Advocacy and policy work are not limited just to data analysis and research efforts. Instead, success in the advocacy and policy space requires collaboration, understanding, and collective empowerment to produce favorable outcomes for systemically oppressed youth. During my Bernstein Fellowship, I recognized the profound impact of centering youth perspectives in the policymaking process.
In the midst of a busy performance and budget oversight season, I was able to gain an abundance of knowledge of how local policymaking processes unfold and the importance of advocacy with the DC Council. While recording themes across public testimonies, I was able to examine critical disparities in healthcare firsthand. This community input guided my research into medical access issues, informing the structure of my first policy issue toolkit, which highlighted Medicaid access barriers that unjustly impact young people who have been involved with the justice system. My look into this Medicaid access issue revealed stark realities that 62% of justice-involved youth lack a primary healthcare provider. More than 60% of justice-involved youth have physical health conditions, while 40% to 60% of justice-involved youth face mental health challenges. When coupled with the fact that it takes DC more than 45 days to process 47% of Medicaid applications, it becomes clear that complex and lengthy enrollment processes prevent critical healthcare access for vulnerable youth, a population disproportionately reliant on Medicaid for health needs.Â
As a policy fellow, I worked to transform my examination of boundaries adversely impacting the availability of equitable mental health and housing into actionable policy and programmatic recommendations. I had the opportunity to collaborate on an awareness campaign for youth-specific services. To deepen our understanding, I designed surveys to explore young people’s experiences accessing mental health and housing support, inquiring about the quality of these services and gaps in the service delivery process. Working in concert with a Youth Advisory Team member, we developed the plan for a youth-friendly social media campaign to highlight service centers by ward. This resource will provide critical information about eligibility requirements and necessary documentation. To supplement this educational campaign, I began designing a focus group to provide young people with a platform to speak about avenues to ensure that more youth in the District can access support services to help them stabilize and thrive.Â
By far, the most fulfilling and rewarding part of my Bernstein Fellowship experience was getting to hear the voices and perspectives of young people directly. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in on Context Team meetings, in which young parents, advocates, and professionals collaboratively strategized ways to improve life outcomes for expecting and parenting youth in the District. I was able to attend the DC Council Student Voice Roundtable, where I witnessed the power of youth-led advocacy firsthand. Young people representing an array of DC schools, community organizations, and extracurricular programs shared testimony about the issues most pressing in their lives, providing recommendations essential to fostering thriving communities. Their clear and nuanced insights underscored the vital role that youth perspectives should play in effective policymaking and community development.Â
Upon reflecting on my fellowship experience, I emphasize the importance of collaboration in advocacy. Specifically, amplifying youth voice is critical to create meaningful policy and programmatic solutions. Without the input of young people, we cannot accurately understand the weight of structural barriers. The formation and maintenance of youth-led spaces allows advocates to dismantle blockages to equitable support through the development of tools to make complex systems more navigable. Centering the belief that every young person deserves agency and support is critical to pave the way for systemic change.Â