
developed, and implemented comprehensive health education programs and 
was instrumental in securing federal funding to develop IGNITE Yuba 
City, a program to help people make healthy choices.
   Michele continues to support the Yuba Sutter community and as a 
single mom finds time to contribute to the activities of her 8 and 12-
year-old children.

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