The Brockton Mayor's Youth Council is an organization made up of teens from Brockton that volunteers in
the community and hosts the annual Mayor’s Youth Summit. The Summit provides
youth in Brockton with a forum to discuss issues in their community and offer
suggestions for solving problems that affect the youth. Promise Fellow, Catherine
Walper took the time to answer some of my questions about the Mayor’s Youth
Council.
Why did you decide to get involved with the Mayor’s Youth Council?
I wanted to work with students that
have a cause and are committed to improving their community. I am also a part
of the Mass Promise Fellowship.
How can Brockton Teens join the Mayor’s Youth Council?
Enrollment is open until the
first Monday of October and the Council meets every Monday at City Hall 4:30-6:00
p.m. There is an application available online, open to youth in Brockton age 13
through 21, whether they are students at public or private schools in Brockton.
We do limit the number of students in the Youth Council to 30 teens and we are
up to 14 Members right now so we have room to grow!
How do you get the word out to teens in the Brockton community?
We work with the B.B. Russell,
the Champion Charter School, The Keith, and Brockton High School to reach out
to students. We put out press releases with The Enterprise and the Brockton
Community Cable Television station gets the word out to the community about
meetings and events. We also have a Facebook page.
The Mayor’s Youth Council’s website mentions that you do Service
Projects in the community. What are some
upcoming projects?
Our big service day is every year
on Martin Luther King Day and the teens do a service project in Boston. This
year we will be doing volunteer work throughout the community in different
places, such as soup kitchens, and we will be doing Christmas in Brockton. We
are trying to revamp Brockton’s famous Christmas parade and get local
businesses involved like they were in the past. Some of the local businesses do
not have the tolls or resources to decorate the floats so we will have students
from Brockton High, Champion Charter, and Cardinal Spellman who are artistic and
are willing to volunteer, help decorate. We will also be doing service projects
in line with the Mass Promise Fellowship, which will be determined during our
weekly meetings.
Your website also says that you help teens to build leadership and
professional skills. How do you help students build these skills?
We have guest speakers come in,
professionals that range from the Mayor herself to professionals in the
community from different majors and backgrounds, who tell how they got involved
in their fields. We invite speakers from an array of communities and fields so
that we do not repeat the same speakers every year. We also hold resume
building and college preparatory workshops, working with Stonehill College,
Curry College, and Massasoit Community College to get teens ready for the world
after high school. We offer these workshops to other teens that are not part of
the Mayor’s Youth Council because we do not want to shut out teens that are not
a part of the Youth Council.
Does the Mayor’s Youth Council have any fundraising to support their
work?
All fundraising that the students
do, is always given right back to the Brockton community and this year one of
the bigger events is on November 17th. We are doing a 3 on 3
basketball tournament with Coaching for Change at the Brockton Boys and Girls
Club. Also, we will be doing a candle sale around the holidays and other things
are in the works, but the students are still in the planning phase.
Every March the Council holds the Mayor’s Youth Summit to reach out to
the youth of Brockton and find out what improvements they want made in the
community. What were some of the suggestions made at the 2012 Youth Summit and
what are your plans for the Summit next year?
Last March the youth wanted the
Youth Council to do more in the community. Last year the Council did a handful
of service projects, but this year we are making sure that we are more visible
and we are doing monthly events. Some of the teens did not know what the Youth
Council was, so this year is about branding our name, holding ourselves accountable
to the community, and making sure that it is known when the Youth Council is
involved when holding events. The next
Mayor’s Youth Summit’s date has not been set yet, but we are trying to set up a
more diverse set of programs that will reach out to those individuals who do
not feel that the issues that the Mayor’s Youth Council deals with are relevant
to them.
