Powerful Youth Voices From Y Street Are Creating Healthier Futures

What happens when young people take the lead in shaping the future of health in their communities? In this debut episode, we’re diving into the impact of youth-driven advocacy with the changemakers from an influential youth-led movement, Y Street.

From tackling tobacco use prevention to driving policy change, these young leaders are proving that real change starts with their voices. You’ll hear firsthand how they’re breaking through the noise, challenging the status quo, and making a lasting impact on their communities for a healthier future.

If you're passionate about youth empowerment, or just want to hear how the next generation is taking action—this episode is for you. Tune in, get inspired, and share it with someone who needs to hear it.

Transcript

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Welcome to a new type of conversation with each episode, we'll meet with inspiring people sharing best practices at the forefront of creating change for our young people, we'll talk motivations that make a difference in how their lived experiences can help empower us to take action and make a difference in the lives of young people where we live. My name is CJ Sturmer, and this is the champions for you Podcast.

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Today we're sitting down with Fernando, Kellen, audreyna and Dawson. These are four high school teens, juniors and seniors from all over they're implementing our volunteer led award winning y street program in their schools. For a bit of context, the Y Street initiative has been implemented in high school since 2004 and has helped more than 10,000 teens become youth advocates tonight under a common cause of preventing tobacco use and promoting overall healthy lifestyles for their peers, we'll learn that teens really do want to live healthier lives, and they want to be leaders. They want to create change, but to make that happen, we have to give them a seat and a voice at the table, and if we just give them a chance to build community and rally, they'll create the opportunities for healthier behaviors and habits for their peers. This is their inspiring story. What has that experience actually been like for you when you are at school and participating in this like, what is it that you're doing in the school? To us, I'll start with you. We do a training day where we train upcoming live stream members. And the really good part is State leadership team members that are from different schools have the chance to the ability to, like, just teach their peers about y Street and what y Street is, and it really does hone the presentation skills. How about you? Audrina initially, why she was like, a really new program at my school when I first joined, so I was like the only leadership team member in my freshman year. But recently, we've seen a lot more students kind of join in. I think once you get the ball rolling, then it's really easy for teams to, like, get teams involved, because they're always looking for a chance to speak out for what they believe in. And if you give them that avenue, then it's really beautiful to see how, you know, they take that and run with it. So at my school, it's actually become a really flourishing program. So we're doing pretty great. Kelly, what about in your school? Usually our training in List of going us and going to the lunchrooms, talk to each lunch period and talking to a bunch of the kids there. And usually, I know, for at least my freshman year, I anticipated a lot of pushback, and definitely more of, why are you looking at me? Are we talking about what you here for? That's exactly what I was thinking. But when you go there and they see fellow teenagers really advocating for themselves and really speaking about something that we all can agree on, whether it just be a certain portion or fully agree with one another, you would be surprised with the reactions you get and how willing people are to build something out to just support further for now, I want to ask you, what is the experience like in your school Like? What do you actually all do? Well, yeah, we kind of do as well. Do tabling events as well. We recently just had our site visit where we came some people from my street came in, and we just talked about why she, you know, why you should join. And we also had our training day recently as well, which was really nice, because I felt, like, compared to last year, like, I saw, like, a lot more people, like, were like, really interested, you know, and also the questions during the training day, like, they seemed very interested. And not just that, we also had a waitlist, which meant, like, there was, like, a lot of people, like, wanted to do it. So that was really nice to do it, like, because I saw, like, a lot of people would come in and they'd be like, hey, so I'm on the way this book. I still come in, but they weren't, unfortunately, because there was only certain amount of spots. But it was really nice. Wow, not a wait list. Okay, so people are looking to get involved. So there seems to be a lot of motivation. Then are you all experiencing, like, Is it, is it sometimes easy to actually want to get involved? So I see your yes review. So what is that motivation? Like, why did you What motivated you to want to be a part of why street? So, um, I have always been, like, a very opinionated person. I've always, like, wanted to stand up and speak out for what I believe in as, like the eldest sibling, I guess is, plays into that a bit. And coming in through y Street, like when I first heard of them, I thought it was such a great opportunity, because I feel like us teenagers were kind of stuck in the middle. We're not we don't have, like, the maturity of adults yet, but we don't want the responsibilities of children, and so it's kind of hard to, like, find a place for us and have, like, a good avenue for us to speak out. So

4:23  
I feel like y street really gave me the opportunity to kind of like, use my voice. You can tell I kind of like talking, and I gave me, like, the opportunity to channel that energy into something that would make a positive difference in my community. What was your motivation? At first, I own I wanted to join y because they promised me food

4:41  
after our training, we got they, they literally came up to us, and they simply said that we will give you the opportunity to elevate your voice, to really make a change over the Commonwealth of Virginia. And when they, when they came in and said this to me, it almost like something clicked. It was just, I needed to go out.

5:00  
I needed to just attempt to be a youth advocate, just try and say something about what I was feeling, what my opinions were, and just see if someone would listen or give me this the time of data. Just give me a good 30 seconds to just rant and just keep going and going about what need, what can happen, and if it happened, what could happen? What how it could make all the students around Virginia feel, how it could really influenced the future of how we are operating here in Virginia, and that's why I'm sitting here right now. Yeah, how about your friend? What? What was your motivation? Why was this so important to you? Because, you know, I've always wanted to, like, kind of, get involved with community. So, you know, I feel like this was a perfect opportunity, especially, you know, with, like, my city, like getting involved with them, you know, especially with the two campaigns that we work with, it was really nice because they were, like, two they were, like, two campaigns that were focused on two things that I thought were really important. So it was really nice to, like, kind of like, boost those things, you know, how about you what was, what was the reason that you were like, I really want to do this. So I started to realize that there's a lot of growth opportunity. And I kind of found out that, like, networking and presentation skills, if I hone them more than just in the classroom, like going out and, like presenting in front of, like, a lot more people that might actually help me in college and in my in the workforce as well. But do you all get the opportunity to sort of work for, like, work across borders, work across aisles, and actually engage with other y street programs across the state? The first, the first opportunity I got to engage with another group similar to white Street, was actually at this summit. We got to meet with our y'all people, and also next to rise people. And we really got to see how a lot of states share a lot of the same issues of Virginia and that their campaigns, they were advocating for, they were almost identical to ours in their pursuit and their goals. And it's like when you see this, you notice the little things, like every all these students all see a common thing that's happening across across the United States. And you can tell that if a lot of students are starting to come together now, starting to work together, to start almost representing or combating these issues, what does success look like to you when you're like, we reached somebody, we did. We can do. But I'm really proud of this. I think when I see like, like the signs, or, you know, just like, certain things that, like, are part of the campaigns, and if I see them there, it's just like, really nice to see it, because it shows that, you know, like, there was actually, like, you know, a posture and like, it was actually approved, you know. So it's really nice to see that, you know, shows that there's like, support, you know, just seeing, maybe sometimes even if people post about it or talk about it's just really nice, you know, to see your work actually having an impact, being used by the people in your schools and community. How about what's it? What about for you? So I feel like there's a few different kinds of like, what I think success is. So one of the one of them, obviously a really big one, is a county partnering with us. I know fair fights County, real right now, is a partner of chavia, right? And another success is just people stopping by our table and like connecting with us like I've got so many people through like, a tabling event that you're talking about earlier that come to our table, and they just feel so seen when we tell them about shady or we tell them about our every Bev, and they're like, this is exactly what I've been looking for. And they just feel so empowered in their own way that they're like, the next generation is looking out for them and is trying to fight for policies that will help them stay healthier and like that really resonates with people. What does success look like for you? It feels successful to me, even if we, like have one table but and we get, like, nobody, but we get one person that's really engaged and really hits home for them. To me, I think that's a successful because I reach somebody. A lot of the people that do come to your table are very engaged and very like happy to see that the youth is starting to make these programs to get things done in their community. I see a lot of nodding back here, yeah, similar successes. Or what does that look like for you? For me, success really looks like when I see someone who maybe has seen one of our table events before, I've given to one of our events before, and they still come back. They say, Oh, I've seen this before. Oh, I've heard you talk about this before. And they come back with more questions, saying, like, What are y'all doing now? What's your next step? What is What are you advocating for? This time is when we get those questions that we know we know we really made a difference, because it shows that it's one person is remembering what we're doing. It means a lot more as well. Do you see the guy through him? You go, there's everything. You go that, like, stop by your table, and he was like, oh my god, yeah, I've loved watching a survey. And he like, showed, like, a picture of like him next to one of our like posters, like one of our signs. I don't know if you like, know him, but glass is fine. He works with, like, the Virginia tobacco prevention like committee, or something like that. I'm probably talking to him looking like a Canadian meeting or something like maybe a KDM meeting, or maybe,

9:32  
like a, like a picture of yourself and, like, make it into like a, like dancing or whatever. That's what he did. And he was like, Guys, look,

9:41  
that's insane. Yeah, I'm really committed.

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We talk a lot in what we do as adults that it's important to have youth voices, not only at the table, but to actually help inform us what we're doing with campaigns. And I think y street has done a pretty good job at least saying, hey, we want to build these programs for you. Do you all feel that you are being included?

10:00  
In not only the decisions that are being made that impact you, but the actual process to get to those do you all feel like the inclusion that you are experiencing is enough? So I definitely think so. We are really involved in every step of the process. I know that for our leadership team, we have an executive board made up of our volunteers that we vote in. I was part of it last year, and they asked us all kinds of questions about like, what we want and the points or what we want. Store what we want, like our merchandising to look like we help run meetings to like, teach islt Like skills we want to learn. And they're constantly asking us for feedback and making sure that we're involved in every step of the way. And I really, really appreciate that about why she because I've been part of programs that say they're for kids, but they don't actually want to listen to us. We just like to figure heads for them, and so they really do involve us, and I think that they do a great job of it. How about you? Dawson, do you feel like there is enough opportunity for you to have a voice at the table? There are, of course, parts after a KDM meeting, which is a key decision maker meeting, where you kind of do it, and the person says they'll do it, and then you, you don't entirely know until, like, a few months later, if the person actually, like that night, actually went and put, like, looked at the policy and was like, Oh, I really like this policy, and actually went forth with giving it to their local government to get it actually enacted. That's great. So you feel like you actually can be a voice and tell them about that policy, and you're seeing that actually change, right? That's great. So we're seeing right here, the effectiveness of including the youth at the table. And we see that, what does that feel like when you have the opportunity to actually say, I need this thing, this is important to us. We need to change a policy, or we need to have this a part of our our y street art program, or we need this in the schools, or I want to make sure this is marketed a certain way. How does that feel like when that's actually heard and actually done?

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Amazing? Yeah, I see a lot of like, yes and no. It's like, more surreal. It's being able to go out there and it's having actual and being able to put your voice out there after you've been thinking in the back of your mind that I could say something, but nothing's going to change. They're not going to listen to a child. They're not going to listen. They're all they're going to be adults going to say, Oh, we've seen the world. We've been around the block once or twice. We can do this. We can say this. It's like, Y'all still in school. Y'all still have time to learn. It's like, well, if we get told that, what can our voices do when we get the chance to actually put our voice out there, and we get to see how people we act, the facial expressions, the actions they make afterwards? It's almost like a breath of relief, almost like we're being seen for the first time in years. Yeah. Brennan, how about you? What? How does it feel to actually see something, the action being taken? It feels really good, because it shows that, you know, they're actually taking our like, like, what we're seeing, into consideration. They're actually, you know, going through with it. So it feels really nice, you know, especially, you know, and it, you see, like, the impact it has, you know, on whatever the issue is that, you know, you're trying to, like, you know, combat, like, just seeing that this should kind of already starting to, know, like, turn over. It's really nice. It's really, really good. I completely agree. Like, this feeling of, it just is amazing. And like, the feeling of, like, It's surreal to be here, to be sitting in front of you right now, and to know that, like, all the hard work, like to see the numbers that I'm presenting, and to, like, really see it happen, it's just crazy to be an active part of it. And like, I do feel like, you know, relief that I've been heard after such a long time, and it feels like, you know, I've been pounding at the glass, and it's finally broken. That's finally broken. What about you? Do you finally feel like the glass is being broken that like, how does it feel for you? I do. I really like, how, like, usually it'll be like, adults are a little like, like, should I come up there? But then they come up there, and then they're just like, shocked about, like, how well we present the idea and how passionate we are and how much of a great team of advocates we are. And they're like, Oh my goodness. These people are like, 1716, years old, but they're talking like they're 30, right? They're like, Oh my goodness. Like these people really know what they're talking about. So I think

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it's very empowering to like, shock adults about, like, how,

14:03  
how training and just, like, knowing a campaign and just being very passionate about what you feel about really does, like,

14:13  
really does hit people very hard. Like, knowing that we're kids, but we're, we're really passionate about these problems. When you when these things do get an, you know, implemented, and there's action taken, obviously, it feels great and everything like that. What is the feedback sort of been from your peers, like, whether it be on a wide street level, or even, like, you talk about policy change, you talk about access to, you know, different sort of resources and materials. It kind of started with you, how what is the response been from your peers and just community members. What have you heard? Yes,

14:44  
actually, compared to when we first started campaigning, where we were getting that pushback, and we were getting the glares and like, why are we doing this? When we come in and show that we actually have made a change, we do something actually, for one of our campaign's revenue, Bev, we do a rev your Bev week, which we come in, we.

15:00  
Continue to promote this campaign, and we also this is our week where we collect thank you so we can go around and think the counties that have updated their wellness policies based off our advocacy and based off the things we have done and came to show them and improve, and based on facts and answers and responses we've gotten from the actual community. And you see all these kids walking up and saying, this happened? When this? When did you do this? When did when did you start doing this? What could have happened? When do we when could have we been a part of it? And you see all the people coming up and writing thank you cards and being generally shocked and surprised. It's just self fulfilling in a weird way. What has the response been like in more maybe, sort of your overall communities? It's very positive, like I said before. It just it really resonates with people and when they see this change happening, like Kevin said, when they see, like, the tangible results that we've been getting from all of our work, like it just becomes so much more real to them. And I know that, like in my freshman year again, there was some pushback that was like, why are you doing this? Why are you you know? Are you yelling at us at like, 720 in

15:59  
the morning? We care. And now that you know they've, like, we had our celebratory event, like you said, and they're seeing, like, the results, we had so many new members show up, and, like, we had our very first member meet up last week, and there was like, 1015, people, which like, and that was like, compared to the zero from last year. Like, people are really getting involved, and they're like, really being empowered to make change in their own right, right? So like, Fernanda, you even mentioned that you all have a wait list to actually join for him. Yeah. Do you think that because that's due to just the response that they're having? Like, we see action being taken, and that is a good motivator for them to watch, yeah, I think a lot of people are really passionate about, like, when we because on the side visit, we had explained to them, you know, what the campaigns were about. And I think a lot of people were really like, you know, like, encouraged to join because they really wanted to make that change. You know, they really wanted to they really wanted to see, you know, what they could really do. Because a lot of those campaigns, they would, like, you know, be like, Oh, really. Like, I didn't know, like, this was a thing. So, you know, kind of seeing that response from them, and seeing them really like being engaged, and want to, like, you know, actually, like, be a part of it. And like, it's really nice to see, like, see that happen. Yeah. Dawson, what do we need more of? Like, this is great. But also, this is what we need, more availability. So I want, like, kind of like communities to start doing more events, so that we have more opportunities to go to these events. And like, like, five Ks, fun runs, like, more, like,

17:16  
I don't know, like adults playing baseball, just for fun, for like, one day, and then we can just have these tables so that we can advocate for more people. And one of our campaigns, rev, your Bev, would be very great for athletic events. So I think it would be very great to like kind of work with like parks, to have the share the air campaign, but also like

17:38  
telling like youth in like baseball tryouts or soccer in the park can also be part of regular bed. So it's like a two in one in all of our parks. And I know we have plenty of parks throughout Virginia, so I think that would be absolutely amazing. I think that one thing that I always was mentioned a lot was that people don't really know what y Street is. Even though we are, like, the largest volunteer organization in Virginia, like a lot of people don't know who we are, and I think just having like the outreach and like the amplification of our message and making sure that more people know about us and know that there are very real opportunities that they can have if they just, you know, reach out, just having like the word spread about, why should we really, really helpful in spreading our message? Because right now, it's just kind of like concentrated we have, like, people all over the state, but there's, you can see, like, there's really, like, clear concentration as to where, like, our policies are being implemented when we're trying to make, like, our whole map be covered with live stream. I mean, I feel like, I don't know if this would be possible now, but I feel like, you know, it'd be really nice to maybe, you know, sometime, maybe in the future. I don't know how it would really happen, but just, you know, maybe because, like, a lot of these do really help your health. So maybe like, like, just like, adding like little things and like health courses where it's like, hey, you know, there's this little opportunity, you know, you should maybe check it out, because these are really beneficial to your health. So it'd be really nice to see these, like, you know, in school, like, you know, just like, like your health classes and stuff like that. Just like adding that, you know, just like inserting it in there. Just like, you know, like, this is something that you know you should consider, you know, like, so it's like more heard of, because I know, like, for a lot of schools, health courses are required. So, you know, just kind of like inserting that inside. It's just, it'd be a really nice way to just kind of spread the word more. You know, I love that. So it's kind of like what we talked about before. It's like, yes, you have included us. That's great. Now, there's another step that we can do to go a little bit further, right? We've talked about that before. What about you? What? What do we need more of my answer is going to ping a little off of army here. But I just think we need more people to just be willing to hear us out. Just come out. Want to know more. Keep coming back and asking more questions. Wanted to know what more they can do to help and what more they and what more they can say that would further expand our outreach so that more people heard about why Street. Why would? Why us kids are coming out every random mornings from eight to like four and a half and just speak at random events. Yeah, just keep spreading the message, just word of mouth to what have you. Now, who should we be saying that? To? Do we want to say that to our peers? Or are we thinking more adults? I think it should be a mix of both. Okay, if anybody who is willing to hear, who has, who thinks their voice could further push our campaign that they want. If they think they can do more, and they think they want to do more, I.

20:00  
And come on down here. So what do you want to say to each other? You all have, you know, you're meeting some, you know, sometimes, for the first time, you don't always get the interaction with each other. But I kind of want to give you a moment to, like, really talk to each other. And, you know, I mean, what would you like to say to your peers that are also doing the similar work? I'd like to say that I am so proud of each and every one of you I see, like the Instagram updating with you guys, like, attending meetings and things like that, and I get to talk about your achievements. And it just so happy to me when I, like, recognize your name in, like, the media, and I just see you guys doing such awesome work. And honestly, it's really inspiring to me and people at my school. So just thank you for everything that you do. I'm really proud of you, and I really hope that we get to work together on things in the future. I feel like you guys are doing an amazing job. I feel like you guys, like, really, you know, you guys really, you know, take the time to really like, you know, get to know the campaign. Really, get to take the time to, you know, really know more and more about like, you know, how to really reach people. You guys are really, you know, focusing on those patterns, you know, seeing what people might like, you know, like, what might, you know, make them like, want to do, like, be part of the campaign. So I feel like that's really like, you guys are really like, on it, and that's really nice. Like, I feel like that's really proud of you guys. Thank you, Dawson. What do you want to say to your peers? So I'm really proud of each and every one of you guys, and I really like each and every

21:10  
of your guys' personality, because all three of you guys are very different, but you guys share the passion for rub your Bev and share the air, and I think that it's just so great to like, do kind of like these things, just to like, hear other people's voices, because I know like, we share, like, oh, we we support, share the air and rev your Beth. But I also like hearing like, I love hearing each and every one of your guys's stories, because everybody, all white members, have a story, and your stories are always so inspirational. Each and every one of you guys, y'all have just said so many great things that even I could apply to when I talk to people to get them recruited onto my street. I want to start by saying, we all pass the vibe. Check up here like we all. We all have when just a little bit what Dawson just said, we've all come together. We all have this similar we all have this similar goal. We all have this similar idea, and to see each and every one of us ping pong off each other, how to elevate these ideas further, how to take them to the next step, how could they, how they could further improve one another. And it's just, it's almost a sense of community. It's almost like when someone asked me, who's your greatest inspiration? It's like it's the innovator sitting around me. It's the innovators who couldn't be at the camp who couldn't be at this summit with us today. It's all those innovators and all you guys who come together and just make watching us all put our heads together to form a change, to form new ideas. It's that warm feeling that makes me just proud of everyone at y'all, yeah, what is your leadership team? Yes, team. There's no I in team. There's an us. There is no us in English, you got me catching my Yeah, still passing the vibe check. I am also incredibly proud of each and one of you. I know it's not always easy to sort of be a voice of peers and to stand up on a stage, and it's not always easy to be the center of attention and to speak up for what you need and what you believe in, and then demand action. So I'm glad to hear that you're proud of your peers. I hope you are proud of yourselves, and you You definitely deserve that recognition. So thank you for your time today. Thank you for representing the community of people that absolutely deserve it, and for doing a lot of great work in your campaigns and really striving to promote the health and wellness of people like you. So thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Wow, it's young people like this that really give me hope for the future. You know what I mean? A special thanks to the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth and prevention connections for making this podcast happen, and to Mauricio Reyes from teleconnect for this great music score. To learn more about our programs, visit us on the web@dfhy.org

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and hey, if you like, today's conversation, share with other people the only way we can make real changes if we do it together. And before you go, give us a little five star rating. Show us some love. Tell us what you think. I appreciate you all listening today, and no matter what you do in this world, go out there. Go do good. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you next time you.

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