Youth in Local Government: Summary and Sign up

This discussion topic was requested by Council Member Zulfat Suara regarding Youth in Local Government Summary and Sign up.

From CM Suara:

Colleagues- Thank you all for helping make YILG 2024 and 2025 a success. As we start the preparation for 2026, I wanted to follow up with all of you. As you may recall, one of the goals for YILG is for us to follow through on the students’ suggestions. Often, we create space for youth to participate but nothing happens after, which in a way could be discouraging for the youth. I did not want YILG to be that. For example, I convened a meeting at McGavock with elected officials, WeGo, NDOT and the mayor’s office of Choice How you Move to discuss the students’ ideas about transportation and sidewalks. This coupled with the efforts and leadership of the district councilmembers have resulted in better sidewalk and a dedicated WeGo line. We also started a conversation about the Clear Backpack idea from Pearl Cohn students. We have a company willing to sponsor the cost of the clear bags, we are still working through with MNPS.

While it may not be practical to implement all of the students’ ideas, my goal is for us to do as much as possible. Doing so will encourage students’ participation and give us ideas on serving our constituents. Many of you indicated you would like to work on these projects during YILG. This conversation is the follow-up. Thanks to my amazing intern Maya El Said- attached are summaries of the students’ ideas from YILG 24 & 25 by school. If you are interested in working with me on any of these ideas, please comment below or reach out to the Council Office to arrange a publicly noticed meeting. We will then create the workgroup. The workgroup, which will also include school board members, will reconvene the students like we did for McGavock, bring in partners, etc.

Thank you all for all that you do for Nashville. It is a pleasure serving with you all!