In six communities across the U.S., young people designed virtual events with community leaders including organizations, schools, and municipal agencies to address pressing social issues, foster collaboration between youth and community leaders, and spur action.

In each community, young people led the planning and execution of a community-wide event to discuss challenges like insufficient mental health supports in schools, racial microaggressions, and adults not listening to the voices of youth.

Each of the following sections provides deeper insight into each community’s journey and what happens when young people are not only at the table, but also setting the table and the agenda.

Throughout 2021

Missouri, New York, South Carolina, and New Mexico,

Key takeaways and outcomes:

The Communities:

St. Louis and Sikeston, Missouri

Young people often do not define “safety” the same way adults do and recognize that students in different schools have different experiences of “safety.” From School Resource Officers to self-care, seven students from various districts across Missouri will lead their peers in discussing the importance of school safety and what steps are needed to be taken to ensure the wellbeing of all students and school staff.

Cherokee County, South Carolina

Cherokee County FIT2gether and Thrive-U youth are designing and hosting a summit for middle and high school students as a call to action for youth voice, power, and unity. Topics will include wellness, equity, COVID-19, social unrest and polarization, educational experiences, and disrupting stereotypes, all with the goal of creating access and opportunities for everyone to be their best in Cherokee County.

Staten Island, New York

This youth-led virtual convening will focused on how mental health issues and racial injustice affect Staten Island youth. Young people from various schools across Staten Island will work together to deeply explore these topics through an intersectional lens in order to develop and share youth-centered and sustainable recommendations for key decision makers, other youth, and the broader Staten Island community.

Jacksonville, Florida

Diverse youth advocates for social, racial, health, and environmental justice will lead this event, focusing on topics such as equity, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and collective strategies to elevate and sustain young people's voices. The event will act as a call to come together as a community of young people—with and for one another.

Rochester, New York

This youth-led virtual convening will focus on how mental health issues and racial injustice affect Staten Island youth. Young people from various schools across Staten Island will work together to deeply explore these topics through an intersectional lens in order to develop and share youth-centered and sustainable recommendations for key decision makers, other youth, and the broader Staten Island community.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Mission: Graduate, a project of the United Way of Central New Mexico, will partner with Learning Alliance of New Mexico. The organizations will convene young people to identify the issues most significant to youth and develop actionable next steps for community organizations, schools, and municipal agencies to partner with youth on a long-term, ongoing basis.

March 30, 2021

America’s Promise Alliance Announces Grants for Youth-Led Conversations in Communities Across U.S.

WASHINGTON – America’s Promise Alliance today announced $150,000 in grants to empower young people to organi

Monday, September 13, 2021

Mental health, racial disparities and technology issues top concerns for New Mexico youth

Mental health issues, racial disparities and lack of technology access were problematic for New Mexico students prior to COVID-19. And the pandemic exacerbated those complications for students across Albuquerque Public Schools.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Thrive-U Youth Highlight Mental Health Concerns of South Carolina Students Amid Remote Learning

Students from Gaffney High School and Ewing Middle School are planning to launch a podcast about mental health challenges, and scheduling meetings with town and county officials to keep the voices of youth at the forefront of decisions that affect them.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Gaffney Middle, High School students aim to reduce stigma around mental health

After watching their peers struggle with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of students in Cherokee County, S.C., hope to dispel stigmas around talking about challenges with anxiety, depression, suicide and other mental health conditions.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Youth fight for racial justice, and take their convictions to the polls

With the world gripped by a global pandemic and protests over police brutality raging across the U.S., young adults and teenagers played a significant role in the activism work that defined 2020.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Albuquerque Students tackle mental health, racial equity in schools

A group of Albuquerque teens and young adults have big plans to tackle problems they see in area schools, including a lack of adequate mental health support for students and a school curriculum that does not incorporate enough diversity into assigned readings.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Missouri high school students call for more mental health services in schools to increase feelings of safety

St. Louis, Missouri -- Feeling safe in school was a problem in Missouri even before the pandemic added the unprecedented element of fear and anxiety of being exposed to a potentially deadly virus.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Borough students talk mental health, racism in local high schools

For Justin Soyka, the crisis came in middle school. During his 8th grade year, he survived two suicide attempts, and was hospitalized twice before he was able to get help for his depression, ADHD and crippling anxiety.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Missouri high school students recommend ways to improve school safety, student mental health

St. Louis, MO - More licensed therapists on campus. Requiring parent or guardian participation in all school safety discussions. Implementing “calm rooms” where students can go to center themselves.

Friday, September 10, 2021

Jacksonville high school student-activists chart their course

Generation Z - born roughly between the mid 1990s and early 2010s - has already made a name for itself due to its willingness to advocate for myriad social causes, from LGBTQ+ rights, abortion rights, and immigration to environmental consciousness.

Friday, September 10, 2021

Jacksonville youth face rising rates of trauma, mental health issues

Teens today are under a lot of stress: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that the proportion of young people visiting an emergency department due to a mental health crisis climbed by 31 percent during the six months between April and October of 2020.

Friday, September 10, 2021

Monroe County students work to promote, elevate youth voices

From protests against gun violence to the Black Lives Matter movement, the nation has recently seen young people take the lead on a wide variety of social movements.