Portland, Oregon is growing. Like many other cities across the country – Portland seeks to stay in step with this growth, and the profound demographic trends which are emerging. Portland has become, and will continue to grow more multi-cultural. There are more than 250,000 people of color and immigrants living in the area1, making up 36% of Multnomah County. In 2010, the Oregon State Department of Education reported that 45% of Multnomah County students enrolled were non-white, while nearly 33% of Portland’s population is 25 or under2. Policy makers expect to see increasing growth of communities of color and immigrants, as the percentage of the city’s white population diminishes. Portland’s challenge will be to grow into and mature with this change in identity.

Youth in Portland are also becoming more prominent. Youth are no longer a silent constituency, merely using government resources; rather they are stepping up to not only be heard, but also to actively participate in their neighborhoods and overall city policy-making. With this additional value and contribution to the fabric of Portland, authentic youth voice and engagement has become an important part of the City’s public involvement and planning process.

In 2007, Portland City Council and the Multnomah County Board both adopted Our Bill of Rights: Children +Youth. This is the first document of its kind in the country. The Bill is particularly unique because of its commitment to positive youth/adult partnerships which build capacity in youth and their overall empowerment in the community. Over 7,000 youth from different age, ethnic, racial, economic, and neighborhood backgrounds gathered over the period from 2006-2007 to draft what youth considered to be their innate rights as Portlanders. Youth ages 5-25 crafted the following 6 articles:

I) Voice
II) Education
III) Health
IV) General Well-Being
V) Family Home and Community
VI) Recreation

This effort, co-sponsored by the Multnomah Youth Commission and Mayor Tom Potter’s Office, proved to galvanize youth and adults in advocating for youth voice and engagement in government services and policies. One of the first actions after the adoption of the Bill in 2007, was to create the Youth Planning Program (YPP). The YPP hires youth ages 14-21 to work alongside and train with planning and sustainability professionals on projects of significant impact to youth in the city. As a bonus to youth and the community alike, youth have the opportunity to develop their professional skills as official City employees, actively engaging in the policy making process as early as their freshman year in high school.

Youth Planners At Work
Youth Planners conduct surveys, focus groups, and other types of data collection on district and neighborhood projects, completing analysis and identifying gaps in city-wide planning and/or sustainability efforts, in order to make them more holistic. This work is quite often original research, where Youth Planners work with city planning, stakeholder groups (public and private), youth in the community, and families to meet their project needs.

In the Eastside MAX (Light Rail) Station Communities Project, youth took a look at 6 station areas and their surrounding neighborhoods. Each area had been identified as a place in need of updating, neglected since the 80s. Station area neighborhoods are located in parts of the city which have been increasingly communities of youth, 18 and under, with a vast majority of youth and families whose only option is mass transit. Departing from the usual and often banal clipboard style, Youth Planners designed a unique survey, cut out in the shape of a MAX train (pictured), complete with color hand writing and drawings. Youth Planners warmly approached riders on platforms, transit intersections, pedestrian thoroughfares and directly with high schools close to stations, encouraging youth to express themselves openly and honestly about their use of transit and their perceptions of the surrounding neighborhoods. In just 4 days, youth were able to collect over 200 completed surveys. The Youth Planners also conducted 3 focus groups with three youth “types,”—youth of color, low income youth, and immigrant youth. Each focus group was held in different locations, making it more accessible to residents who made up the majority of riders in the study area. The focus groups gave youth residents the opportunity to speak directly with Youth Planners in a safe, fun, and open environment allowing a person from different backgrounds and communication styles to participate. Youth Planners completed an existing conditions and recommendations report which was included with the broader study. In this process Youth Planners were able to magnify the opinions, ideas and voices of over 200 youth spanning 10 neighborhoods.

Currently, Youth Planners also help with the design of our public input process for Portland’s strategic plan and comprehensive plan update. There has been great success with the youth empowerment model, which approaches youth equitably as partners to engage in planning. The YPP has been able to amplify youth voices that otherwise would have been completely missing from the planning process.

Strong Youth/Adult partnerships have been the key to increased youth input and participation. It is a process of learning how to work together; each project allows for powerful and engaging planning work to happen. In 2009-10, the YPP worked with adult staff of City and County youth development programs to disseminate information and collect youth input about Portland’s strategic action plan—the Portland Plan,. YPP developed a city-wide youth engagement campaign – giving it the lively name Youth BOMB, in which youth involved in the County Library Teen Council system, collected almost 700 surveys, including input from students at two of the largest high schools in the state. Youth Planners also designed and conducted 2 community workshops, one at the Oregon Queer Youth Summit and another co-hosted by an East Portland Library Teen Council. Youth, ages 5-21, participated in interactive activities which included cognitive mapping, asking youth what could be improved about the design of their neighborhoods and transportation system.

Sumitra Chhetri (17), a Youth Planner, feels that, “Youth Planners are the people who can fulfill the gaps between adults and youth. Among thousands of youths in the city, youth planners advocate for their voice at the city level. Finding the strength[s] of youth and compare [it] with the policy of the city [and] make [a] youth planner more professional.” The workshop encouraged youth to think big about their role as residents in Portland, helping youth visualize what they would be doing in 25 years, when they will be the stewards of the city. Adult staff and City and County officials also attended, showing their direct support of youth engagement in government. In organizing this community event, Youth Planners were able to connect with youth in the community and bring together adults in the City and County systems to hear and respond to youth needs and opinions.

The Youth Planning Program has proven to be much more than a youth employment program. It has also grown into a community development tool that seeks to work with youth and communities who are most affected by local services and policies – providing community a direct connection to decision makers and the planning process.

“The Youth Planning Program is the source [for youth to] find their rights and responsibilities. As we are saying youth are the future leaders, youth need the opportunity to grow personally and professionally. This program is for every single person who lives here in our community and who cares about each other. Youth planners share real experience about their future and empower them to build [their] future from today. “ Sumitra Chhetri.