Young Voices was created in March 2006, by co-directors Karen Feldman and Chace Baptista, to address the desperate need for an authentic youth voice in policy-making in Rhode Island.  Often, youth were not included when decisions that affected their everyday lives were made.  In the rare occasions that they were included, they lacked the training and skills to dialogue with adults as equals, and were often quickly tokenized.  The ramifications of this were huge; many policies failed to significantly impact youth issues because the input of the “consumer” was missing, wasting precious money and time.

Since then, more than 150 young people have participated in the Leadership Transformation Academy.  In three short years, we have shown that youth can successfully conduct credible research that documents systemic issues, and then use this data to create Policy Agendas with Action Steps for bringing about desired change.  In 2007, our youth created Providence’s 1st Youth-driven Policy Agenda. They conducted research with more than 900 of their peers, asking about changes they wanted in the City. Out of this input, a Policy Agenda with more than 25 Action Steps for improving the schools, the police dept, and community was developed.  The Agenda was presented at a huge press event including all the major Providence leaders (Mayor, State Education Commissioner, State Legislators, City Councilors, Superintendent, and Police Chief).  Our youth chose to build off this work by conducting research about the experiences of young people in Providence’s high schools.