Youth Advisory Board
Cultivating Critical Dialogue
Established in partnership with the Madison Police Department in 2021, Common Wealth Development’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB) facilitates dynamic and critical conversations, between Madison youth and systems, institutions, and local leaders. Students engage with systemic issues that disproportionately affect BIPOC communities, understanding the historical contexts at play, and identifying how these issues manifest today in their communities. From there, they make well-informed recommendations grounded in research, history, and lived experience.
What Youth Advisory Board Members Learn
The Youth Advisory Board is designed to support students in navigating thoughtful and critical dialogue. Students engage with contextual resources, historical perspectives, and a range of voices from academics, community leaders, activists, advocates, and elected officials, all of whom contribute to a nuanced understanding of complex issues. Through this work, members determine their own paths of action, whether through advocacy, support, opposition, or other forms of civic involvement, as informed and empowered participants in the democratic process.
YAB members develop their critical writing and analytical skills and engage with research and theoretical content to enhance their academic capabilities. With this strong academic foundation, YAB members have leveraged their theoretical understanding to analyze real-world challenges such as community safety, neighborhood stability, and the rights of community members.
How It Works
Each school year, Youth Advisory Board members select the topic they’ll focus on based on their priorities and goals, meeting three times a month throughout the year.
Fall Semester
Board members explore and learn more about their chosen topic in depth. This includes learning about historical practices and contexts, engaging with community members about their work, and unpacking present-day manifestations of structural and systemic practices.
Spring Semester
Board members apply all that they’ve learned to determine their own paths of action as engaged members of their community. They work collectively on a community-facing deliverable that shares their well-informed findings and recommendations.
To learn more about the program or find out about how to apply, please reach out to Common Wealth’s Executive Director, Justice Castañeda at justice@cwd.org or Director of Economic Development, Ashley Hoeft at ashley.h@cwd.org.
This board has made me consider ideas, systems, and concepts I have never thought of before. It’s super informative and I could learn about it all day.
- Youth Advisory Board Student
