Filed in: Race & Equity | Identity
Earlier this month, the UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent hosted our third annual Adolescent Brain Development Symposium. In the second discussion of the day, journalist Lydia Denworth spoke with Veronica Terriquez, PhD, MEd, a professor at UCLA; Jose Salvador Orellana, the Executive Director and Co-founder of LOUD for Tomorrow; and Jessa Bayudan, a volunteer and alumni of LOUD for Tomorrow, about the importance of creating spaces for diverse communities where adolescents feel they belong and are empowered to become agents of change.
To start the conversation, Veronica Terriquez highlighted the challenges for young people in the United States, including tremendous inequality and various levels of stress and sometimes trauma, particularly among low-income youth of color.
“But within these challenging contexts, there are opportunities to engage in very powerful civic engagement, and develop a sense of belonging that really transforms their own lives and their communities,” she said.
In Veronica’s research, she examines how we can effectively build scaffolding around young people that supports their sense of belonging within their communities, which can have benefits on well-being lasting into adulthood.
“In following organizations across California, I have realized that some provide really comprehensive supports that enable young people to be leaders, to become civically engaged in ways that have positive impacts,” she said.
The organizations that she observed being successful had three “buckets” of programming and services:
A bucket that she says is especially crucial is critical civics education, which can help young people understand the systematic inequities in their unique communities.
They offered developmental supports like healing activities, methods for self-care, and skill/job development.
They offered critical civics education, or political education, that provided context for young people to understand the root causes of the problems in their communities.
They offered guidance for civic engagement by providing hands-on training to become civically involved, like public speaking training, or leadership development.
“So when they are seeing violence around them,” she said, “they are not blaming their peers or their families or their neighbors but they are understanding the systemic issues that are producing some of these systemic inequalities.”
One organization incorporating this type of programming is LOUD for Tomorrow, a youth-led organization based in the Central Valley of California.
Jose Salvador Orellana, the Executive Director and Co-founder of LOUD for Tomorrow, a youth-led organization providing “young people with opportunities and skills so they are able to build their power and create change.”
Jose explains that he got into youth organizing through a college program, at a time when he was “yearning for a community of people who looked like me, who came from the same background as me,” he said.
After taking classes with Veronica and finding an internship in his hometown that taught him about the historical strengths and challenges in his community, he was inspired to make a difference. He knew that other young people needed a place where they could feel a sense of belonging, and in this space teaching young people about their community’s history could inspire them as it had inspired him.
Jessa Bayudan found LOUD for Tomorrow during her sophomore year of high school. “I got to learn a lot of things I didn’t learn in textbooks, she said. “I didn’t know the root causes of why we went through the things that we went through as young people.”
She learned about the glaring inequities in her community, like why her school lacked desperately needed resources.
“Once I got involved with LOUD for Tomorrow, and the more that I learned about the power structures and the systematic inequities that are built in the system, the more I understood that I am a product of my environment,” she said.
Hearing stories from the other young people in the organization, their struggles and ideas, validated her own experiences.
“There was a sense of solidarity that made me feel less isolated in my own experiences, which contributed to my own sense of belonging,” she said.
Empowering young people to become leaders in their societies requires guidance, mentorship, and coaching, the panelists said. Jose explained that you first need to guide young people into advocating for themselves, and then they can advocate for their community.
“It usually takes about six months to get them from a new member to someone fully in their power…and who has the confidence to step up to City Hall,” said Jose.
“My regression results demonstrate that, as well,” said Veronica.
In Jessa’s case, this was also true.
“Once I saw how important my voice was, I gained a lot of confidence,” said Jessa. “I felt personally empowered in teaching other young folks how to use their own stories to advocate for themselves and their needs.”
said Jessa.
To round out the conversation, moderator Lydia Denworth asked the panelists to share any final thoughts or emergent questions they had after the discussion. A common theme was integration.
Jose mentioned that community-based organizations should work with governments and school districts to better support young people, as they can provide hands-on information and insights into what is working. Jessa said there should be better communication between younger people and older generations to foster collaboration that sparks change for the good of the whole community. And, Veronica left the audience with a question, asking them to think about how we can create programs and conversations that help young people unpack systematic issues in ways that do not impact their mental well-being, but instead spark a desire for civic engagement.
“I think there needs to be deep investment in these types of programs, both within schools and outside of schools, to really provide the comprehensive support that they need,” Veronica concluded.
In the last discussion of our 2024 Adolescent Brain Development Symposium, Joanna Williams, Senior Director of Research at Search Institute, took the stage with Le’Yondo Dunn, CEO of YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, and Haafizah Carter, an alumnus of the school, to talk about the impact of civic engagement on purpose.
In the third discussion of our 2024 symposium, science journalist Lydia Denworth talked with Natasha Duell, assistant professor of Psychology and Child Development at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, LaJuan Allen, director of Vote16USA, and Audrey Rothenberg, a senior at Culver City High School and volunteer at Vote16 Culver City about how civic engagement can support the need to explore and take positive risks during adolescence.
