Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Since it formed in 2005, the Sweet Home City Council’s Youth Advisory Council hasn’t always been active; but this school year, it has become an engaged group of youth.
Its membership has increased from three or four to nine, just two junior high positions shy of a full YAC; and they’re busy planning a community youth event for June.
City Councilor Scott McKee Jr., 24, has been assigned to work with the YAC since he took office at the beginning of 2007. He serves as the council’s representative, mostly just helping facilitate the Advisory Council’s ideas as well as reporting the Advisory Council’s activities back to the City Council. The assignment rotated among councilors prior to McKee’s appointment to it.
“I think there were three or four members, but we were lucky to get them to show up every week,” McKee said. He and Councilor Jim Gourley went to the high school and started recruiting. Students started getting excited and applying for positions on the YAC.
That generated excitement for the teens already on the YAC, he said, and they started showing up more regularly, “partly because of the support and partly because they were getting more kids,” McKee said.
City Manager Craig Martin led the formation of the YAC under the direction of the City Council to reach out to youth and encourage their input and involvement in city matters, to give them a voice.
The initial response, McKee said, was not encouraging.
“At first, we didn’t have people that were motivated,” YAC member Tracy Smith said. It started gaining momentum, both from the event planning that is underway and the larger number of youth getting involved.
She credits McKee for part of it.
“He’s like the one that gets everyone all pumped,” she said. He’s younger and closer to the YAC’s age group, so it’s easier for him to motivate the group.
The council assigned McKee to the YAC mainly because of his age, figuring he would be more connected.
“I think it’s helped bring some more energy to the group, somebody that is able to relate with the kids – is close to their age and can make the connection,” Martin said. McKee gives the YAC a more tangible connection to the City Council.
“He’s done a lot to recruit the kids and really encourages them to be involved, Martin said.
“We struggled with membership the first couple years after it was formed,” Martin said. He spent a lot of time and energy recruiting youth to the council. At the time, the skate park and closing the high school campus were hot topics. “That seemed to generate a lot of interest.”
Soon the skate park was developed, and discussions of closed campus waned as off-campus behavior appeared to improve among high school students.
During that time, the YAC had four high school seniors, Martin said. “When they were gone, there was really no structure in place to provide for continuance of the organization.”
Martin and city councilors who were recruiting youth would find interest, but when it came time to get applications in, “the rubber just didn’t hit the road,” he said. With this group, “they’re active. They’re looking on taking on community activities and issues.”
They would come back from their recruiting and “we began to wonder if there was any real interest out there.”
The recent interest level has led to more involvement, and more involvement has led to more energy in the YAC, Martin said, and non-senior members are interested in reappointment to the YAC next school year.
“First of all, it was an assignment,” McKee said, and he threw himself into it; but he had a personal interest as well.
“As a youth in this community, I always felt like kids never had a voice,” he said. That was before the city had a bike track and a skate park; and he and other youth felt like there was no way to talk to the city government.
When the youth got the opportunity, they didn’t take advantage of it, he said. “That was disheartening to me.”
“It was kind of frustrating at times,” Martin said. “There was really a tremendous opportunity for youth to be involved. Maybe they didn’t think we were serious.”
“In Sweet Home, we’ve always had like trouble getting kids involved in our community stuff,” she said. The YAC gives them a way to be involved and give their input into the community.
He started talking to teens and working with them, he said.
“They’re stuck in the mind frame nobody cares. They didn’t realize the power at their fingertips.”
They now have the opportunity to succeed, to see how government operates, and they’re learning “there’s more to it than asking or saying you want something,” McKee said.
And it sets the stage for the future, McKee said. “I see everything is baby boomer, baby boomer. All of our politicians have been there for years. There’s no one to take their place.”
The YAC shows its members there is a benefit in service to the community, he said, that they can make a difference. With a taste of leadership and service, it starts grooming tomorrow’s leaders.
As a group, “they’re putting together an event all on their own,” McKee said. The YAC members have formed a subcommittee for planning the event and handling all of the arrangements.
On June 28, the YAC will hold a community park cleanup by youth around June 14 at Sankey Park followed by a dance, food and music.
“They’re focusing on getting youth active in their parks and the community,” McKee said. “They want to clean up Sankey Park and the creek area.”
Smith is heading up the committee planning a park cleanup and dance for June 28. Youth in the community will work about three hours at Sankey Park, cleaning and painting. Then they will head to the high school main gym for a dance.
During the community cleanup, the YAC will give out tickets for the free dance and T-shirts, she said. Members of the YAC are working on getting some big prizes for the dance as well. YAC organizers are also working on getting a radio station to DJ the dance.
“We want to get as many people as we get at a regular school dance,” Smith said.
The project followed on the heels of another project, addressing one of the concerns that came out of it, McKee said. Last year, the YAC completed a community youth survey, which asked questions about life in Sweet Home, “trying to get at what youth want and expect from the government in our community.’
With the completed survey in hand, the YAC took photos of seven things each that youth liked and didn’t like in the community.
“To be honest, one of the things that was amazing to them on the survey was the majority of the kids assume the majority of kids are on drugs,” McKee said. They also received a wide variety of negative and positive comments about Sweet Home’s appearance and new construction.
“They really were looking at how pretty this town looked,” McKee said. “They’re concerned about how we look, and they can help out and make a difference in the community too.”
“The YAC in its current makeup is a microcosm of our community right now,” Martin said. One member noted following the recent revitalization meetings that the community at large saw some things about Sweet Home as liabilities while others saw the same things as assets, just like the survey conducted by the YAC.
“We wanted to get the ideas from the youth,” Smith said. Most of the youth surveyed didn’t really care much about the skate park, but people did say things about Sankey Park. Martin brought up the idea of cleaning up Sankey Park.
“That is something that does bug kids,” Smith said. “It bugs everybody.”
They look at the same issues that concern adults, McKee said. They have the same hopes, but they look at it more simply, with a fresh perspective, asking why not just make simply make needed changes.
The members of the YAC are getting involved in more than their own committee too, he said. A couple have attended the recent revitalization meetings and City Council meetings.
They have ideas about revitalization as well, McKee said. “One of the girls brought us a proposal for a business in Sweet Home.”
The YAC meets on the third Tuesday of the month in the City Council Chambers at City Hall. Two junior high positions remain open. Interested youth should contact Martin at 367-8969 or contact Elric Benson at Sweet Home Junior High.