Tempe youth panel outlines mental-health, education and sustainability priorities
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Summary
The Mayor’s Youth Advisory Commission told the City Council it focused this year on mental health, education, community safety and environmental justice and offered recommendations including wider mental-health first-aid training and curricular civic education.
The Mayor’s Youth Advisory Commission presented its annual update to the Tempe City Council, highlighting youth priorities and program activity. The commission reported a year of events and outreach and recommended expanded mental-health training for city staff, more civic education in school curricula and continued promotion of city sustainability programs.
The commission’s advisor, Delana LaForce, introduced student leaders including Roddy Tabatadeh, Gosa Matt Lim and Punya Suresh, who summarized work by MYAC subcommittees. "I'm Delana LaForce. I'm the advisor for the Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission," LaForce told council before turning the presentation to student leaders.
MYAC said it has about 30 commissioners (ninth through 12th grade) who are Tempe residents or attend Tempe-area high schools. Major events this year included the second annual Tempe Youth Talks, which drew about 200 residents, a Unity Walk and the Eco Avenue Thrift Market at Second Sunday on Mill. The Eco Avenue market accepted donated clothing and hangers and offered clothing at no cost or by donation, a student presenter said.
On policy recommendations, MYAC’s mental-health subcommittee — now certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid — urged offering the evidence-based training to all city staff to help identify and support youth in crisis. The education subcommittee recommended greater emphasis on civics, voting, filing taxes and contemporary events in high-school government courses; the presenters said they plan to share those recommendations with the Tempe Union High School District board. The community-safety subgroup cited survey results that 73% of respondents had been affected by unsafe driving and recommended more safe-driving education for youth commuters.
Students also reported a logistical problem: the city lacked a digital point-of-sale to process donations for events, forcing organizers to accept mostly cash. Commissioners said city IT staff are working on a solution. MYAC said recruitment is a near-term priority as applications recently opened and the commission plans to distribute a written annual report with more detail.
Council members praised the students and asked how councilors could help with fundraising and outreach to increase visibility for MYAC events. Vice Mayor Garland and others thanked staff and noted the commission’s recommendations inform council policy and future planning.
MYAC leaders said the commission hopes its work will "create more empowered and informed youth," enhance youth well-being and contribute to a more sustainable Tempe.
The council took no formal action; the presentation concluded with the commission saying the full annual report will be circulated to council.