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News from Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative | June 30, 2013

 Youth Ask Tough Questions at Mayoral Candidate Forum
 

Moderator at Youth Mayoral Candidate Forum
Tre Owes moderates at forum

  

Youth Leadership groups from the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative (SYVPI) "did themselves proud Thursday evening, June 6, when they conducted the first-ever youth-hosted mayoral candidate forum at Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club."

 

These words of praise came from Elizabeth Alexander in her June 26 column in the

Rainier Valley Post: "Politics NOT as Usual: The Youth Mayoral Candidate Forum."

 

The forum was organized and moderated by youth, and hosted by the SYVPI Southeast Network Youth Action Team in collaboration with the Central Area Network Youth Leadership Team. Eight of the nine candidates for this year's mayoral race attended. (Candidate Doug McQuaid, who had just filed, did not attend.)

 

The forum could have gotten off to a rocky start--the candidates all arrived late from a previous meeting with the Downtown Business Association--but the youth proved to be up to the challenge. According to Alexander, moderators Mathew Moseray and Tre Owes and their peers "handled the 45-minute delay like pros." They cut the candidates' closing statements and their own closing remarks from the program in order to maximize the time allotted for questions and answers.  

 

"Past candidate forums and events have not heavily featured youth voices or perspectives," said Marty Jackson, SYVPI Southeast Area Network Coordinator. "For this reason, our youth felt it was very important for them to have a platform to share their voice and let other youth know that their voice matters. It is imperative that we educate our future voters and help them to reach their own informed electoral decisions by giving them an opportunity to engage mayoral candidates on the issues that passionately concern them."

  

Audience at Mayoral Candidate Forum
Youth and community members evaluate the candidates

 

The questions posed to the mayoral candidates reflected some of those specific concerns, including the following:

  • Are you willing to help young adults who do not know how to let go or who are not willing to let go of the street life, and if so how?
  • How do you plan on dealing with the issue of mental health in the city?
  • What would you do about youth employment for people who don't qualify for programs? What would you do about youth who need documents or who have a record?

The candidates' answers revealed their own depth of knowledge--or lack thereof--surrounding these issues. "The forum was attended mostly by teenagers," reported Seattle Times writer Emily Heffler, "which means there weren't many voters in attendance. That means voters missed some revealing moments." (Read Heffler's article online.) 

 

The forum concluded with a straw poll which declared incumbent Mike McGinn the winner. The next step in the election process is a nonpartisan primary that will be held on August 6th, with the two top finishers advancing to the November 5, 2013 general election.

 

  
Teens with Mayor McGinn at Forum
Justyn Busch, Mayor McGinn, and Aeriona Sharp
    

"The event was amazing and a wonderful way to show how our efforts can impact the larger community," according to Jamila Taylor, SYVPI Central Area Network Coordinator. "We received lots of great feedback from the candidates, community members and others about the event."

 

Marty Jackson thanked the many people involved in making this event a success, including the mayoral candidates for their willingness to participate in the forum, Paul Patu and the Urban Family Center for bringing a bus-load of students to the forum, and the SYVPI Southeast Youth Action team, the SE Network staff, and their volunteers.

 

"This event had a great impact on our youth as it was hosted by youth for youth. Every task and aspect of the event was run by youth, from the moderating to the audio/visual. The collaboration between SE Network and Central Area Network broke down barriers that allowed our youth to feel empowered and now know that their voice matters."  

 

A video of the forum is available online.

 

   

Thank you to Jamila Taylor for the photos from the forum.


                                                                                                                                                 

Rainier Beach Project Moving Forward!
 

Solomon group work
Solomon Tibebu, Public Outreach and Engagement Liaison,  presents group analysis at Core Team training

 

On June 25-27 the Core Team for the Rainier Beach youth violence reduction project participated in a community problem-solving training. The project, officially titled, "A Place-Based Community-Oriented Approach to Youth Violence Prevention in Seattle" is funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.  

 

The training was an important first step in launching the project that will engage teams of community members and stakeholders at five distinct locations in the Rainier Beach neighborhood. The teams will analyze what steps should be taken to make those locations "Safe and Beautiful Places for Youth" as a way to implement public safety goals from the Rainier Beach Neighborhood Plan Update.

 

The comprehensive training was provided by CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) and was enthusiastically received by the participants. The Core Team provided valuable feedback to CADCA to tailor the training for the community teams who will receive the training in the near future. The Core Team is excited about the potential for positive change that we experienced in the training!

  


      

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Safe Youth, Safe Community is a newsletter published by the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. Our mission is to prevent and reduce youth violence, which has disproportionately affected communities of color in Seattle, through coordinated community mobilization to identify youth at risk of perpetuating or being a victim of violence and connect them with needed support in reaching their full potential. For more information, please visit our website www.safeyouthseattle.org. 

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