Fresno County youth summit for service and leadership returns, thanks to key donations

A week after 9/11, the Fresno Youth Service Council held a summit at Wonder Valley Ranch in Sanger. County Schools Superintendent Peter Mehas requested an event for high school youth in Fresno County to respond to the tragic attack. Then Mayor Alan Autry offered the Fresno Convention Center to host 750 students two weeks later.

The students decided that their contribution would be to educate their peers to prevent any hate crimes against people of Middle Eastern cultures. Superintendent Mehas reported that there were no hate crimes at high schools that year.

I was on the staff at the Fresno County Office of Education, which led summits for the Fresno Youth Service Council from 2000-10, when the program ended due to lack of funding. During these years, student leaders from area high schools went to Wonder Valley Ranch for annual weekend summits. They got leadership training, studied American civic values, and identified issues for service projects. They returned to their schools and led projects. Their motto was, “We are creating our future!”

One of the presidents of the Youth Service Council, Selena Farnesi, went on to become a Fresno County deputy district attorney, and is now director of academic & student affairs at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. Another council president was Ian LeMay, who became a regional director for congressman Jim Costa and is now president of the California Fresh Fruit Association. It was a great opportunity for students from diverse communities to learn civic values, dialogue about issues facing youth and plan projects.

Good news! Leaders of the Civic Education Center (Steve Morris and myself) will bring back the youth summit at Wonder Valley Ranch. The student leaders will create a video of civic service project ideas for K-12 students in Fresno County schools.

The summit’s renewal became possible with generous donations from the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Jim Yovino, the Fresno Unified School District Superintendent Bob Nelson, and Valley Children’s Healthcare. It will again become an annual event for youth to learn democratic participation and steward leadership. Youth leaders will affirm our American civic values, discuss current issues and share ideas for civic engagement projects with their peers.

This is especially important with the new State Seal of Civic Engagement for graduating seniors. This award will help seniors who are applying for college or applying for a job. To earn it, students must demonstrate civic responsibility by volunteering for a civic engagement project that addresses a real problem in their school or community. As students recover from the isolation of the pandemic, there are many mental health issues, dealing with trauma, addiction, depression, and social anxiety. Their generation also faces environmental, social justice, economic, public health, political, and ethical challenges.

Students learn to understand and respond to complex problems through guided practice with civic engagement projects to address real issues.This could be a turning point for youth empowerment, giving students a way to identify their concerns and hopes, with the opportunity to apply American civic values and democratic principles to address their challenges. How else can we prepare them for the complex issues that confront their generation?

Now we have a youth summit to guide youth to express their concerns and hopes, and an award, the state Seal of Civic Engagement, to reward graduating seniors for responsible civic participation.