We wanted to take a moment to provide an update on one of our flagship youth leadership and empowerment programs - City Dreamers.
Youth Represent’s City Dreamers Advocacy Camp Class of 2022-2023 is underway and ushering in a new cohort of “dreamers” who are gearing up to stand up, speak up, and start advocating for change in their communities.
City Dreamers participants have been at the forefront of movements to raise the age of adult prosecution and to ensure that no youth under 18 years old is placed in an adult jail or prison. In addition, they have mobilized community members and spoken out against police brutality, gender discrimination, and social and racial injustice and in favor of bail reform and raising the lower age of juvenile prosecution through rallies, discourse sessions, community basketball tournaments, and community givebacks.
Since it began, more than 70 participants, including current and former Youth Represent clients, as well as young people referred by partner organizations, have matriculated through the program’s curriculum. This September, nine program participants, ages 18 to 25, started the 10-week training program designed to teach them how to advocate for changes to the criminal and juvenile legal systems. Through the program, youth develop the skills needed to spark conversation and mobilize their communities to address current issues and change policies in areas that resonate most with them. Several graduates are now leaders in our campaign to pass the Youth Justice and Opportunities Act.
“There is a fresh energy” that the participants bring to advocacy, said Psyc Wilson, who started in August as our Youth Development Coordinator, leading the City Dreamers Advocacy Camp. Wilson knows how impactful City Dreamers can be as he participated in and graduated from the program in 2019-2020. As a racial and social justice activist, Wilson was active at local rallies and protests around 2020, yet he still credits YSI - the prior name for the City Dreamers program- for teaching him and his peers how to use their voice in unfamiliar settings, such as lobbying elected officials in Albany and having challenging conversations with one's peers.
“That experience felt powerful,” Wilson said. Through the program, “I learned skills to help me with [mobilizing] crowds, effective conversations, and speaking to people who come from different backgrounds and perspectives.” About passing on that knowledge, he said, “I feel grateful and there is a weight of responsibility.”