WE THE YOUTH 2021

Members of the LGBTQ+ community are currently experiencing various forms of abuse, bullying, and victimization. In fact, 82 percent of nonbinary and gender fluid youth who responded to the Voicing Our Future survey feel disadvantaged because of their gender. Members of the LGBTQ+ community disclosed that they have been denied or have faced barriers to certain healthcare and medical treatments. They expressed a need for professional counselors and therapists who specialize in LGBTQ+ issues. Improving women rights is also a priority. A common challenge is the lack of resources for childcare and full-day preschool. In some cases, women had to sacrifice work and other opportunities because of the lack of affordable and accessible childcare services. Lastly, laws need to be more flexible to allow people to make their own healthcare decisions. Legislation should not interfere with individual rights and ability to make decisions about abortion, hormone therapy, and healthcare/medical treatments.

Systemic Racism is the systemic design of public and private policies in government or private institutions to oppress a group of people, through the creation of policies on the local, state, and federal level, said policies prevent oppressed groups from accessing equal/equitable institutions such as education, healthcare, justice, housing, and economic improvements. All other priorities intersect with systemic racism because it is the foundation upon which this country was built and impacts every aspect of life.

A good education serves as the first foundation for growth and healthy development. Learning and fair distribution of resources in schools will help bridge the gap between marginalized groups and the rest of society. It will give them increased opportunities for professional development and provide them the skills and qualifications they will need to succeed in the modern economy. Through good educational systems, youths will be prepared to carry the torch from previous generations and make decisions that resolve the plethora of issues present in this age and better the world. The youth deserve the chance to contribute to and improve their community.

The objective of civic education is to encourage youths to participate in the political process and to engage in issues that affect them and their community. Civic education will help the youths make more informed decisions about politics, increase voter turnout in the 18-24 age groups, and encourage more youth to actively take lead on issues impacting their communities by contesting for office or starting movements or rallies around a cause.

The youth around NYC need to be employed because it will help them develop certain skills that will help them in their adulthood. Especially in such a populated city, it is hard to get really good jobs with so much competition and so much favoritism towards certain communities over others. By properly employing youth at the right age, they can learn the necessary skills to obtain other jobs and present themselves properly. One example includes the Summer Youth Employment Program, which conducts a random lottery from applicants around the city between the ages of 16 and 24. Programs like these should be more common since they are unbiased towards economic status and race. In addition, youth employment can help a lot of small businesses around the city, since many of them are seeking workers as fast as possible to keep their business afloat.

Prior to COVID-19, most youths were already dealing with mental health issues, but because of the stigma against mental health and lack of accessible resources, we couldn’t seek help. Most youths suffer alone in silence. COVID-19 policies such as school closures, non-essential businesses, and lockdowns forced youths into isolation worsening our mental health. Most youths now suffer from major depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Suicide rates amongst youths have increased, for example, there have been three suicides amongst youths at the Vessel. Youths are suffering, we need help. Funds should be allocated to create resources for mental health amongst youth in schools and outside of schools and there should be a platform that educates and spreads awareness on mental health amongst youths. Great mental health is vital for leading a great life. Youths cannot succeed in academic, social, and personal life efficiently if they continue to struggle with mental health issues. As future leaders of our community, we deserve a society that caters to our mental health.

The zip code you live in decides your outcome in life. That is a famous expression that is unfortunately true all over the world, but it hits home particularly in neighborhoods around NYC. NYC is one of the top urban centers in the world with a lot of opportunities and resources, however, those resources are not evenly distributed among all neighborhoods and while some neighborhoods in NYC thrive, others are ranked at the bottom of the list, depending on the statistic, in the nation. Youth need better communities/housing to gain access and proximity to resources that will better their lives and propel intergenerational mobility, allow them to live happily, healthily, safely, and comfortably in their neighborhoods because the conditions of a neighborhood impacts all these things, it is the best way to ensure that race and income disparities reduce over time, and it will leave the youth, not just those that are privileged, well positioned to engender change and resolve issues experienced by previous generations.

Gender Justice the systemic redistribution of power, opportunities(resources), and access for all marginalized people. We must dismantle the harmful structures of sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and patriarchy that have stifled the freedom for people to be who they choose to be, where they want to work, how much they are compensated, and where they can live safely without the burden of bigotry and inequality. Gender Justice signifies the inter-sectional approach that centers the needs and experiences of communities affected by discrimination and oppression because of their gender or perceived gender identity. ​

Gender justice: is …being treated fairly

• Being paid the same amount as the white cis-gendered heterosexual male with the same job title
• Provided with the same medical resources and healthcare as everyone else
• Children are not being forced into the binary and heteronormative lens at school or home
• Young people have access to adequate and appropriate support that meets them where they are at
• Educational environments are welcoming and inclusive irrespective of your gender
• Access to programs promoting medical, physical, and emotional health

The impact of COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted low-income youth of color. The pandemic left an already disenfranchised group with fewer resources for their education,  access to health and mental health services, a place to call home, and employment options. The digital divide and remote learning increased the loss in learning as young people were unmotivated and overwhelmed by the intersectional inequalities of race and class that emerged in their communities and at home. The home was not always a safe place for all young people as seclusion led to abuse and neglect, leaving young people with nowhere to go for refuge. In homes where parents and caregivers experienced setbacks of their own, young people stepped in to support siblings and family members as their households struggled to maintain a sense of normalcy. Unemployment and job scarcity left many young people and their families struggling to make ends meet. With less access to healthy foods, restrictions of going outside young people’s overall health deteriorated. Young people mourned the loss of family, watched as small businesses in their communities closed down, and all the while, even with all the odds stacked against them, stood up to social injustice and are emerging as resilient leaders and change-makers.

COVID-19 has taken a huge toll on young people and families in New York City.^[7]  Many young people have experienced losses, economic distress, food insecurity, a tough transition to remote learning, and a lack of social connection to friends and family members. Post-pandemic recovery should take an interconnected systematic approach to address youth needs to build back better using their vision of what New York City could be. The potential impact on youths’  lived realities could be immense if recovery aid and stimulus is directed toward youth priorities.

Over the course of 2019, 132,660 people slept in the New York City municipal shelter system; over two-thirds were families and almost 45,000 were children.^[5]  New York City has approximately 4,600 homeless youth who are almost entirely people of color; roughly half identified as LGBTQ+^[6]  Our youth-driven research revealed that one-fifth of the young people who took the YAY census in 2020 had experienced housing insecurity, and many young people felt concerned about their ability to afford living in New York City in the future.  Both housing affordability and gentrification were among the top five issues identified by young people.  We urge the next administration to make housing affordability in New York City neighborhoods a priority.

While we are encouraged that the poverty rate for young people has been on the decline over the past decade,^[2] we worry about the impact of COVID-19 on these gains.  We found that young people are frequently worried about their families or their own financial situations.^[3]  In a city with 99 billionaires and flourishing economic sectors, we find it disgraceful that young people have to fight for the basics like food and housing as well as  access to opportunities for them to earn money and experience, such as the  Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP).    We hope that lawmakers will commit to ensuring that New York City is a place where all youth can thrive regardless of whether they were born into money.

We know from engaging with thousands of young people in New York City that they want to be part of shaping their city’s future. In fact, 60 percent of NYC youth reported that they demonstrated support for racial justice campaigns in the last year (Voicing Our Future youth survey, 2021). However, 69 percent of young people who took the YAY Census in 2020 stated that they don’t have opportunities to be heard by those who make decisions about their neighborhood.  Seventy percent don’t feel like their perspectives are taken into consideration on decisions affecting their communities.  Our next administration must provide a plethora of opportunities for a broad and diverse group of young people to weigh in on issues that affect their lives, communities, and the institutions that serve them.

For the New York City Youth Agenda, we are thinking about the wellbeing of young people holistically, including mental and physical health.  According to the New York State Department of Health, in every year more than one in five New Yorkers has symptoms of a mental disorder. Moreover, in any year, one in ten adults and children experience mental health challenges serious enough to affect functioning in work, family, or school life.^[1] Before COVID-19, the need for mental health services and supports was dire.  This has magnified exponentially after the extended global health crisis.  The average number of symptoms reported by youth taking the YAY census was six. Thirty-five percent of young people who took the CCC’s Voicing Our Future survey reported mental health symptoms, and among youth who reported a need for mental health services, only 42 percent received them.

We also found that young people’s basic needs related to food are not being met. While food insecurity has been a looming issue for youth in NYC for many years, this problem has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. According to Feeding America, one in four — more than 466,000 children — in New York City is experiencing food insecurity, a 49 percent increase from pre-COVID-19 levels.¹  It seems abhorrent that in a city of such wealth, more than half of the young people who took the YAY census had experienced food insecurity in the prior few months.  Supporting young people’s health and wellbeing is critical to the future of this City.

The police department in New York City has a five-billion dollar budget which is about five times that of DYCD.  Yet, young people who took the 2020 YAY census generally believe that the police department is doing a poor job on accomplishing its mission of enhancing “the quality of life in New York City by working in partnership with the community to enforce the law, preserve peace, reduce fear, and maintain order.”  Contact with police in communities and in schools have left young people feeling mistrustful and unsafe.  NYC young people who weighed in on the Youth Agenda have a vision for community safety that promotes social cohesion in neighborhoods and creates  positive spaces for young people to thrive.

There are 1,126,501 students in the NYC school system, making it the largest in the United States. NYC is also home to the most robust network of youth programs, located in schools, community-based organizations, public housing, libraries, and parks. We conceptualize learning as something that happens in both formal education spaces and informal spaces around our City. Our Youth Agenda advocates that these spaces should feel supportive, relevant, and engaging. We want to learn life skills such as financial literacy as well as “history/anthropology that is not white-washed and adequately reflects understanding of our current world and demographic” (youth respondent to the YAY census, 2020). Despite this desire to learn and grow as students, fewer than half of youth in New York City reported that they had received extracurricular support for academics or career opportunities in 2020 (Voicing Our Future youth survey, 2021). In addition, young people surveyed in the YAY census reported feeling generally positive about their teachers but negative about the police. begging the question: Why do we place police in spaces where we are asking young people to learn? Only 40 percent % of young people who took the YAY census reported having access to restorative justice programs in their schools. Young people are offering a vision of discipline and safety that is “more individualized and catered toward each individual’s needs, whether they be emotional, mental, or physical, and takes into consideration a student’s living situation. “They should seek to understand why students did what they did instead of punishing them for what they did as a form of unproductive discipline” (youth respondent to the YAY census, 2020).