Students and community organizations filled the Family Life Community Church for a Youth Civic-Champions Town Hall meeting hosted Oct. 23 by an organization called Build2Lead (B2L). The nonprofit is a Black-led association created to rebuild the criminal justice system, education, and health care relating to Black and brown children and young adults.
Guests were presented with various youth-led panel discussions, such as “Public Safety and Justice” and “Education and Workforce Development.” Jimmy Brown, the executive director and CEO of Build2Lead, said the main focus for the town hall is to educate young people.
“We’re all about getting them in front of the people that can really make the changes,” Brown said. “As soon as a youth makes the decision to want to change something, change their circumstance, or think about policy development, they can immediately get connected with somebody that can help them make that move … this is really just the starting point for deeper work to impact communities and change people’s lives.”
King County Councilmembers and King County Executive candidates Girmay Zahilay and Claudia Balducci were part of the town hall and spoke to the high schoolers who attended. Civic-Champions is a program with B2L that provides students with leadership opportunities and workshops for young people who plan on going into a career in policy.
Jesse Johnson, former state representative for the 30th District, was the moderator of the event.
“The biggest thing that we would love to do is educate and empower our young people to be intellectually curious about local government and policy,” said Johnson. “To engage them civically in a meaningful space so they have a dialogue between themselves and our local elected officials and ask those tough questions.”
A scene from the Youth Town Hall held Oct. 23 in Federal Way. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Brown
B2L also partnered with other organizations such as NAACP, The Freedom Project, a youth empowerment organization for families impacted by incarceration, and Mujer al Volante, a support program for immigrant and low income families.
Zyren Thomas is entering his first year at Tacoma Community College, having been formerly incarcerated. Thomas said he discovered B2L from one of his mentors while he was incarcerated.
“To hear that they’re trying to get housing and all that set up for people just like me … that really made me smile and that really made my day,” said Thomas. “I actually asked them a question about how someone young like myself or any other youth could make their way into politics or as a mayor or a president.”
The event was split into three themes. The first was housing, health and safe spaces. The second was education and development, and the third was public safety and justice.
Julyssa Carias, a representative and panelist for Mujer al Volante, said the main topic she spoke on was how to protect immigrant communities being affected by the federal administration.
“So much of our everyday lives are run by immigrants,” said Carias. “For example, the reason why produce is often so inexpensive is because a lot of agricultural workers are undocumented immigrants and they often get paid … also there have been so many cases with people in my high school who got accepted into college, but recently they decided not to go because their parents were afraid of filling out the paperwork as they didn’t want to get deported.”
According to B2L, the nonprofit was created during the COVID-19 pandemic due to schools and community programs being closed, which led to student setbacks. The three programs — Civic-Champions, Closing The G.A.P., and Reaching for Greatness — have served over 1,800 students and community members since 2021.
“People who are the most oppressed have the most staying power …their resilience is different,” said Brown. “So, if I can give somebody who’s been through something an opportunity to shine, they’re gonna go through the fire to get to the other side, because they’re used to that.”
