Children, Youth and Environments 15(2), 2005 Youth with Influence: The Youth Planner Initiative in Hampton, Virginia Cindy Carlson Hampton Coalition for Youth Citation: Carlson, Cindy. (2005). “Youth with Influence: The Story of the Youth Planner Initiative in Hampton, Virginia.” Children, Youth and Environments 15(2): 211-226. Comment on This Article Abstract Young people are taking on important roles in civic life and public decision-making in Hampton, Virginia. This field report introduces Youth Planners—high school-aged young people who work as city planners creating policy, tackling issues important to the city’s youth, staffing a commission of young people who serve as the voice of local youth, and championing their own component of the Hampton Community Plan. Now in its tenth year, Hampton’s Youth Planner initiative has dramatically increased the opportunities for youth to have a voice in local government and the way community leaders and government officials view them. Lessons are shared on the benefits and challenges of working within such an extensive system of youth civic engagement, and within a youth and adult partnership. Keywords: youth planners, youth as resources, youth participation, youth civic engagement© 2005 Children, Youth and Environments Youth with Influence: The Youth Planner Initiative in Hampton, Virginia 212 It’s a typical day in the local government Planning Department in Hampton, VA. Planners Sarah and Will have a full docket of tasks and responsibilities. In addition to meetings and emails, they will be setting up a focus group on transportation issues, plotting some recently-surveyed businesses onto GIS maps, and preparing a report for City Council. But unlike the rest of the city planners, Sarah and Will have some additional work to do at the end of the day—at least two hours of homework. Sarah and Will are high-school students. Even though their workday begins after school, their responsibilities mirror those of their adult colleagues—to translate the needs of their peers into workable plans that improve the community. Their success depends on a comprehensive system of youth engagement in the community, and a local government willing to support meaningful roles for young people in decisionmaking . Figure 1. Hampton is located in the larger metropolitan area of Hampton Roads, Virginia Since 1996 the city of Hampton has employed young people in its Planning Department. Guided by their own component of the city’s Community Plan , these teens have drafted Youth with Influence: The Youth Planner Initiative in Hampton, Virginia 213 policy, developed and funded programs, and created a community expectation that young people will “weigh in” on decisions facing the city’s governing bodies. This report will trace the history of the Youth Planner initiative, describe its unique components, and explore some of the lessons learned from this extraordinary youth and adult partnership. Brief Background Hampton, VA , with a population of 148,000, sits at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and is part of the larger metropolitan area of Hampton Roads. It is a diverse and working-class city; of the school-age population, approximately 60 percent are youth of color, predominantly AfricanAmerican . Four public high schools serve the teen population, while a small number of youth travel to independent schools in neighboring cities. Many families are connected to the military, or work in the seafood and tourism industries. Young people in Hampton did not always enjoy positions of influence within the governance functions of the city—and the city’s first foray into engaging youth as decision-makers happened quite by accident. In 1990, City Council commissioned a group of community leaders, the Coalition for Youth , to create recommendations that would improve outcomes for children and families. They challenged the group to find a way, in times of diminishing resources, to build a competitive workforce for Hampton’s economic development in the 21st century. They also wanted to ensure that young people and their families were contributing to the community instead of draining its resources. Through a community-wide strategic planning process, the Coalition contacted over 5,000 youth and adult citizens. Among the ongoing stakeholder groups charged with surveying their peers was a group of 25 young people who were recruited because they were facing a...