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Alongside our partners, we have been listening to youth, and young people have been clear about what they need: belonging, agency, and not just to be heard, but to be trusted with real power.
In 2023, we set out to increase youth voice in strengthening mental health services through our Amplifying Youth Voice grant. As we continue to grow and deepen our commitment to health justice, something became clear: elevating youth perspectives wasn’t enough on its own. Young people weren’t just asking to be heard — they were asking for the power and resources to lead.
This shift emerged from conversations with young people, partners, and organizers who reminded us that youth voice is only the beginning — real change requires the ability to influence systems, policies, and community conditions.
“Youth told funders, nonprofits, leaders, and caregivers what they need. Now we need to change systems to support their solutions,” said Deanna Hillard, Senior Program Manager of Youth Mental Health at Interact for Health.
Our learnings informed our most recent Youth Organizing grant, which aims to build youth organizing capacity in Greater Cincinnati by supporting nonprofits in creating sustainable, youth-led programs that support young leaders to advocate for community change on issues that matter to them. Six organizations were selected to participate in a cohort learning experience where they co-create a vision for the future of youth-led organizing efforts.
March Youth Organizing Cohort meeting at WordPlay Cincy
Four shifts guided our evolution:
Under the Amplifying Youth Voice grant, we focused on youth participation, visibility, and shifting how adults listen. Today, our focus has evolved to building a youth organizing infrastructure our region has never had—one that supports young leaders in shaping a world where they can thrive.
Two organizations have been with us on this journey from Amplifying Youth Voice to the Youth Organizing Cohort: WordPlay Cincy and Youth at the Center.
At WordPlay Cincy, Interim Executive Director, Desirae Hosley, says youth shape almost all aspects of their programming, from the physical setup of the room to the rules they create, and the role adults play. During our conversation, Hosley offered a glimpse into the rituals that ground WordPlay’s youth. She pulled a mindfulness card from the deck they use before every session—a practice youth themselves requested.
It read, “I am enough. I am beautiful just as I am. I am loved just as I am. I am worthy just by being me. I don't need to fit in. I just need to be myself, and the right people will come into my life, those who see and appreciate me for all that I am.”
Hosley emphasized that youth organizing also means helping young people build internal tools for resilience.
“I love teaching youth that you can be present even in chaos. I think that's the part that we miss — is that our youth are dealing with a lot,” said Hosley. “I can imagine being a teenager when you're trying to focus in, but you're dealing with so much and the world is so loud. How can you get a chance to just be?”
Another key piece of youth organizing at WordPlay Cincy is the belief that adults have just as much to learn from young people as young people have to learn from adults. Hosley describes the work as a kind of “teaching hospital,” where youth and adults learn from one another, and the hope is that both carry those skills and insights forward to teach the next person.
Photo from WordPlay Cincy, provided
“I'm not here telling you what to do. I'm actually in it…we're doing this together. I provide these resources. You don't have to use them, but let's figure out ways to put them in place to make it work for you,” said Hosley. “That helps youth not only see their [own] value, but know that they are valued by the people in the room.”
For Youth at the Center, part of their mission is flipping the old adage of, “Youth should be seen and not heard,” on its head.
“If we take that to its logical conclusion, at some point [youth are] supposed to be adults, and then they're supposed to be seen and heard. But like, you don't just start doing something without practice,” said Shawn Jeffers, Director of Leadership Development at Youth at the Center. “We want young people to be seen, heard, and valued today, and know that any skill worth doing takes time to develop. If we want adults who are critically thinking and civically engaged, you have to build those muscles when you're young.”
Jeffers said Youth at the Center employs a “freedom with fences” mentality, which was asked for by young people at their organization. “Young people have said [they] like when there's a rubric or structure…the idea is there are sometimes limitations that could be laws or policies we have to stay within…but in this space, you have free range to ideate.”
While we are still early in this grant cycle, Jeffers highlighted the cohort model of Youth Organizing as an opportunity for the youth involved to see other people and organizations, across Cincinnati and the country, care about youth organizing as well.
Jeffers said the youth at Youth at the Center know that their team cares about them, but “being able to see that there are other spaces that are also wanting to hear their thoughts” makes those youth feel seen and valued. Jeffers said that the goal isn’t just to create something meaningful at Youth at the Center, but to encourage people to carry what they learn and practice there back into their everyday lives and communities.
Interact for Health will continue to share updates from the Youth Organizing Cohort as these leaders co‑create a vision for the initiative and the future of youth‑led organizing in our region, and one truth remains clear: young people aren’t just asking to be heard—they’re leading the way.
Youth participant of the Youth Organizing Cohort writing on WordPlay Cincy's community art wall
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