The city of Sacramento is poised to give young people more of a say over how it spends its budget.
Councilmember Jay Schenirer has suggested that City Council let its Youth Commission weigh in on how it allocates $89.6 million in federal coronavirus stimulus money. They will be having this discussion during Tuesday’s council meeting.
“I think what we hope to do tonight is have the Youth Commission, that they will talk to us about what they feel is the priorities, which I believe go to jobs and mental health issues with young people,” Schenirer said.
He hopes the decision will invite the Youth Commission to look through and provide comment on any City Council measures involving young people going forward, as is the case in other cities like San Francisco.
The mayor has previously laid out four “buckets” of where he believes the $89 million in stimulus funding should be evenly allocated — small business relief, youth and workforce training, homelessness reduction and tourism and the arts.
A recent report by citiesRISE, a mental health website, found that 65% of youth in Sacramento didn’t know who to turn to if they had a mental health issue, and that the number one person they wanted to speak with during a crisis was a peer.
“If we could train 10 young people at 10 of our high schools, it really works for everyone, it gives job training for young people and it does something for their school populations,” he said.
Nia MooreWeathers at nonprofit Youth Forward says more investment in children, teenagers and youth programming is exactly what the city should be looking to do, especially in the wake of recent demonstrations around the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent conversation around police reform.
“It’s about supporting our youth. Youth are literally our futures, so the more we begin to focus our ideas around the idea that youth funding is public safety, we’re going to all be moving forward,” she said.
The council will be set to discuss this item at their meeting on Tuesday night at 5 p.m.
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