The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to create the county’s first Youth Commission, answering long-standing calls from youth advocates to give young people a seat at the table shaping policies and programs that impact their lives.
The commission, which will be open to 18- to 26-year-olds with experience in the child welfare or juvenile justice systems, will monitor the outcomes of youth-serving county departments and will also offer recommendations to the board and departments regarding youth-related policies, programs and have the power to audit county department budgets. The commission will also produce an annual “youth report card,” scoring how well various departments are serving L.A.’s young people.
“When we acknowledge youth as experts in their own life, we begin to value them as partners in this work,” said youth advocate Carmen Noyola, an alumna of the foster care system.
Youth advocates from YJC, California Youth Connection, Anti-Recidivism Coalition, NFYI, Opportunity Youth Collaborative and more worked alongside the Commission for Children and Families to develop recommendations on how the Youth Commission should be designed, what powers it should have and how commissioners should be selected. More than 170 youth were engaged in producing the report through surveys, visioning sessions and stakeholder meetings.
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