Alexis Larsen and Sadie Finn

According to survey conducted in 2016, only 19 percent of ACPS youth reported feeling valued by adults in the community. A new Youth Empowerment Work Group aims to combat this issue, and other problems involving youth in the Alexandria community.

This past summer students said they felt unvalued by the community because “youth are rarely asked for their opinions when decisions are made, even when those decisions affect their lives,” said Children and Youth Master Plan Coordinator, Chelsea Eickert.

To fix this issue, the group plans to teach leadership skills and create leadership opportunities for students. Teaching these leadership skills means “identifying community problems that affect their lives and coming up with solutions to tackle those problems,” said Eickert. Through this process, students will be able to “deepen their historical and cultural understanding of their experiences and community issues… build their skills and capacities to be [better] decision makers and problem solvers… and build their collective identity as social change agents,” said Eickert.

Odalis Del Cid Reyes, a student leader for the group, said “students can gain leadership skills, as well a a way for their voice to be heard.”

Many of the City’s commissions and boards have seats for youth but a lot of the time these seats go unfilled.  The Empowerment Work Group hopes to make the connection between the youth and city leaders. Many of these leaders want the youth to give their advice and be apart of the decision making process, especially when the a decision affects their own lives. Eickert said, “Over time, we hope to see more youth filling seats on boards, commissions, and decision- making bodies.”

With an increase of youth taking a part in the community, Eickert said, “Adults will develop a new respect for youth competence and expertise. We hope that they will commit to making youth-adult partnership part of their own practice and use the power of their position to promote youth engagement in new settings.”

Students will be able to apply these skills beyond the workgroup. Eickert said, “By creating and promoting more leadership, civic engagement, and empowerment opportunities for young people living in Alexandria, our local government, programs, and services will become more youth-friendly and accessible to youth, and youth will feel more valued by their community.”

The group meets every third Monday from 3:30 to 5:00 at TC in room C214. The next meeting is February 20 at TC. All are welcome to join in order to develop leadership skills and contribute to the Alexandria community!