(Credits: Boston.gov)Last month, the Mayor of Boston Marty Walsh invited the youth of the city to submit ideas for the Youth Lead the Change budgeting program, created specifically to cater to young people’s needs. The project seeks Bostonian youth ages 12 to 22 to submit capital project ideas to spend a total sum of $1MM of Boston’s budget. The submission window will end this Friday, November 30th 2018 at the Boston gov’t’s official site, where a series of guidelines and a form are available to understand and properly submit an idea to improve the community for all residents.
“By involving young people in the budget process, we are empowering our future leaders and supporting what really matters to them. Their hard work and innovative ideas allow us to complete unique, community-enhancing projects across the City.”
—Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.
The projects that will be considered for the budgeting plan, according to the guidelines, must benefit the general public, last at least five years, and should include improve improvements to physical spaces within Boston, such as libraries, community centers, schools and parks. The City of Boston has allocated a total of $6MM over the past 5 years in projects that have been launched with the contribution of the youth of the city, among them solar panels in City-owned property, water bottle refilling stations at parks, free Wi-Fi and a media center for youth in the City Hall, among many others. Youth Lead the Change, according to Daniel Byran, the Youth Director of the program, empowers the young people in the city and encourages them to become civically engaged.
“YLC serves as the first opportunity for young people to participate in civic life. Where else do teenagers have the opportunity to spend a million dollars of their city’s budget? Nowhere.”
—Daniel Byran, Youth Director of Youth Lead The Change.
Byran, at his 17 years old of age, considers the program a way to influence the future of the city. The program is managed by the Department of Youth Engagement & Employment, as well as the Mayor’s Youth Council, conformed by a group of 85 high school-aged youth committed to improving their communities.
“Youth Lead the Change is an incredibly powerful program that provides youth the opportunity to amplify their voice and create tangible and meaningful change in the community. Through this effort, youth have a seat at the decision-making table by allocating significant monies to promote and advance the well being of youth throughout the city.”
—Marty Martinez, Chief of Health and Human Services.
Those interested in submitting ideas and check some of the ideas developed in previous years may do so here.
