Youth commissioners aim to amplify teen voices

Tiburon Peninsula teens Jasmine Wood and Christopher Poore both say it’s important for kids their age to speak up about issues that impact them and to try to affect change in their communities.

That’s easier said than done, though, because most teens are not old enough to vote, they point out.

“We see things that happen in the community that we disagree with, that are uncomfortable, that affect us, but that we can’t do anything about until we can vote,” says Jasmine, 17. “It’s important that before we get to that age and before we get in the position where we’re able to make change through elections or running for office that we still put in our input and really advocate for the issues that we care about in one way or another.”

Christopher, 15, agrees.

“We’re really underrepresented,” he says of his age group. “Supervisors, mayors, they really want to hear from us, they want to know what kind of issues are bugging us, and I feel like it’s so important to get our voice out there so we can better the community.”

Their desire to elevate the voices of their peers led Jasmine and Christopher to join the Marin County Youth Commission, where they work with nearly two dozen other teens to learn more about and help tackle some of the county’s most pressing issues, from mental health and housing to racial equity and alcohol and drug prevention.

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