By Kolby LaMarche

The Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging City Council Committee on Tuesday reviewed a memo from its chair outlining three priority areas for a more coordinated approach to supporting school-age youth, recently a high-crime population.

The memo, titled “Strategizing and Investing in Burlington’s Youth,” was prepared by Progressive Councilor Laura Sánchez-Parkinson, the committee’s chair.

It defines youth as school-age children and adolescents roughly ages 5 to 18, with Sánchez-Parkinson writing that she has spent recent months examining the city’s history of youth support and current efforts across departments, and that she hopes the committee and community can “co-create a proposal to inform policy, practices or investments for the mayor and full City Council”.

At the heart of the memo are three proposed areas for further exploration. The first centers on civic engagement and workforce development.

Sánchez-Parkinson suggested the city more intentionally advertise and recruit for seasonal jobs and internships, organizing outreach to better line up with high school academic and career planning calendars.

Job shadowing across departments could give young people additional exposure to city government. She also recommended strengthening partnerships with existing career exploration programs, such as those at King Street Center, and creating opportunities for city staff and elected officials to participate.

One concrete idea is a “Day at City Hall” that could include educational sessions, attendance at a City Council meeting and lunch with the mayor. The goal, according to the memo, is to help young people understand how local government works, see themselves as participants in civic life and explore possible future employment with the city.

The second area focuses on including youth voices in programs and policy. Sánchez-Parkinson noted that City Council adopted a resolution in 2003, revised in 2021, on expanding youth representation on city boards.

Implementation has fallen short: the memo states there are currently no youth serving on city boards or commissions and no established infrastructure to recruit, support and mentor interested young people. Without meaningful support, the memo warns, such opportunities risk becoming tokenizing.

Proposed steps include developing a group of paid youth consultants in partnership with programs such as the Burlington School District’s Racial Justice Academy, the City & Lake Semester and youth-led participatory action research efforts.

Participants could build on existing leadership training, contribute to city decisions and receive support from trusted adult mentors.

Another approach would be engaging youth through trusted community programs so that city staff and elected officials meet young people where they already gather, the memo said.

The third area calls for convening youth-serving organizations. Possible approaches include forming an internal city staff youth coalition to develop shared strategy, coordinate programming and inform investments, and supporting or building a citywide youth engagement coalition of organizations that already work with young people.

The aim would be stronger communication with the city and ensuring community perspectives inform program and policy development.

Sánchez-Parkinson identified two consistent gaps from conversations with youth, community leaders and city staff: the absence of a clear citywide strategy guiding how Burlington works with, supports and invests in youth across departments and partnerships, and the lack of a dedicated point of contact for youth, families and youth-serving organizations seeking to connect with city government.

Greater coordination, she said, would require staff capacity and resources but could help the city make better use of existing programs, relationships and investments.

In 1981, then-Mayor Bernie Sanders formed a task force on youth that led to a Youth Office focused on opportunities for participation, competence, self-esteem and belonging. That office supported a child care center, community service, a youth-produced newspaper, a Teen Center, performing arts programs and advocacy. It was funded primarily by federal sources with city and Neighborhood Planning Assembly support.

Over time responsibilities shifted and the office was eliminated. Today, Sánchez-Parkinson reported finding deep commitment to youth among city staff.

Burlington City Arts offers classes, summer camps, Family Art Saturdays and school visits. Fletcher Free Library provides youth collections, resources and year-round programming. Parks, Recreation & Waterfront runs organized sports and camps. The Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging administers the Juneteenth Youth Leadership Award. The Chittenden County Community Justice Center handles youth services including pre-charge referrals and restorative processes.

Although the REIB committee has been busy, and will likely continue to be, pouring through the Burlington Forward Resolution, movement on the youth memo is expected over the next few months, perhaps after the March election.

BDN will follow any concrete policy proposals as they head to the council.