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High school students bring young people’s interests to the mayor

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A group of 25 high school students from around Marion County will get a chance to help shape local public policies that impact young people through the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council program.

The members, who represent schools from all nine townships, will meet with the mayor and other officials monthly to share feedback on specific issues, including mental health and how pandemic-related unemployment has impacted children.

Bernard Mickle, director of youth engagement, outreach and empowerment at the Marion County Commission on Youth (MCCOY), said sometimes Mayor Joe Hogsett gives the students specific things to look at for the next meeting. MCCOY partners with the city to run the program.

Joseph Jideonwo, from Cathedral High School, said he wanted to be part of the program because young people can benefit Indianapolis.

“I wanted young people to have a voice and say in politics and how the city is run,” he said.

Aside from reporting back to the mayor on issues affecting young people, members of the council are expected to be active in the community. In 2019, for example, some students participated in an event to raise awareness for mental health.

Nya Malott, from North Central High School, said one issue she wants to focus on is how the COVID-19 pandemic affected youth, especially when it comes to job loss. In the long term, doing this kind of work now could be good practice for dealing with future challenges.

“We’re gonna end up growing up in Indianapolis and wherever else,” she said. “Being in this program and being this young, we’re gonna be able to see the problems that are going on so when we’re older we can actually fix it.”

All students on the council are either juniors or seniors. This is the fourth cohort since Hogsett reestablished the youth leadership council in 2018.

“Over the coming year, these promising students will have the opportunity to make a real difference for our community, learning key leadership skills along the way,” Hogsett said in a statement.

Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.

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