In 2022 we gave two seats at every board meeting to members of the Youth Voice Council. They don’t just observe: they speak to every program report.
Their first change was small: camp packing lists now include a phone charger, because young people said running out of battery was their biggest worry about being away.
They actually changed the camp program because of what we said. That’s never happened to me before.
The bigger change came this year, when the council redesigned how mentoring matches are made, putting young people’s interests ahead of postcodes.
Names have been changed. $900 trains and pays a youth leader for a year.