Thanks to UC Davis, the youth of Sacramento can speak up on the issues they face and give educators an idea of what is happening in their lives.

The Sacramento Area Youth Speaks program is part of the larger national Youth Speaks program.

Founded in 2009, the program is housed in the UC Davis School of Education and is aimed at supporting the improvement of underperforming schools by building student self-confidence, literacy development and teacher professional development. It is also designed to help educators understand the best way to connect with these students.

Toward these goals, the Youth Speaks program came to UC Davis on May 15-16 to offer students the chance to participate in poetry slams, workshops and student-only town hall meetings. About 300 young people attended the event.

Vajra Watson, director of the Education Partnership Consortium in the UC Davis School of Education wants to help young people gain confidence and voice their viewpoints.

“If we want to teach young people, we have to learn how to reach young people,” Watson said. “Reaching students is not easy, and this is what puts teachers and parents up against the wall.”

Youth Speaks has tried to create a hip-hop feel to the events, in order to better engage students, she said. The incorporation of spoken word and slam poetry seemed like a natural fit.

‘Get blown away’

The UC Davis School of Education, including the dean, has also been extremely supportive of the organization and its events, Watson said.

“I wanted to invite faculty to participate in meeting and events and really get blown away,” she added.

Students reacted positively, Watson recalled. One nearly illiterate Latino 7th-grader insisted on buying a book written by one of the keynote speakers with his own money. Despite one of his teachers offering to pay for the book, he told her that the keynote speaker was inspirational to him and that he truly believed in his teachings.

The teacher later told Watson that she had never seen this student interested in anything prior to this.

“Young people are really raising the bar,” Watson said. “I have never seen young people get this excited — it says a lot about our region and how hungry our young people are for this.”

With students attending from all over the Sacramento region, the two biggest supporters of the event were Twin Rivers Unified School District and Sacramento City Unified School district. Beyond this, UC Davis faculty and staff played key roles.

“Faculty and staff were invited to a myriad of our grand opening events and many attended,” Watson said. “I watched as they jumped to their feet, cheering for a young person’s poem.”

On May 16, as part of the recent event on the UC Davis campus organizers held an open microphone session followed by a town hall meeting that was closed to adults. The idea was to let students talk without the pressure of nearby adults cast ingjudgment.

Chinaka Hodge, a spoken word artist and the associate program director of Youth Speaks, led the town hall forum. “What does it mean to be a young person in Sacramento?” and “what opportunities would you like to see in the Sacramento area?” were some of the questions she posed.

More freedom, fewer rules

Generally, students said they desired more freedom and less restriction from adults. They want to be independent from their parents.

“I wish we would not be discriminated against because of what our parents achieved,” one student said. “We have more options than our parents had.”

Others spoke about the obstacles they face as young people in the Sacramento area, and the frustration they feel when adults opt out of helping them cope with certain issues.

Student participants agreed that they would additionally like to see more opportunities for youth such as community centers. They do not want to remain idle, but they would like to see a bigger variety of activity choices in their area. They also seek more trust and respect from adults, they said.

More information about Sacramento Area Youth Speaks: sacareayouthspeaks.org/node.

Caitlin Cobb is a Dateline writing intern.