It was late evening in the Boulder City Council chambers, just after 9 p.m. But wasn鈥檛 from any city leaders or stakeholders.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not here to hear from adults, you鈥檙e here to hear from the youth,鈥� Elizabeth Crowe, deputy director of Boulder鈥檚 Housing and Human Services, said. 鈥淲e hope that your questions and comments will be directed at them.鈥�
In total, five youth members walked up to the podium. Two were from the Youth Opportunities Advisory Board, and three others were from the Child Friendly Cities Initiative Council. Crowe had to reach over to bend the microphone down for some of them. But they were ready to present their top concerns.
鈥�(There鈥檚) harassment and safety in public, bullying, mental health issues,鈥� Rachel Tilton said. 鈥淭here's limited access to inclusive recreation, discrimination, lack of youth voice in decision-making, and rising child poverty.鈥�
These concerns came out of youth discussions as part of the . The goal is to help local governments identify youth concerns by putting them at the center of the conversation and decision making. While the initiative is happening in 3,500 municipalities around the world, Boulder is one of the first cities in the U.S. to pilot it.
鈥淏oulder and its partners鈥ave worked collaboratively and intentionally to make Boulder a better place for youth for many years,鈥� 15-year-old Ryler Horansky said. 鈥淏ut the Child Friendly Cities Initiative, the framework associated with that, creates a unique opportunity for youth voices to be heard and to be prioritized in a new way.鈥�
More than 900 youth met at various workshops in 2024 to determine the main areas they wanted to focus on. Their results were recently published in the , and their next step was to present the findings to city council members.
The youth identified three priorities out of the top concerns. One key issue was addressing and reducing bullying. They said current programs aren鈥檛 always effective, because training is often geared toward kids 鈥� not adults. And many times, the training is designed without involving kids in the process.
鈥淎t my school, there is an anti-bullying curriculum, (and) I can think of one time when I was in fourth grade that it just didn't really work,鈥� 12-year-old Lauralyn Alber said. 鈥淪o sometimes adults think that things might work, but they really just don't.鈥�
They asked the council to collaborate with schools and train teachers to be better upstanders for them. They also asked the council to improve safety and belonging in Boulder 鈥� particularly in outdoor spaces. They said they avoided bus stops because they were being harassed or stared at.
Mara Mintzer leads Growing Up Boulder, the group that published the State Of The Child report. She said she鈥檚 not surprised by kids saying they don鈥檛 feel safe, especially given her recent experience at a bus stop.
鈥淧eople were selling drugs and smoking meth right there, but then on top of that, there was a guy with a knife who was hitting the tree over and over with a knife,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd if I don't feel safe, and I'm a grown woman and it's daylight, what are the kids feeling?鈥�
The other main priority was giving young people the ability to share opinions with the city. They proposed having youth leaders regularly meet with city boards and commissions, and hosting school-based 鈥渂allot box鈥� voting days on youth priorities.
鈥淲e care about what happens in Boulder, but it's hard to be involved,鈥� Alber said. 鈥淭here aren't many chances to speak up, and it could feel like no one's listening. We want more ways to share ideas and actually see change happen.鈥�
City leaders were very supportive of what they heard.
鈥淚 would endorse every one of them,鈥� Council Member Mark Wallach said.
For some council members who are parents, the concerns were all too familiar.
鈥淭hese are exactly the areas that I have heard from my kids over the years ... and that even as a council member, haven't been able to fix it for them,鈥� Council Member Nicole Speer said, getting choked up. 鈥淚'm really glad that you all are working on this and making the city better for our kids. Thank you.鈥�
Council members asked the youth to continue meeting with them to discuss their ideas and asked them to provide more specific details of what solutions they wanted to see around the priorities. They also recommended working with school partners on their bullying-related issues.
Both the youth and city council members will now work on creating an action plan and looking for sources of funding. The goal is to implement the plan in the coming months.
