Youth Advocacy in Action: Minneapolis Teen Advocates for Comprehensive Sexual Education on Capitol Hill
Photo courtesy of Girls, Inc.
Michelle, a 17-year-old senior at Blake, recently traveled to Washington, D.C., representing youth advocacy in its purest form. As a part of our affiliation with Girl’s Inc., Michelle embodied YWCA Minneapolis’s mission to eliminate racism and empower women and girls when she took her voice to the nation’s capital to champion comprehensive sexual education.
Michelle was part of Girls Inc.’s eighth cohort of the Teen Advocacy Council. The group flew to Washington, D.C., for a four-day event to voice their desire for change at the highest levels of government.
The cohort is made up of 12 young women from across the United States and Canada. They met over Zoom throughout the year to talk about public policy and how it works in America. These meetings helped identify topics the advocates were passionate about. The cohort focused on comprehensive sexual education and mental health support in education settings.
“They would ask her questions that we might think have an obvious answer, like ‘Can you reuse a condom?’ That’s why I believe it’s important to share that comprehensive sexual education has a real impact.”
Michelle was a natural fit for the Council. She co-chairs the Girl Up club at school and participates in the Diversity Leadership Council. In addition to those opportunities, she’s also starting her own fashion business.
The trip to D.C. was the culmination of a year’s worth of work. It was also an opportunity for Michelle and her peers to build youth advocacy and leadership skills as they lobbied on Capitol Hill. The groups met with representatives from San Antonio and New York.
Advocating for Change on Capitol Hill: Meeting with Lawmakers
As part of the trip, the cohort met with the bill's original sponsors to learn how and why it was developed. Then, they learned about the current stats of the bill. They met with other Congressional offices to ask Representatives to cosponsor the bills and prioritize the needs of students in their districts.
“I learned that the culture on Capitol Hill is very lively and buzzing,” Michelle said. “We had a networking session with past interns and others working on Capitol Hill. We learned about etiquette and how these opportunities can impact your career. It’s something I will consider in my search for college.”
Claire Allen, Girls Inc. program manager, attended the trip as a chaperone. She was impressed by the stories and data Michelle’s team compiled. “When you’re only guaranteed 10 minutes of someone’s time, you have to be intentional about what you say and how you say it,” Allen said. ‘This was an opportunity for the advocates to learn when to use an anecdote or stats.”
Youth Advocacy and the Importance of Regional Diversity
Allen knows the impact a trip like this can have on youth. In high school, she opted in for a social justice trip to Alabama and Georgia, retracing the steps of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement.
Allen said it was interesting watching teens from different life situations across the country evolve. The girls knew each other for a year, discussing topics adults curated. During the trip to D.C., the group grew to know each other more personally.
“When they first met in person, they asked each other about slang and other regional differences,” Allen said. “That lays a foundation to ask deeper questions. By the end, they were asking their peers about sexism, racism and how it plays out in their communities.”
Building Advocacy Skills: The Impact of the Teen Advocacy Council
Youth advocacy empowers young people to raise awareness and drive change on the issues that impact their lives. Advocacy focuses on doing something to support, recommend or implement actions linked to an idea or cause you care about.
Youth advocacy uses the collective voices of young people to defend their rights. Often, advocacy aims to protect the most vulnerable members of society.
The Teen Advocacy Council explored topics like domestic violence and Title IX. They spoke with several D.C.-based organizations before settling on comprehensive sexual education and school counseling. The group met monthly for up to two hours on Zoom. The girls got to know each other through icebreakers and by talking after the meetings.
This is an example of how YWCA Minneapolis encourages youth to discover their inherent strengths and learn to value themselves. The Council gave Michelle and her peers an opportunity to explore how similar issues were experienced by peers in other regions.
Why Youth Advocacy Matters: Michelle’s Perspective
Youth advocacy is how young people, like Michelle, use their voices to influence decisions that impact their futures. Through platforms like Girls, Inc. and the Teen Advisory Council, youth learn how to take leadership roles and advocate for issues like sexual education and mental health support in schools.
“I’ve been interested in the issue of women and teen girls’ body images and how it’s represented in the media,” Michelle said. “I wanted to see what it would be like to have a platform where I could choose a very specific issue that was important to me and advocate on its behalf to people who have real power to make change.”
Michelle was part of the group advocating for H.R.3583 – Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act of 2023.
The Importance of Comprehensive Sexual Education
The bill aims to provide for the overall health and well-being of young people, including promoting and attaining lifelong sexual health and healthy relationships, and for other purposes.
“I chose to advocate on behalf of REAHYA, focused on comprehensive sexual education and reallocation of funds away from abstinence-only and abstinence-based education and towards comprehensive education,” Michelle said.
The bill is important to her because she noticed a disparity among her peers. “I’ve been fortunate enough to experience comprehensive sexual education, including talking about contraceptive methods, dispelling myths, discussing misinformation and learning from partner organizations.”
Another girl in the cohort from Texas had to seek out her own sexual education outside of school.
“My friend wound up serving as a kind of provider for her peers,” Michelle said. “They would ask her questions that we might think have an obvious answer, like ‘Can you reuse a condom?’ That’s why I believe it’s important to share that comprehensive sexual education has a real impact. And my story drove the point home while we lobbied on Capitol Hill.”
In addition to sharing her personal experience, the Council was equipped with hard facts, like how 78% of teenage girls know more about the anatomy of a frog than the anatomy of their own bodies. Michelle and her peers were well-prepared to make the most of their youth advocacy opportunities.
The Role of Girls, Inc. In Youth Empowerment and Advocacy
YWCA Minneapolis is the only Minnesota-based affiliate of the national organization Girls Inc. Through this affiliation, YWCA offers a research-based curriculum delivered by trained professionals to equip participants to:
Achieve academically
Lead healthy and physically active lives
Manage money
Navigate media messages
Discover an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)
This programming helps participants traverse complex gender, economic and social barriers to find success.
Participants gain opportunities to learn new skills, like youth advocacy. It’s also an outlet to make positive connections to peers and adults, contribute to society and foster belief in girls’ ability to create their best possible future. The program is helpful for Michelle because it provides an outlet for her passion for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math projects.
Michelle started with the Girls Inc. Eureka! program in 7th grade, at the height of the pandemic. Eureka! is based on cohorts of girls going through the program together over five years.
“I didn't know what the program was supposed to feel like or what experience I was supposed to have, Michelle said. “It was a bit difficult to try and pave the way for myself. In the beginning, I missed out on getting to be with those girls. Now that we're in person and doing programming at the University of Minnesota, along with monthly meetings and summer programming, I feel like I have a good sense of them.”
The Future of Youth Advocacy: Building the Next Generation of Leaders
The Teen Advisory Council is a leadership team of Girls Inc. participants in grades 10-12 who advise and inform Girls Inc.’s advocacy by sharing their life experiences and views on issues facing girls and youth in their schools and communities.
The 2023-2024 council comprised twelve inspiring girls passionate about advocacy, representing eleven Girls Inc. affiliates and all Girls Inc. regions across the U.S. and Canada.
They spent a year learning about the issues that matter to them, acquiring the skills needed to impact lasting change in their communities, and putting their learning to work through engagement with policy leaders and hands-on lobbying.
Participants had to complete an application and interview process to join the Council. The process allowed both sides to learn about each other and evaluate whether candidates were the right fit.
“Before this experience, I was pretty narrow-minded,” Michelle said. “I thought being involved in politics meant running for office or managing a candidate’s team. I learned there are many different ways to be involved in that area. This experience taught me why understanding the process is important, even for people who can’t vote.”
Michelle’s journey demonstrates the power of youth advocacy. At YWCA Minneapolis, we believe that empowering young women to speak up and advocate for change is key to creating a more equitable future for all. You can help us achieve our mission by supporting YWCA Minneapolis.