“Where, after all, do human beings begin? In small places, so close to home and so small that they cannot be seen in any (media) image of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person. The neighborhood lived in, the school attended, the factory worked in. Such are places that every man, woman and child seek equal justice, equal opportunity, and equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold those close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” – Eleanor Roosevelt, former first lady to FDR – made in her address to the United Nations, 3/27/1958.
“Where ritual is absent, the young ones are restless, there are no real elders, and the grown-ups are bewildered. The future is dim.” – Malidoma Patrice Some, Power, Healing and Community
“As youth advocates, we have all experienced and seen that need to be addressed. We experience discrimination and racism, and we are often overlooked because of the ‘Asian minority myth’. By advocating on these issues, we can give our communities a voice, and make justice a reality, and make justice a reality for the Asian Pacific Americans Community. – A. Bai, T. Hussain, and J. Yu, high school student leaders in the Asian Students Advocacy Project (CACF), then directed and mentored by Mitch Wu. Posted mission statement, 2015
“Democracy Camp aims to bring out the importance of not just democracy, but the power of our voice, and to demonstrate that democracy, at its core, is a way of using our voices, as Americans are able to elect representatives that express our voices.” – Adhirup Singh, Cardozo High School student. Posted on the Y Vote NY website, Democracy Camp profile, (2024).
Over the course of my years founding, directing and doing civic mentoring in youth programs which incorporate youth voice and teen councils (many covered in my book), I have gradually learned many lessons, two of which I briefly mention here. The first lesson is nicely addressed by Mary Cowley, the author of the book Black Ants and Buddhists. After having worked for 14 years as a community organizer, she transitioned into a position as a primary grade schoolteacher who focused on place-based and nature- based education. She introduced students to experiences which utilized higher order thinking skills, encouraged inquiry, and incorporated student response and suggestions. One of her essential principles addresses the need for ‘dialoging, which encourages wisdom to emerge through shared participation’. The second lesson focuses on the essential need for adults to pay attention to the words and validate the deeds of young people. As pointed out by authors Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn in their book, Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting – children ‘ see us up close as no one else does, and consistently hold up mirrors for us ( adults)s to look into. They give us a chance to see ourselves in new ways, and to consciously what we can learn from every situation.’
In one of my first projects as a youth services director with the Uptown Dreamers, we assisted Columbia’s Young Men’s Clinic to attract and treat young folks for their health concerns. We were hoping to convince young male participants( ages 12 -24) to try out going to the clinic, which was housed blocks away. The clinic was housed in the more affluent part of our neighborhood, and within a huge medical building complex.
What ultimately helped us to realize our goal came to fruition after we invited a couple of the clinic’s health care workers to come to the park where young men played basketball. They agreed to referee games, and took video shots of these games. Those who sought increased clinic participation by young men saw increases in clinic visits after staff were perceived by youth as willing to come to their turf. Initially, we did not extend an invite to all the youth, but rather to two young men who seemed most curious, and who were respected by young peers as opinion leaders for their ‘crew’. After their visit, they shared with their friends that both the social workers and doctors were cool, and the experience helpful (in getting them sport medicals needed for being accepted into sport leagues and for summer youth employment programs). After a few weeks, participation at the clinic increased, and the Columbia’s Center for Population and Health had to expand their clinic hours from one night to two nights a week. The Director overseeing the clinic, Dr. Bruce Armstrong, made a video highlighting our medical clinic-community partnership success and showed the video at health conferences. Our youth program, called the 280: Dreamers, would continue to incorporate intergenerational and interactive activities on an intermittent basis. Youth are often labeled as having a narrow band of vision with limited possibilities. By aiming for the higher potential of youth, and their willingness to learn from positive experiences, adult leaders also learned, and encouraged the development of more open minds by youth to check possibilities out which previously had been seen as outside the realm of their comfort zones. A ritual of invitation, establishing a meeting place of folks previously not engaged with each other, and expansion of young people’s field of possibility and vision were valuable additions which benefited both young people as well as the programs seeking beneficial outcomes for youth and community.
Years later,( the clinic story was from 1986) beginning in 2007, I helped to navigate a partnership between a PAL sponsored teen program call IN STEP, and an agency called Future Voters of America. After organizing for 6 years, in partnership with the Future Voters of America, and elected city representative Gale Brewer (originally a City Council rep, and then Manhattan Borough President), we had worked diligently, but not yet seen come to pass, State Legislation which would lower the age of eligibility for NYC Community Boards to age 16. In 2013, after agreeing to a new collaboration with Generation Citizen, I came to learn of their well-conceived approach to both civic engagement learning as well as advocacy for issues of importance to young people. Crucial to their practice was implementing an approach where “youth advisory boards must be guided by the very young people which we aimed to enfranchise, ensuring that the voices of young people is front and center in the campaign- which would help to ensure momentum.” Teens from IN STEP, Generation Citizen, and other allied youth service agencies, were recruited to circulate dozens of petitions across the city of New York, as well as to co-lead as advocates at the City Council and State Legislature level. The invigorated campaign, which began in the fall of 2013, helped to obtain passage of an amendment to the New York State Public Officer Law in June of 2014. The new age of Community Board member eligibility was brought down from age 18 to age 16. Young people were not restless, but rather relentless focused, and adults in leadership positions, after learning to view youth in new ways,( as agents of change and not just problems) came to embrace them as valuable allies for greater participation in the municipal civic process. Generation Citizen continues to operate as thought leaders, and innovators of successful civic and advocacy efforts. Check out https://www.vote16usa.org to learn more of their current exciting initiatives supporting youth centered action civics and Vote 16 campaigns across the USA.
Since 2021 I have networked with a CUNY School Of Professional Studies program called the Intergenerational Change Initiative. Led by the director, Dr. Sarah Zeller-Berkman (who was instrumental in my learning critical supportive research during the Teens on Community Boards campaign), the program adheres to a primary directive where “ ICI uses research to illuminate the issues, solutions and contributions of NYC youth from their perspectives. We activate our research findings to foster youth and community development, ignite coalition-building, and advocate for intergenerational municipal policy making.” In other words, keep the focus local, advocate for and support youth leadership and elder mentorship where everyone teaches and learns from each other. To learn more of ICI work, check out https://www.intergenerationchange.org.
In 2021, ICI partnered with Y Vote NY to create a program called Youth Agenda/Policy Agenda. Dozens of high school leaders, recruited from schools across the city, were trained and supported in distributing surveys to students, in which a selection of issues were presented. Based upon the responses made in hundreds of surveys received each year, a list of 5 issues areas were prioritized for a presentation to agency personnel and elected leaders in May of each year. The issue areas identified in 2023 were” promotion of economic mobility for youth by investing in expanded youth employment programs and college savings programs; a call for including more youth in participatory budgeting and resource allocation processes, and expanding health services and culturally sustaining curriculum; prioritizing environmental justice from a local to a worldwide lens; and tackling youth homelessness and the crisis of housing insecurity and prioritizing the expansion of free and accessible mental health care.” Not only did teen delegates present to an audience which was appreciative of their scope of vision and insights, they also obtained hearings and meetings with elected reps and municipal leaders in helping to look out for and in some cases adopt teen -initiated recommendations. This collaboration between schools, students and civic mentors has helped to launch a new era where the actors have become incubators of a revived and expanding democracy. To check out the great programs of Y Vote NY, see https//yvoteny.org.
Today we see promising prospects for gaining traction in a new campaign to lower the voting age to 16 in New York State and New York City elections. Initially there was little awareness of State legislation( first introduced in 2019), but since the spring of 2023 we have seen considerable recent progress. After learning about the legislation in the Spring of 2023, a small group of volunteers, including myself, as well as the former directors of the Future Voters of America (Fran Baras and Diane Graszik) decided to engage in efforts to bring greater visibility to the NY State Legislation. (In the State Senate, S 660 and S 2562, lead sponsor Hoylman-Sigal; in the State Assembly A 274 and A 330, lead sponsor Robert C Carroll) . In little over a year, we decided to focus on the local, and make presentations to NYC Community Boards, by soliciting for letters of support. From the 13 presentations made, we obtained 10 letters of support or resolutions of support. We have also received support letters from the Manhattan Borough President, Mark Levine, and the Queens Borough President, Donovan Richards. However, with our previously learned lessons about incorporating teen vision, advocacy and co-leadership, we are now ready to take the next step, as proposed in the Vote 16NYC-NYS mission statement: “Vote 16NYC/NYS is all about empowering 16- and 17-year-olds in New York City and New York State. By allowing them to vote in local elections, we are encouraging them to become active citizens and make a tangible impact on policies that shape their lives. This initiative complements their civic education, giving them firsthand experience of the democratic process. It’s an opportunity for NY’s young people to step up, engage with their community, and actively shape the city they love.”. (reference the website: vote16nyc-nys.com). Now that we have established a working, local start, it is time to reclaim the wider ethical and pragmatic imperative. Y Vote NY, ICI, Generation Citizen, Generation Vote have each established credible and essential programming for teen-led action civics, and also have roots in several localities throughout New York State. Generation Citizen has established a Teen Policy Fellows program, where high school and college students will take the lead in visioning and advocating for lowering the voting the voting age. They have also initiated partnerships with Generation Vote and Common Cause, which have successfully recruited young visionaries and activists in voter participation and governance reform campaigns. Together, our goals are to recruit, train and activate a Youth Vote 16 Ambassador program, where youth take the lead in our campaign. Once in place, we will launch advocacy days at the NYC Council (for a resolution of support) and the NY State Legislature, which is responsible for the process of amending the State Constitution to lower the voting age to 16. When passed, 16- and 17-year-old stakeholders will become obtain the right to vote in New York State and New York City elections. For every high school student in New York State, there will also be a mandatory 8 hours of classroom time focusing on electoral civics.
Our efforts, (as I had also written about in my book, The Soul of Adolescence Aligns with The Soul of Democracy: Orphans, Rebels and Civic Lovers Unite), is to serve as a testimonial for the right of equitable and inclusive participation by teens in the institutions and governing bodies which define the quality of teen lives as well as the nurturance of viable and nurturing communities. In 1968, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, in his address to a college audience in Cape Town, South Africa, spoke to the need for adults to abandon the false narratives and dismissive civic practices imposed upon youth, while learning to cede space to youth as leaders navigating our path to a new age of possibilities. We need to reduce what the writer Meira Levinson calls the ‘civic empowerment gap’, not just as a long- range goal, but as a present-day process in getting to that goal. We have a world to win, and nothing to lose but our shame.
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