Raising Our Voices: Hosting a Youth Forum
By Harper Fortgang
Youth are 21% of California’s population. Even while we can’t yet vote, our priorities matter. We have strong opinions about issues that affect our lives, even as our voices are often not included in the conversation and it’s challenging to figure out how we can influence the political process.
Here’s where Youth Commissions across California come in: we are in a unique position to connect youth voices to local government. Since there are hundreds or thousands of youth in your town or city, it’s critical to find ways to uplift a diverse range of youth and their priorities. There are many ways to interact with other youth to understand their needs: attending community events, inviting youth to your Commission meetings, and holding public forums at schools or other community spaces.
Earlier this month, the San Francisco Youth Commission hosted our first of several Youth Budget Forums to engage youth across San Francisco to understand their priorities for the upcoming budget cycle. Each year, our Youth Commission submits budget and policy priorities to the Mayor: one of the channels through which we can have the most impact. The event opened with a presentation from our Legislative Affairs Officers about the budget process. We then split into table groups with Commissioners in each group to facilitate conversation, asking questions including:
What are some issues you see in your day-to-day life in your school, home, or neighborhood?
What is an issue that you feel deserves more attention?
Do you feel safe at school? If not, how can the school help you feel safer?
Each table recorded their ideas as a list or mental map on poster paper. Splitting into small groups and engaging attendees through an interactive brainstorm created lively – and sometimes heatedly passionate – discussions! We then asked each group to share highlights and finished with a gallery walk. Some of the biggest issues that attendees raised included: more career training pathways in schools, greater access to mental health resources, and expanded support for transitional aged youth to find jobs and housing. Combined, our groups generated pages of priorities! As our process continues, it will be important to narrow down these lists and identify the top priorities to focus our efforts. We also hope to encourage attendees to remain engaged with our efforts to advocate for these priorities. For example, inviting them to public comment or present at our Commission meetings. We strengthen our power by working together!
Focusing on outreach is key to a successful youth input forum. Before the event, all 17 Commissioners reached out to community organizations and distributed flyers in schools, libraries, and community centers that serve high school-aged youth. We also posted the event on Instagram and in our newsletter. The most effective outreach was directly emailing and talking to community-based organizations who could bring groups of youth. It’s also important to develop long-term connections with these organizations so they will be more likely to participate in your events each year.
It was very impactful to hear directly from other youth about the stories and challenges that they face every day. Based on the success of our Youth Budget Forum, our Commission plans to hold more forums like this one ahead.
Image credit: San Francisco Youth Commission