On March 15th, The Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF) held an event called Youth Advocacy Day. It was a day where high school students from around the City gathered in the Civic Center to meet with city officials of San Francisco.
The purpose of Youth Advocacy Day was to encourage the city’s young people to speak up and help create a more perfect city. The youth participants had the chance to voice their opinions and ask questions regarding San Francisco and its issues.
Although Youth Advocacy Day was a one-day event, preparation was key to make sure it went smoothly. Several youth organizations like Youth Works, The Youth Warriors, and The Youth Commision played a major role with providing youth staff to help facilitate groups of 10 – 15 youth during the event.
The goal for the youth staff was to get youth participants to voice their issues and goals for the future of the one and only San Francisco. Youth staff helped prepare talking points and issues to discuss when the youth met with City officials.
The cool thing about Youth Advocacy Day was that it was run by youth and backed by adult allies as support. Youth Advocay Day is not only a great educational experience about the workings of city government but also an opportunity for youth to voice their issues and ideas.
The youth are those who will mold our future. Everyone has an idea and that includes us. We should create the future we live in.
Blog written by Moises Gonzalez, Nhi Nguyen, Peter Ruan, and Andrew Wu of the YouthWorks Youth Leadership Team.