How Youth Become Effective Citizens: Models for Engaging Youth in Policy

A Forum — March 28, 2003

Background

Youth civic engagement leads to positive outcomes for youth as well as their communities. Cities and states are beginning to realize the benefits when they include a youth perspective in the planning and implementation of youth services. But how are they getting youth to become involved? At this forum, a panel of youth and adults describe two models, the Missouri Governor’s Youth Cabinet and the San Francisco Youth Commission, that successfully include youth in important decision-making or influential positions.

Forum Summary

Ben Smilowitz, coordinator of the Missouri Governor’s Youth Cabinet, served as the moderator for the discussion. He described the Missouri Youth Cabinet initiative. The Youth Cabinet is a groundbreaking model for youth involvement that gives youth an opportunity to be engaged in the policymaking process. The Youth Cabinet began operation nine months ago; it is composed of 45 members ranging from 17-22 years of age. Over 350 (?) applications were received from young people interested in serving on the Cabinet. Currently, 19 state departments and three state task forces each have received two youth appointees. Members of the Cabinet work with department directors and function as senior public advisors. Most of the funding for the Youth Cabinet comes from the federal Workforce Investment Act.

The goals of the Governor’s Youth Cabinet are to facilitate relationships and communication between the Governor’s Office, the State’s executive departments, and young Missourians. The Youth Cabinet also strives to engage other young people across the state, urging them to become involved in issue advocacy and service opportunities. The initiative makes clear the Governor’s commitment to hearing the perspectives of young people from diverse backgrounds when considering state policy. During the discussion with the panel, Smilowitz said that several important things have been learned through this program. While the initiative is “revolutionary stuff,” one important thing they have come to realize is that the process of change can be very slow. It is also essential for someone at the top to really push for these youth commissions if they are to exist and flourish. They have found that when young people feel respected, they do respond very positively.

Justin Stephan, a member of the Youth Cabinet and a sophomore at College of the Ozarks, described his experiences with the Cabinet and its basic operation. Members work with department directors and communicate frequently through e-mail. At the start, government officials had to lay out a curriculum for the youth cabinet to get them up to speed on the operation of state government. However, the Cabinet has been a learning experience for the state department directors as well. One of the challenges for the Youth Cabinet has been to make sure that the director who the youth is assigned to is willing to communicate with them.

Quentin Wilson, Commissioner of Higher Education in the state of Missouri, described some of the policy challenges associated with establishing and operating the initiative. A goal of the program was to develop a network of youth voice; they also wanted to be sure to include as members more than the usual suspects, and to keep the program action-oriented and youth-led. There was a great deal of interest expressed by youth in the initiative; despite a demanding application, approximately 400 applied to be on the commission. Voting polls show that youth are under-participating in political activities; his experience with this program, however, has been that young people are very appreciative when they are given an opportunity to be involved.

There are some challenges associated with the initiative. For instance, since the Youth Cabinet is a relatively new type of initiative, it was necessary to make up the rules as they went along. Another serious challenge is funding; state government cannot do it alone, and they are currently looking for partnerships across the nation to garner support. A challenge associated with establishing the Youth Cabinet was training adults to communicate with young people and providing youth with leadership training. Another challenge has been the “aging out” of members of the Cabinet. Since members must be between the ages of 17 and 22, when they reach 22, it is necessary to search for others to step in and take their places. It has also been a challenge to create interagency linkages; it is difficult to work between departments and to cut across silos to get people to work together. Wilson is hopeful that young people will help forge connections across departments.

Chivonne Brock, member of the Youth Cabinet and a senior at Central Missouri State University, said that there is a lot of diversity on the Cabinet, not just with respect to race, but also with ideas and political views. She described her role as a go-between: her responsibility is to take the voice of young people in the state to the government and then back to the people. She said that her participation on the Cabinet has helped her see just how important her voice can be in the governmental process.

Anthony Valdez, Chair of the San Francisco Youth Commission in 2002 and a freshman at American University, spoke about the Commission, which was created by San Francisco voters. It is similar to the Missouri Governor’s Cabinet; it involves youth working with local government in San Francisco. Currently, the Youth Commission has 17 members, one appointed by each member of the Board of Supervisors and six by the Mayor. The Youth Commission advises the Board of Supervisors and Mayor on issues relating to children and youth, bridges the gap between youth and government, and plays a vital role in ensuring that youth have a voice in decisions and policies that affect young people. It holds hearings with the Board of Supervisors and at City Hall to communicate with policymakers; it also holds town meetings in different districts all over the city to hear a diverse set of youth voices. Valdez stated that the Youth Commission tries to get legislators to be proactive in involving youth as they make policy decisions.

Valdez described how members of the Youth Commission were able to communicate with policymakers about important issues affecting today’s youth. For instance, the current Chair of the Youth Commission heard that state legislation had created a boot camp for first-time offenders of gun-related crimes and that this program was being considered for adoption for the youth in San Francisco. She researched the boot camp and found that the program was very severe and had physically endangered some young people. Alarmed about the program, she brought it to the attention of the legislators, and the proposal to adopt such a program in San Francisco was dropped.

On the other hand, there are some challenges associated with the Youth Commission. Not much direct power is granted to the Youth Commission and members must earn the trust of legislators to get them to pay attention to youth voices. Unfortunately, it is easy for legislators to ignore youth because many youth do not vote. However, the Commission tries to take the idea that youth are apathetic and throw it out the window. Valdez argued that all youth have an issue they are passionate about, but they too often feel that they are not equipped with the means to be heard. The Youth Commission allows the youth to have a voice and an instrument through which it can be heard.

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