We are thrilled to announce that three outstanding youth from the JDRF Upstate NY Chapter – Isabella Martinez, Nicholas Venero, and Jacqueline Rosenblum – will all be heading to Washington, D.C. this summer as JDRF 2023 Children’s Congress Delegates.

JDRF Children’s Congress, our highest profile advocacy event, is held every two years in the nation’s capital. This summer from July 9 – 11, 2023 more than 160 selected Delegates, ages 4 to 17, from across the nation and around the world will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with Members of Congress and other Federal decision-makers to shine a light on the day-to-day experiences of life with T1D and to advance our key issues.

JDRF Children’s Congress has been essential to securing continued government funding for T1D research, as well as raising awareness of the daily burden of T1D for Americans living with this serious autoimmune disease. JDRF 2023 Children’s Congress Delegates will have a unique and empowering opportunity to help Federal lawmakers understand what life with T1D is like, and how research will one day help us create a world without T1D. Delegates will impart firsthand the importance of renewing the Special Diabetes Program (SDP), and why affordability, choice, and coverage of T1D management tools matters to our community.

In addition to being critically important, the work that Delegates do is also extremely gratifying. As the result of their trip to Washington, D.C., Delegates will form lifelong friendships, meet inspirational T1D Role Models, develop leadership skills, and return home poised to use their voices to power progress that will improve not only their lives, but the lives of all people impacted by T1D.