Modesto’s revived Youth Commission aims to amplify young people’s voice in city government
On the second Wednesday of every month, in a small, dimly lighted conference room in Tenth Street Place, 17 local high-schoolers gather in the late afternoon. They talk about what they want Modesto to look like and how they can advocate for a brighter future for youth.
The Youth Commission is overseen by Modesto’s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhoods Department, which acts in a mentorship and advisory capacity to youth members.
“They’re really motivated. I mean, I cannot imagine myself at their age being so involved in government, wanting to do all these things, just absolutely incredible,” said John Skeel, recreation and neighborhood services manager for the department.
What is the ‘Youth Commission?’
The youth commission advises the City Council, and other city commissions, boards and committees, on youth issues and interests within the city. All members come from Modesto high schools.
“They can discuss it, they can make a motion on it, and then they’re going to take it to the City Council and say, ‘Here’s something we’re really concerned about and we’d like to present this to you,’” said Ruth-Helen King, recreation coordinator for after-school programming for the parks and rec department.
Commission members regularly reach out to other youth groups and previously provided training to eighth-graders on how the city impacts their daily activities. “So while they’re learning about city government, they’re passing that knowledge on to others,” King said.
Youth members also report on commission, committee and City Council meetings they attend, as well as issues at their schools, like vaping.
Commission members are encouraged to attend one community event per month and volunteer occasionally. Each year, the commission presents a summary report to City Council of its activities and projects.
Hamza Modan, the new commission chairman, said he really liked working on a project at the Hope Blooms Garden at Scenic Drive and Coffee Road. It involved pulling weeds and picking up trash around Modesto’s Monterosso Trailhead in partnership with Love Stanislaus County.
Sabrina Toor, a 16-year-old junior at Modesto High School, was elected vice chair of the commission on Nov. 13. Now in her second year on the commission, she said she wants to work on being more of a liaison to the City Council by making more public comments at city council and inviting elected officials to their events.
“I think that’s how we can make our voices heard, by communicating with the City Council and then ultimately working with them to create policy or implementing programs that help to benefit the youth,” Toor said.
Commissioners can present during public comment at City Council meetings like any other residents, but they also can work with relevant departments to get an issue placed on an agenda for discussion and action by the council.
Last year, the Youth Commission met with heads of every major department in the city. Three department heads showed up at each meeting and explained what they do in a day, their path to getting involved in city government, and how what they do affects youth and families in the city of Modesto.
“It was lovely to see all the kids get really excited about meeting a person in charge of a department that was an interest of theirs,” King said.
Gone for a decade, then back during COVID, of all times
Though this most recent iteration of the commission started during the pandemic lockdown, its beginnings stretch back decades further. In the 1990s, the commission was focused on teaching students about the “40 assets,” a research-based approach to youth development.
“Giving them community engagement, giving them caring adults who are mentors, giving them purpose, making them see the world outside of their high school – that there is a whole community and that they had a part in it,” King said.
Around 2010, the commission was disbanded due to recession-era budget cuts.
“We were dark for like a decade,” King said.
But three students banded together to bring it back during the pandemic lockdown.
“Tons of emails started going all around the city, like ‘Who knows anything about the Youth Commission?’” King said.
Once the parks and rec department realized it could house it, staff sent out applications. Eleven students applied and spent a year getting the Youth Commission back up and running and rewriting the bylaws to be more inclusive.
How latest iteration is ‘better, brighter’
Now, the commission is in the rebuilding stage. It has a modest budget of $5,000, which is largely used for outreach materials with hopes to expand to larger-scale events in the future.
King said one of the things that’s going to be really different with the Youth Commission in this “better, brighter iteration” is that it’s not members being given projects by the parks and rec department.
“Their main focus is to make a difference and to be that conduit between their peers and city government and make sure that all youth in Modesto has a voice,” King said, “not just the kids who have been brought up on the student government track.”
The commission recently expanded its membership from nine to 17 members from any Modesto high school.
The terms have also extended from one to two academic years to help commissioners retain institutional knowledge.
“We wanted to keep them two years so they could better accomplish their goals, and also so that we would never be left with 17 new kids who had to start from ground zero, which wouldn’t be fair,” King said.
Modan, a senior at Enochs High School who has been on the commission for three years, was named chairman on Nov. 13 after presenting a platform to the group that emphasized he’s a smiler.
“I like to smile out of habit and I think that’s a representation of the empathy that I’ll bring to the Modesto Youth Commission,” he said. “I’ll use my smile to ensure that the Modesto Youth Commission carries out its interactions with compassion.”
How to get involved in the Youth Commission
The application process usually starts right before the school year begins and involves an essay asking students to explain what they would like to see for youth in Modesto and provide information about, for example, which high school they attend. These applications are then provided to the appointments committee, which evaluates them.
“It’s a little bit more impartial, and like John [Skeel] said, fair, because the appointments committee doesn’t know them like we know them,” King said.
Parks and rec now lets commissioners take the lead. “We were there, like we still are, to support them,” King said. “But as opposed to the last time, where we kind of gave them city projects to do, this time it’s youth-led – it’s their voice and what they want to do is great.”
All members are required to attend the official meetings and serve on at least one subcommittee, examples of which include community service, diversity equity and inclusion, communications and social media, outreach and legislation.
“We’re always trying to get more youth involved and this is a great way for youth to know the governmental process, to share their voices and experience and create change,” Toor said.
Hasan Modan, a sophomore at Gregori High, just joined the commission and serves on three subcommittees. He was inspired by the previous commission’s work to get a Modesto flag design change in partnership with the Culture Commission.
“Us as youth, we might not think we have as many opportunities as adults,” he said. “But now that we have this Modesto Youth Commission, we’re able to make those larger changes.”
The commission meets every second Wednesday of the month starting at 4 p.m. in Room 2005 of the city/county government building Tenth Street Place in downtown Modesto. All meetings fall under California’s open meetings law, known as the Brown Act, and are open to the public.
Applications are released every year, usually before the beginning of the school year from late August to early October. Even though students have two-year terms, when seniors move on, those vacancies need to be filled and spots open up.
“I like the fact that it’s like-minded peers who have the interest of Modesto in their heart,” Hamza Modan said. “So when you champion something like Modesto, a lot can happen.”
