Listen to us! We are part of the solution.
The Youth Advisors to the Youth Advisory Group got involved because we want to make our voices heard. We come from different parts of Austin. We go to different schools, and some of us aren't even in school anymore. We participate in different youth programs. We care about what happens to us, we care about what happens with other youth, and we care about what goes on in our community.
It is our goal to help open up leadership opportunities within the community for youth. We hope to increase awareness and understanding of the opportunities for youth involvement within the community, and improve social services. Cool links and descriptions and examples about what's going on are coming soon! Thank you for visiting our website.
The Youth Advisors, Alandra, Ashley, Beatriz, Ben, Flor, Johnnie, Julian, Kara, Kathy, Michelle, Nick, Nina, Norma, Terra, Trish, and Zethan.
The Youth Advisory Group came up with the methods of surveys and focus groups to get input from youth about youth services. Basically, what do youth need and what do we think of the support that's out there?
Youth Focus Groups
If you don't know what a focus group is, it's like a group interview, with four to ten people all sharing their ideas and opinions. Youth facilitators led 14 focus groups with more than 70 youth participants in Spring 2004. Since it's not easy to run a focus group, the youth facilitators went through training to be ready to handle the task. Each group also had a note-taker and an adult sponsor there for support. The youth were involved with these agencies: American YouthWorks, Goodwill, Communities In Schools, Gardner-Betts Juvenile Justice Facility, Texas Youth Commission, OutYouth, Safe Teens at Reagan High School and the YWCA.
Here's a summary of the problems and needs youth brought up in the focus groups:
- We need safe places to hang out
- We need jobs (it's frustrating that we can't get a job without work experience, but without a job, we don't have work experience)
- It's hard to get enough attention or help in school
- It's difficult to navigate the health care system, with insurance, Medicaid, emergency room use, reproductive services, being able to ask for and get help and be treated respectfully, and for teen parents to know how to get help for their own sick children
- School counselors and most other adults don't treat us with respect
Want to find out more about what the youth said in the focus groups?
Youth Survey
After hearing from the participants in the focus groups, we thought we should get input from even more teens and young adults. We are proud to announce that we just launched a survey that we and the adult YAG members worked on together, with questions for about youth experiences with school, looking for a job and working, safety, health and relationships, plus some fun questions, too. We want to hear from at least 500 teens and young adults in Travis County! This effort will allow for young people to have a voice in the services that are provided, and also let adults know how youth are already contributing in our community, and the ways we would like to be more involved with the big decisions.
We are going to malls, community centers and other hangouts, and we want to hear from you!
If you would like to complete a survey (the information will be anonymous and confidential) or if you work with an organization that would like to make surveys available to teens and young adults, please email input@readyby21austin.org or call Austin Voices for Education and Youth at 450-1880.