"Seeing and Believing" Conference

By: Brad Knight
For Hampton, VA, the summer of 2005 was a great year. In addition to receiving the Innovations in American Government Award from the Ash Institute at Harvard University, Hampton was also awarded a $100,000 check from Harvard. The purpose of the money was to help other cities start programs for youth similar to the one in Hampton.
Recently, Hampton has spent some time traveling and telling other cities about their various organizations and groups that enage young people. However, April 22-24, 2007 was the big week. It was the “Seeing and Believing Conference.” Cindy Carlson, the director of the Coalition for Youth Office, stated that the only way to truly learn about youth civic engagement is to get hands-on and to talk to the adults and youth who are involved with it. So, Hampton invited teams of three people from ten different cities around the country to come and get physical with Hampton’s youth civic engagement.
Most of the teams arrived on Sunday, but a couple of teams flew in on Saturday to check out the 4th Annual Youth Rally. The conference officially started on Sunday evening. There was a reception at the Convention Center to welcome everyone with lots of gourmet food, performances, and some fun activities. This was just the beginning of more to come.
Bright and early Monday morning, the groups met up once again at the Convention Center to learn some of the background information and history about involving young people. Around 2pm, the teams got with the Youth Planners and Youth Commissioners who make up the Hampton Youth Commission and bombarded them with questions about the Youth Commission, such as what the commission does, its structure, and its impact on the city. Later that evening, the teams got to see the Hampton Youth Commission in action and watch them host a public meeting on neighborhood safety.
On Tuesday, the groups were able to meet up with city officials who work with youth, such as the Superintendent of Hampton City Schools, to ask questions and get their impression about youth civic engagement. All the teams left sometime on Tuesday.
The “Seeing and Believing” Conference was a phenomenal time for me. Although it was very busy, it was very fun meeting other adults from around the country who care about their young people. The adults were so intrigued in what Hampton has been doing for sometime, engaging young people. They were also really interested in the various ways young people can get involved. In addition, I had a great time telling others about what the young people in Hampton have done. However, it was saddening to hear from adults from different cities how unreceptive some of their adults are to young people. Hearing this makes me appreciate Hampton and the adults who invest in young people more. I hope everyone from the “Seeing and Believing” Conference got a lot out of it and learned how to make their cities better for the young people who are not the leaders of tomorrow but the leaders of today.

Stand Up! A Call to Youth

by Robby Saldaña, Youth Member on NLC's Council on Youth, Education, and Families, 2005-07

Every revolution starts with a voice. Every voice starts with a vision. Every vision starts with a dream. And every dream starts with a dreamer. For the past four years, I have been a dreamer, envisioning the influential power of the voices of youth in my community and across the country. I have dreamt of the day in which youth had a voice valued by and heard by policymakers, a day in which they could collectively change their destinies for the better.

Today, I can say that that dream is being realized across the country from our largest cities to our smallest and all those in between. Youth are having a voice in local government in increasing numbers, becoming sole youth representatives on certain boards and commissions and part of a collective voice in youth councils. We are acquiring leadership skills, we are organizing impressive projects, and we are helping to shape policies affecting youth. We youth are essentially challenging policymakers everywhere to understand that we want to be a part of the change; that youth we want to challenge false images about us and show our unique and sincere desire to work alongside policymakers. I applaud my fellow youth who are part of the change in their communities.

Aside from my applause though, I challenge youth everywhere to continue to make their voices heard. Though youth have achieved much, we have far to go in many respects (i.e. voting). Hundred- if not thousands- of youth councils remain to be created in communities where the youth voice is not respected. I challenge youth to command respect and show our importance. I challenge youth to stand up!

Póngase de Pie (Spanish Language Version)
por Beto Saldaña

Cada revolución empieza con una voz. Cada voz empieza con una visión. Cada visión empieza con un sueño. Y cada sueño empieza con un soñador. Por los últimos cuatro años, he sido un soñador, soñando con el poder influyente de las voces de la juventud en mi comunidad y en todo el país. Yo he soñado con el día en que la juventud tuviera una voz valorada y oída por los hacedores de política, un día en que pudiéramos cambiar colectivamente nuestro destino por nuestro bien.

Hoy, puedo decir que ese sueño se está realizando en todo el país desde nuestras ciudades más grandes a nuestras pequeñas y todas aquellas entre las dichas. Jóvenes tienen una voz en gobierno local en números crecientes, convirtiéndose en los únicos representantes de algunas juntas y comisiones y parte de una voz colectiva en concilios de juventud. Estamos adquiriendo destrezas de liderazgo, estamos organizando proyectos impresionantes, y estamos ayudando a formar las políticas afectándonos. Nosotros la juventud estamos desafiando a los hacedores de política por todos lados que entiendan que la juventud quiere ser parte del cambio, que la juventud quiere desafiar imágenes falsas de nosotros y enseñar nuestro deseo sincero y único de trabajar juntos con hacedores de política. Yo aplauso a los jóvenes quienes son parte del cambio en sus comunidades.

Además de mi aplauso, desafió a la juventud por todos lados que haga que su voz sea oída. Aunque hayamos logrado mucho, tenemos mucho que hacer. Cientos – si no miles- de concilios de juventud quedan que ser creados in muchas comunidades donde la voz joven no es respetada. Yo desafío a la juventud que enseñe nuestra importancia. ¡Desafío a toda la juventud que se ponga de pie!

Green Schools -by the Beaverton [Oregon] Mayor's Youth Advisory Board

On a gray morning in October, teens from all over the Beaverton metro area flocked to the Beaverton City Library to let their voices be heard. They came to challenge the stereotype of apathy that plagues our generation. Students tackled issues such as converting all Beaverton School District High Schools into Green Schools, student rights, and school funding. Throughout the morning, students were able to participate in discussions and affect positive change in their own community. They also had the opportunity to be enlightened by other student’s views at the same time.

One of the first sessions was presented by Sue Shade on behalf of the Oregon Green School Association which tried to encourage students to take action in their high schools and convert them to green schools. Although some students did not get fired up about the topic, one student did and criticized Southridge’s Dim Day program. Andrey Voloshinov said that “even though saving energy is a positive, we are wasting paper by printing the Dim Day certificates; the light bulb costume is a distraction and takes away from the learning atmosphere.” The concept may be a good one, but that is up for debate. After Sue Shade’s presentation, students will try to take her ideas back to their respective high schools and implement the environmental attitude and mindset that she emphasized in the session.

Priscilla Turner, the Chair of the Beaverton School District, presented the next session on School Funding, the topic proved to be heated when students debated about the pros and cons of magnet academies. The focus of the session seemed to revolve around the bond and the debate between traditional public high schools like Westview and magnet school like ACMA. Many students felt that the bond only focused on expanding the magnet schools and building new magnet schools like the new Medical Magnet School. These new magnet academies would provide an environment for students who were not succeeding in a traditional high school, but would only slightly decrease the overcrowding that occurs at Westview, which has 2700 students, and other schools around the district. The bond would expand classes at Southridge and give almost all teachers a room of their own, and assist Sunset in some renovations. Is it right to neglect classrooms without enough desks at Westview to build a Medical Magnet school that would only benefit a select group of students? How will the school board address the common good?

One of the most entertaining sessions was the one on student rights by Robert Stafford, a teacher at Westview High School. Nadia Khoja, a Southridge Senior, enjoyed it because the session was “entertaining and informational at the same time, and gave me a chance to learn, but also to speak up for what I thought was right.” Mr. Stafford brought up several recent student rights cases on topics like Myspace and the 4th amendment.

Students were very receptive to Mr. Stafford’s style because he did not lecture or preach, but informed participants using humor and knowledge of the law. Regarding the 1st Amendment and freedom of speech, Mr. Stafford spoke on the boundaries that schools can have in enforcing it, if a student tries to petition in a distracting manner, or the wrong place/time, the school has a say. Students were impressed by his knowledge of student rights and began to understand the reasons that many of our schools enforce the rules that they do.

Halah Ilias stated how proud she was of the Beaverton students that decided to sacrifice their Saturday Morning to better the community, “They show commitment at a level in which everyone should admire.” As Key Note Speaker Ryan Deckert pointed out in the opening, students are committed and passionate about what they are involved in and are willing to put forth extra effort in order to succeed. Apathy will not describe our generation if students take matters that are important to them into their own hands and act on them, as participants in the Youth Summit did in October.

> For more on the Beaverton MYAB, visit: http://home.teleport.com/~ajmal/myab/index.html