Your organization is about empowering
youth to be more engaged in
democracy. Why is that important,
and how does your organization aim
to achieve that goal?
It’s important that we engage young
people because they’re going to be the
ones stepping into whatever state we
leave democracy in. … We really need
(the) youth voice to be infused into the
political process, into the voting process,
to get the best outcomes possible for
everyone. How do we do that? I would
say primarily California Center is, and
always has been, a civic education organization.
So we really focus on educating
high school students in the political process.
We’re setting them up with actual
policymakers. We’re setting them up
in meetings with state legislators, local
government officials to talk about the
policy firsthand but also engaging them
in other areas of government. Like we’ll
set them up at the state Capitol for committee
hearings and mock debates, so
they can actually be in the driver’s seat
and feel how it would feel to be a person
with those decision-making powers.
That experience is so, so important,
especially nowadays in California. We
only require one semester of government
(education) for high school students,
and, in the classroom setting, we found
that model just isn’t enough for them to
get excited about public service (and)
engaging in their community.
We take a holistic approach to our
education program. So that means networking
with people in and around the
Capitol community. It means obtaining
a mentor who can mentor them for a
year with whatever it is that they need
— mentorship with just someone who’s
there for them, who can listen, who’s
available to help them envision their
future and what career they might want
to go into.
We know that based on
extensive research, when youth
are taught about voting prior to the
age of 18, they’re 40 percent more
likely to vote once they’re eligible.
This data also provides implications
that their civic participation could
remain somewhat consistent as they
go through life.
Our approach also includes everything
through an equity lens. Anything
we teach them or expose them to, we
want to make sure that they’re learning
about intersectionality.
You’ve been executive director for
about a year. What have been some of
your early goals and challenges you’ve
encountered along the way?
My goal, I would say, is to be collaborative
with other (youth) organizations
and try (to) find innovative ways to get
our youth to connect to each other in the
different communities and really feel
like they’re not alone in their struggles.
… Another one is to make sure that as an
organization … we’re keeping an eye on
innovation and knowing when to change
our approach in terms of educating and
engaging our young people. It’s about
looking at the political environment —
whether it’s state or local. How is that
changing? And how can we place our
youth in spaces where those important
decisions are being made?
Historically, the essence of organization
has been physically bringing young
people together. And now we can’t (meet)
physically, we can’t build that trust
one-on-one, (we) can’t see each other in
a physical sense. How do we as an entity
still cultivate youth empowerment from
a distance and virtually on a screen? Because
we don’t know how long all of this
social distancing is going to last. We can
have another wave of (the coronavirus)
in the fall. We can have another wave
a year from now. If we’re not thinking
ahead, we’re not going to be reaching the
youth that we really intended to reach
and make an impact on.
How has your organization adapted to
the pandemic?
The way we’ve had to change is like
everyone else — moving to a virtual
format. Unfortunately, because we go to
the schools and connect with teachers
who are our allies and allow us to recruit
in their classrooms in the Sacramento region,
without school in session, that has
really prevented us from doing things the
same old way.
We’re in a presidential election year.
How has this affected the interest of
your students to be more civically
involved?
I’m not too sure about whether that
gets youth involved. I still feel like if
you’re not meeting them where they’re
at, (they won’t be interested). … It’s
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