Fresno’s young people plan to speak their minds at forum featuring mayoral candidates

On Tuesday, Feb. 11, the Fresno Youth Platform will host our mayoral candidates forum at Fresno City College. After months of surveying more than 400 of our peers to identify the six most pressing challenges that young people in Fresno face, we are hosting a forum so that the candidates can hear directly from young people about the civic issues that must be addressed for every young person in the city to have a chance to thrive.

As a collective of youth leaders from across the city, we work to uplift youth voices and advocate for change in our communities.

The Fresno Youth Platform is a program of Youth Leadership Institute and is made up of young civic leaders from youth advocacy and leadership programs, including the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Fresno Boys and Men of Color, Friday Night Live, the GSA Network, the Jakara Movement, the kNOw Youth Media, Womxn Empowered from Fresno Barrios Unidos and the Youth Advocacy Leadership League. We have worked on many community issues, like the local police chief search, voter education, transportation and the Responsible Neighborhood Market Ordinance.

The Fresno Youth Platform is our effort to make sure that our next mayor can hear directly from young people about the challenges and solutions that we see for our community.

As of writing this we have not received answers from all candidates and are asking that all candidates attend the forum for three simple reasons:

First, Fresno belongs to the youth, according to the demographics. As of the last census, the median age in Fresno is under 30 years old and more than 40% of Fresno residents are 24 and under. The Fresno Youth Platform is representative of these demographics.

Since we are the only youth forum in town, organized for by young people, this is a unique and special opportunity to engage with young people — not just the organizers, but the 400 young people we surveyed. Any person who wants to be mayor of Fresno, one of the youngest big cities in California, should show up to hear from engaged young people.

Second, this is an incredible opportunity to engage with Fresno voters. And while many people believe that young voters are hard to reach, we are young voters. And we are working hard to fill the seats of the Old Administration Building Auditorium at Fresno City College so that candidates and young voters have a chance to engage with one another. This is a key campaign opportunity.

Lastly, every person who is running for mayor should take seriously their responsibility to represent us — your residents. One of the first things taught in a U.S. government and politics class is that our nation is built on representative democracy, the idea that people are elected to public office with the purpose of representing the ideas and addressing the concerns of their constituents. As the mayor of Fresno, your job would be to actively listen and respond to the ideas and thoughts of everyone, no matter their age, race, or gender.

If you aren’t listening to us now, when trying to garner approval, what are the chances that you will listen to us if you are elected and your position is already secured?

Candidates for mayor should take seriously their responsibility to the young people of Fresno. Showing up on Tuesday to the Fresno Youth Platform mayoral candidates forum is the best way to show that you are willing to be a mayor for all of Fresno, including its young people.

If you go

The forum will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Old Administration Building at Fresno City College.