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doing a lot of planning.’
The grant will help: fund the summit, sup-
port youth leaders to work on projects, print
300 copies of an action plan, and hire three
youth to work on Restorative Justice in
schools.
Young people have a crucial perspective
to bring to policy decisions, the group
believes. They understand realities affecting
teens that older people may not consider.
So listening to the youth voice makes for
better policy decisions. YAV spent months
reaching out to young people in schools and
youth clubs, holding focus groups across
the city. Meza and several other youth com-
missioners have been continuing that work
this summer.
“I’m so proud of them all,” says Marc
Fernandes, youth development coordinator
with the commission. “They did their job in
terms of going out and talking to young
people. They never claimed to be experts
and they never claimed to be the ones most
affected by violence. But they knew they
needed to get youth opinion, and to get a
youth voice into policy decisions.
“Now they’ve been given $100,000 to
really push this forward.”
The grant will help pay for the venue,
food and eight buses to help youth attend
the 2013 summit. But that’s just a small part
of what the group hopes to achieve with the
grant.
In the months leading up to the summit,
the group will be seeking out youth leaders
who have personal experience or knowl-
edge of the types of violence they heard
about through the focus groups. Grant
ing for small groups of young people to
move the policy recommendations for-
ward,” said Perla Alvarez, YAV member
and co-chair of the youth commission.
“They’ll have the policy recommendations
and they can do something about it.”
The youth leaders who come forward will
be encouraged to develop projects and take
leadership roles, through this fall and during
the 2013 summit. You don’t have to be a
student to take part, but you do have to be
The youth leaders who come forward will be
encouraged to develop projects and take
leadership roles
money will be available to support them
with any resources they need, such as
money for transportation, food and sup-
plies.
“One part of the grant is for service learn-
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Page 10 The Portland Skanner September 5, 2012
under-21 to be a youth leader.
“It’s exciting. We’re all just too excited
about this coming summit,” Meza said.
YAV is working in seven different areas:
gang violence, anti-gay violence, school
bullying, sexual or dating violence,
police/profiling, online bullying and vio-
lence in the home. So for gang violence, for
example, the policy recommendations
included:
Bringing speakers into schools
More support for the partners and families
of gang members
More jobs, internships and positive activ-
ities for youth
Confidential space for youth to talk about
gang involvement
Expanding the youth pass program to all
Multnomah County school districts
Building pride in distressed neighbor-
hoods through efforts like the Rosewood
Initiative
A complete list of the policies recom-
mended by young people who attended the
2012 summit is posted online, and will be
printed in the action plan.
The YAV group says they hope schools
and youth organizations, such as the Sexual
Minority Youth Resource Center, Self
Enhancement Inc., and the PAL Eastside
youth center, will help identify youth lead-
ers and projects.
“I think it’s going to be hardest to find
youth leaders in the area of home violence,”
said Hayley Turner. “School bullying will
probably be one of the easiest because it’s
very common and people are willing to
speak up about it.”
Fernandes says he hopes that adults who
support youth dealing with violence will
bring those young people to the table. Out-
reach workers, for example, may identify
youth who want to take the lead on combat-
ing gang violence.
Some of the grant money will go to train-
ing students in Restorative Justice. Focused
on reconciliation, repairing harm and restor-
ing peace, Restorative Justice treats student
misbehavior as an opportunity for learning
and growth. School districts, including
Portland and Parkrose, have adopted
Restorative Justice as a way to prevent
criminalizing students – particularly stu-
dents of color who are overrepresented in
school suspensions and expulsions.
Resolutions Northwest will be funded to
train student leaders in Restorative Justice.
The project also will hire three young peo-
ple to lead the Restorative Justice initiative
throughout the school year.