Explore a Year in the Life of a Youth Forward MKE Ambassador
What does it mean to be a Youth Forward MKE Ambassador? For our 2022 cohort – consisting of four youth from across the city – it’s meant a year of professional development, deep dives into data, research, networking and learning what it means to uplift youth voice.
From left: Delonta Henderson, Deh Nee, and Amaya Bauldwin at the Youth Voice Summit.
Deh Nee, Delonta Henderson, Amaya Bauldwin and Kaylee Marsh began their tenure as Ambassadors in December 2021, four months before the official launch of the Youth Forward MKE Coalition.
“I came here because I felt like there was nothing really changing,” said Amaya. “But when I heard about this opportunity, I knew I had to get on to it because they were actually willing to hear us out and put our voices onto a platform.”
The four youth, along with Milwaukee Succeeds staff and adult co-leads, set the groundwork for how the Coalition would operate and what it would prioritize. Each Ambassador brought their own unique experiences – such as participation in the Design Your Future Fellowship – which allowed them to see things differently than the adults at the table and propose creative solutions.
To guide them on this journey, staff created a comprehensive professional development series, which kicked into high gear this summer. The Ambassadors explored facilitation and content creation with internal staff, vulnerability and coping with Heal Black Man, mind/body exercises with MISPIBO, yoga with Agape Yogastry, gardening/food justice with Cosecha a Mesa, and data analysis with Perrynorm Analytics.
The Ambassadors put their new skills into practice by leading and facilitating quarterly Coalition meetings, presenting at a Leadership Table meeting, and even speaking at a citywide Youth Voice Summit, hosted by MENTOR Greater Milwaukee. The summit was funded in part by a Violence Prevention Grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, which was allocated by the Ambassadors.
Just because the year is over, though, doesn’t mean the Ambassadors’ work has come to an end. In fact, most have agreed to continue on as co-leads, weighing in on the future of the Coalition and helping guide another group of Ambassadors toward success.
Violence Prevention Grant
In response to the rise in violence in our community – along with youth calls for greater mental health supports – the Greater Milwaukee Foundation awarded a Violence Prevention Grant to the Coalition to invest in youth-identified programming. Led by our Ambassadors, the Coalition gave $25K to three organizations to increase access to mental health supports and create more inclusive school environments: MENTOR Greater Milwaukee for their Youth Voice Summit, SKY Schools for the pilot of Design Your Future Proposal 1, and United Way Community Schools for expanding nutritious school lunches.
