Olympia appoints the first members of the Youth Council. Now what will they do?

Five Olympia teenagers have been selected by the Olympia Community Improvement and Public Safety Committee to serve on the first Olympia Youth Council.

Varshana Horbak, Demory Joseph, Eman Haroun, Stella Artemis and Kaylin Valasquez are new board members. Susan Grisham, assistant city manager, said they range in age from 14 to 17 and attend Capital, Olympia and Avanti high schools, as well as the SPSCC Running Start program and Tumwater High School. Those who work in the councils and commissions of Olympia do not have to live in the city.

The committee received a briefing on the youth council during its meeting on Wednesday, October 23. The The original plan called for youth The council will consist of 20 members with seven voting positions.

Grisham said the city received six applications and one person did not respond to interview requests. Thus, there will instead be five voting members and 11 youth councilors.

The youth advisors are Allison Walker, Enrique Luis Rodriguez Lloyd, Eric Zhang, Gavin Cruz, Melinda Le, Nolan O’Connell, Shruti Lingam-Nattamai, Sophia Park, Toby Wilson, Victoria Liu, and Willow Chen.

Grisham said the five voting members represent diverse cultural, social and economic backgrounds, and all have extensive volunteer and community leadership experience.

“Everyone is interested in making the community a better place, dealing with issues of social justice, mental health, diplomacy, youth empowerment and much, much more,” Grisham said.

She said participating in the Youth Council will increase a sense of belonging and value for young people as they contribute to city governance and decision-making in a meaningful way.

Grisham said the committee reviewed and approved the council’s plan on July 27. This plan included a recruitment and engagement measure and the appointment of youth advisors. Acceptance of applications to the youth council continued in September and October. Councilors and Mayor Pro Tem Yến Huỳnh interviewed the applicants on October 7.

The full composition of the city council must approve the appointment on October 29. Meeting with members of the youth council will take place on November 6, 13 and 20. The first meeting of the Youth Council of Olympia will be held on January 15.

Mayor Dontee Payne said he was excited to see the young people who initially invited the youth council to be members of the inaugural council.

“I’m very excited to see what they’re going to do and what they recommend to the council in terms of giving us advice,” Payne said.

Payne said he couldn’t help but think about opposing the youth council and passing the next 20-year Comprehensive Plan update. He said that now the youth council will help realize the vision of the community.

Grisham said staff have begun working with various city departments to determine where the youth council can be included, particularly on climate and parks projects.

“People are actually starting to line up to see how this can be brought to this group of young people,” Grisham said. “So I think the work they’re doing is going to have really exciting results.”