What are Representative Mark Pocan’s positions on the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii and immigration detention camps? What is Representative Gwen Moore’s take on students’ experience of anti-blackness in schools? You know that when Youth Action Summer Interns visit our elected officials, they’re not just smiling and taking pictures. They’re asking tough questions about issues they care about. Youth Action Summer Interns pressed them for answers as part of the 2019 Youth Action Washington DC Delegation Trip.
Every summer Youth Action, the LCEC’s youth leadership, social justice and organizing group, turns into Youth Action Summer Interns, an intensive leadership and organizing training program. Over a period of weeks, young people marched for education funding at the Capitol, used photography to document their experiences of life Madison, conquered a high ropes course, and participated in workshops from Power 101 to Adulting in Madison.
Their second to last week, they packed up and drove to Washington, DC. In addition to their meetings with Congress people, they toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture, visited the Washington Monument, and sampled the tastes of our nation’s capital. One Youth Action member even performed an original piece at Busboys & Poets Open Mic Night.
The summer program has come to a close, but Youth Action will carry on throughout the school year, working towards raising youth voice in our community.