The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) conceptualized the idea of creating an NYC youth agenda based on data. In the summer of 2020, it partnered with a team of youth and adult researchers from the, Intergenerational Change Initiative (ICI) at the CUNY School of Professional Studies Youth Studies Program to collect data from 416 youth throughout the City using a Youth Ask Youth census covering topics related to learning, economics, community, health, and relationships. The ICI team augmented the survey data with qualitative data from seven focus groups with 52 young people in summer of 2020.
Over the course of the 2020-2021 school year, DYCD worked with a group of youth advisors to conceptualize and actualize a series of six livestreamed town halls that engaged over 20,480 people. DYCD and ICI also launched brief, targeted surveys for over 600 youth to weigh in on recommendations that surfaced from the town halls. Additionally, the youth advisors and numerous NYC youth participated in eight training sessions aimed at building skills and competencies to engage in civic action.
The ICI/DYCD team then conducted a series of nine roundtable discussions in April 2021 with over 65 people to delve more deeply into issue areas to surface recommendations. ICI worked with our partners at YVote to host over 100 young people at an online forum to hone the recommendations. Lastly, partners at Citizens Committee for the Children of New York invited over 1300 young people to weigh in on their vision for the future via the Voicing Our Future survey. Our recommendations highlighted in the NYC Youth Agenda are based on youth-generated data and reflect the wisdom of thousands of young people across New York City. We ask mayoral candidates to heed this revolutionary vision for a stronger New York City put forth by youth for youth.
streams of the DYCD Youth Town Halls over 2020-2021
people participated in ICI/DYCD roundtables
people participated in the Youth Agenda symposium ICI/YVOTE with support from DYCD
streams of the DYCD Youth Town Halls over 2020-2021
streams of the DYCD Youth Town Halls over 2020-2021
young people participated across the five DYCD Flash surveys
20,480
streams of the DYCD Youth Town Halls over 2020-2021
60
people participated in ICI/DYCD roundtables
100
people participated in the Youth Agenda symposium ICI/YVOTE with support from DYCD
20,480
streams of the DYCD Youth Town Halls over 2020-2021
52
young people participated in focus groups summer 2020 ICI/DYCD
618
young people participated across the five DYCD Flash surveys
In February 2021, youth advocates and Citizens’ Committee for Children launched a survey that collected responses from more than 1,300 young people (ages 14 to 24) across New York City. The survey was designed and distributed in collaboration with hundreds of youth who wanted to hear from their peers on the issues that matter most to them in the build up to the 2021 municipal elections for mayor, city council, and borough president. The results of the survey are housed on Google Data Studio, which outlines key findings on youth priorities for the next administration, and presents interactive maps, tables, and tools for the public to explore data from the survey – diving into the experiences, opinions, and voices of youth by zip code, age, gender, and more. To learn more about these results and explore data from the survey, click through the embedded report or visit the Google Data Studio: https://datastudio.google.com/s/lxGhynVc6ZE
Key takeaways include:
Youth lack extracurricular, mental health support and many are involved in racial justice work
- Less than 50% of youth report receiving extracurricular support for academics and tutoring or career, internship, and job opportunities
- More than a third (35%) of youth report wanting or needing mental health services from a professional, particularly youth in the Bronx and Manhattan
- Among youth who want/need mental health services only 42% reported receiving these services
- More than 60% of youth report that they demonstrated support for racial justice campaigns over the past year
Youth feel strongly about climate change, educational equity; many feel they don’t have a say in government
- More than 80% of agreed that government must take more serious action against climate change and public, non-specialized high schools deserve more resources
- Youth in Manhattan are most likely to feel that their schools are not reflective of NYC’s diversity
- A majority of female and non-binary or gender fluid youth report that they feel disadvantaged because of their gender identity
- Only 40% of youth agree – and 35% disagree that they have a say about what the government does
Youth report a need for more educational, mental health resources and challenges with economic security and public safety
- Youth voiced many concerns and recommendations in the open-ended section of the survey, which are spelled out in pages 11 through 14 of the report
- When asked about resources that they use or need, more than half of youth respondents cited educational, mental health, and non-cash (housing, health care, food) resources
- When asked about the challenges they face, education and mental health were also at the top of the list, as well as challenges around economic security, public health and safety, and finding a voice and community