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Westminster Youth Advisory Panel outlines year of service and asks council for deeper input role
Summary
Members of Westminster's Youth Advisory Panel reviewed a year of volunteer projects, voter-registration and civic engagement work and asked council to involve the panel earlier in planning (mobility and city projects); council members offered more formal pathways for collaboration.
Lucy Herbert, chair of Westminster's Youth Advisory Panel, told the City Council that the panel wants "to work more with council next year and get more involved to help share youth voices in the city as well," summarizing a year of outreach and service.
The youth panel reported several accomplishments: a leadership election in August; a high-school voter-registration drive at Jefferson Academy that the presenters said registered 50 students; volunteer partnerships with Rocky Mountain Partnerships, San Marino Retirement Community, Growing Home's food bank and Westy Fest; a Rocky Mountain Youth Summit that doubled attendance from the prior year; and service donations including hygiene kits and snack packs. Vice chair Aditi Muthukumar described the panel's civic-learning activities, including meetings with elected officials and a DRCOG exercise that fed into the region's 2050 transportation planning.
Council members responded by praising the panel's work and offering concrete ways to integrate youth input. Councilor Azadi urged that the panel be given opportunities to review projects not only at the end but midway through decision-making on items such as the mobility plan. Mayor Pro Tem and other councilors suggested youth-focused community updates, guest appearances at council or board meetings, and a pathway from the youth panel into city advisory boards.
Panel accomplishments the council highlighted included a CPR/First Aid/AED course that certified 13 of 14 students, collaboration on multilingual outreach and micro-transit as part of a transportation-inclusivity initiative, and early-stage plans to build relations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes and with neighboring Broomfield's youth commission.
Council and staff offered next steps: staff will continue to coordinate with the panel's liaison(s), consider earlier engagement points in major planning efforts such as mobility and land-use projects, and explore a youth-focused community update. The panel asked for more chances to review city plans in mid-stage and to serve as ambassadors to increase youth attendance at civic events.
The presentation began with Lucy Herbert (YAP chair) and Aditi Muthukumar (YAP vice chair) and concluded after council feedback; council members repeatedly commended the panel's volunteer projects and voter-registration work and asked staff to identify concrete opportunities for the panel to review plans ahead of council decisions.
