From Our Community to the National Stage: The LakeSafe Initiative and the Power of Youth-Led Prevention

By Mudra Machewad, TECH Youth Coalition Member & Founder, LakeSafe Initiative

Last week, something remarkable happened, and it started right here in our community.
On June 30, 2026, Mudra Machewad, founder of the LakeSafe Initiative and TECH Youth Coalition member, had the honor of presenting as a panelist at a national webinar hosted by CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America), The Premier Prevention Association. The webinar, Competencies in Focus: Implementation, brought together over 123 coalition leaders, public health professionals, and prevention advocates from across the United States. And the LakeSafe Initiative, a youth-led drowning prevention effort born right here in our community, was selected as a featured real-world example of what effective coalition implementation looks like.

"Effective prevention is a shared responsibility, and youth voices belong at the table."

Where It All Began
In August 2025, two members of our community, both fathers, tragically drowned at Lake Sammamish. Their deaths were devastating. And for Mudra, they were deeply personal. Just weeks earlier, a similar incident had unfolded close to home, and watching neighbors in danger made one thing undeniably clear: accidents like these are preventable.
Grief can paralyze. But it can also activate. In September 2025, Mudra began reaching out to city councils, state representatives, WA State Parks, public health agencies, and community organizations with one simple question: What can we do together?
That question became the LakeSafe Initiative, founded by Mudra Machewad.

Building a Coalition, One Partner at a Time
What followed was nine months of coalition building that Mudra could not have done alone. Today, LakeSafe has grown to include 19+ partner organizations, including Washington State Parks, King County Public Health, Eastside Fire & Rescue, YMCA of Greater Seattle, Seattle Children's, Issaquah School District, Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park, and many more.
Together, the coalition has:

• Engaged more than 5,000 community members in open-water safety education
• Facilitated over 2,000 one-on-one prevention conversations
• Hosted LakeSafe Confluence 2026 at Lake Sammamish State Park on May 15, 2026, bringing together 500–800 attendees and 13+ speakers
• Launched multilingual signage and life jacket loaner station planning in partnership with WA State Parks
• Built a multi-agency steering team coordinating quarterly across government, health, and education sectors

The CADCA Connection: Implementation as a Prevention Competency
CADCA's Coalition Competencies framework identifies implementation as one of the core skills coalitions need to create lasting community change. Implementation is not just about launching a program. It is about piloting, adapting, coordinating resources, and scaling in ways that are responsive to local needs and sustained over time.
At the June 30 webinar, the 13th in CADCA's 18-part series, Mudra presented the LakeSafe story alongside implementation science experts from Washington University in St. Louis and nationally recognized coalition trainers. Together, presenters explored how implementation science principles play out in real communities, and what it takes to move from a good idea to real-world impact.
The LakeSafe story illustrated each of these principles in action: starting small (one park, one summer), testing what worked, adapting messaging to be multilingual and culturally accessible, and expanding reach through partnership rather than by going it alone.

The ITC and TECH Connection
At the heart of this national recognition is a foundation built right here through Influence the Choice and the TECH Youth Coalition. Marnie Maraldo, Former Executive Director, and Erica Vogt, Executive Director, have championed youth prevention leadership in this community for years. ITC teaches youth that prevention work is not just about saying no to something. It is about saying yes to community, yes to collaboration, and yes to the belief that young people can lead meaningful change.
The skills Mudra developed through TECH, including understanding public health data, building coalition relationships, advocating for policy, and communicating with community stakeholders, are exactly the skills she brought to LakeSafe and ultimately to the CADCA national stage.
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"This is what ITC youth leadership looks like in action. We are so proud."

A Note to Our Community
Drowning is preventable. Substance use is a documented contributing factor in open-water fatalities, which means that drowning prevention and substance use prevention are not separate issues. They are the same work, viewed from different angles.
If you live near a lake, a river, or open water, please talk to your family about water safety. Wear a life jacket. Know your limits. And if you see unsafe conditions, speak up.
If you are a young person who wants to get involved in prevention work in our community, we encourage you to connect with Influence the Choice and the TECH Youth Coalition. This is where it starts.

About LakeSafe Initiative:  The LakeSafe Initiative is a youth-led coalition focused on open-water drowning prevention, water safety education, and community engagement in Washington State. Learn more at lakesafeinitiative.org
About Influence the Choice:  Influence the Choice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to reducing youth substance use and promoting overall well-being by addressing root causes, fostering resilience, and providing education and prevention services to youth, families, and communities.