Boise launches yearlong youth roadmap process to gather teens, families and partners for policy recommendations

Garrett Lamb, the City of Boise’s new director of community partnerships, told the City Council that the city has launched a yearlong “youth roadmap” research process to collect direct input from youth, parents, educators and service providers and deliver a final set of recommendations to council in December.

The roadmap is intended to inform “city policies, youth programs, and community engagement efforts designed to ensure that young people feel supported, engaged, and empowered to thrive,” Lamb said. Council member Halliburton, who led the council effort to fund the work in 2024, said the project is intended to apply a “youth lens” across city planning and operations so that teenagers and young adults have greater agency in shaping their community.

The research partner Rathbone Falvi will use citywide surveys, focus groups, stakeholder interviews and secondary data analysis. Lamb said the project’s top objectives include assessing youth well-being and aspirations, evaluating the reach and effectiveness of existing programs, identifying gaps in services and inequities across demographic and geographic groups, and producing strategic recommendations for the city and community partners.

Lamb described a phased timeline that began with project setup in December and moves through a research phase of surveys and focus groups from March through June, analysis and drafting of recommendations from July through September, stakeholder feedback in September, and preparation of the final roadmap in October–November ahead of a December presentation to council.

The project will engage a youth and parent advisory committee, city staff from multiple departments and community stakeholders. Lamb named several community partners who will be involved or consulted, including Communities for Youth, St. Luke’s, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, United Way, Idaho Youth Ranch and the Boise School District. He also listed internal city participants from parks, arts and history, public works, library, community engagement, police and fire, and asked council to help distribute surveys and identify additional participants.

Council members asked procedural questions about scope and method. Council member Corless asked whether an age range had been defined; Lamb said the initiative will focus on school-age youth from 5 to 20, with surveys targeted at teens and parent surveys used to capture perspectives for younger children. Corless and others emphasized the need to disaggregate findings by age group and to inventory existing programs so the final recommendations can identify gaps by cohort.

Halliburton said one of the roadmap’s goals is that youth “contribute really means, that the youth in our community have agency, and the ability to shape their future,” and several council members expressed support for integrating the roadmap into future policy and funding discussions.

The project’s final deliverables will include a comprehensive report of findings, a community engagement strategy for ongoing youth involvement, and recommended policy or funding items for council consideration. Lamb said staff expect to return to council with preliminary findings in September and the final report in December.