My Life My Choice Mentees: The Next Generation of Policy Leaders
Written by S., Youth Leader and Mentee, 17
As a young person, it feels overwhelming to witness injustice in my community. Last year, racist demonstrations at my high school made it an unsafe environment for people of color. Feeling helpless, I discussed my concerns with friends, teachers, peers who cared, and at club meetings. These conversations became the start of a community advocacy movement that gained the attention of my school’s administration, people who had the power to make a change. From these conversations, an alliance of people who were willing to take action formed and created tangible change represented by a shared community desire for a safer and more inclusive school environment. This experience showed me how a community of people with common goals working to fix an issue is the most powerful way to get things done.
Since learning that My Life My Choice is using policy-making to improve the lives of youth, I became curious about legislation that can make a larger wide-scale impact on the community issues that I care about. This summer, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to be a policy intern with My Life My Choice. I’ve learned that the process of community organizing is crucial for passing bills and implementing legal change. Bills that My Life My Choice are supporting and working on will be life-changing for exploited youth involved in foster care, in the criminal justice system, or are impoverished. Although working with powerful legislators is intimidating, the dedication of advocates is transforming our communities. Policy-making is a slow process with a gratifying and long-term impact.
In the summer jobs program, as a part of my policy internship, I facilitated a workshop with mentees where we developed our ideas for the changes we want to make happen through policy. Discovering this work at My Life My Choice exposed me to policies that I didn’t realize I needed as a young person. It’s reassuring knowing I’m not alone in my experiences and I’m surrounded by those who care about preventing the abuse of youth. We are actively working on implementing changes to break this cycle and the support we have assembled means we are on track to reaching our goals.
Everyone, especially youth, has the right to know how to create change in their communities. Reframing legislative language that is difficult to understand will make influential bills more accessible to the community at large. An important part of activism is raising awareness through communicating with peers and legislators, digging further into what something means in terms of community impact, and standing strong in your truth.
Young people are powerful. It is imminent that we will inherit the world: policy and legal systems, societal culture, climate change, growing wealth disparities, and inflation. Oppressive systems have played a big part in our country's political and social climate, and unjust policies fuel discriminatory practices. Even though these problems seem larger than us, our generation will soon be the people with the legislative power to fix these issues. Through community organizing and fostering mutual care, we are equipped for success in making impactful changes and correcting systems that have been cruel to us in the past.