Decatur residents may not always see the ways teenagers help shape their city. Decatur’s Youth Council gives members a chance to weigh in on city planning, work alongside city departments, organize community events and offer city leaders a perspective they can’t necessarily get from adults. At the same time, the members learn how local government actually works.
The city-sponsored leadership program is open to high school students who live within the City of Decatur, whether they attend public, private or home-based schools. Members meet monthly throughout the school year and participate in community projects. That two-way exchange, of giving teens a voice while helping them understand how their hometown works, has been central to the program since its beginning.
The idea for a youth council appeared in Decatur’s 2010 strategic plan. As city staff later worked through remaining goals, they recognized that young residents needed opportunities to participate, says Assistant City Manager Meredith Roark. “We need to focus on the young people,” she recalls of the thinking behind the program. “Our young people have great ideas and need to have a seat at the table.”
Angela Threadgill volunteered to help make that idea a reality. She knew firsthand what a youth council could offer, having served on one as a high school student in Asheville, North Carolina. Decatur’s first Youth Council began in 2017. One of its fundamental purposes was introducing students to the level of government that affects much of their everyday lives. Students may learn about federal and state government in school, Angela says, but “they don’t really get the full inner workings of how local government works.”
“Local government has the biggest impact closest to home,” says Angela, Decatur’s assistant city manager for Community and Economic Development.
Youth Council members meet city staff members from different departments, attend City Commission meetings and learn skills such as taking minutes and using a modified Robert's Rules of Order. They also get a look at the decisions and challenges behind city government. “We’re putting a face on local government,” Angela says. Members meet staff from departments including finance and public works and see “our decision-making process and the real-life challenges we have to work through.”
That education is a two-way street. The city also looks to Youth Council members for perspectives adults don’t have. “It’s an opportunity for the city to hear youth voices and for them to get more involved,” Angela says.
Current Youth Council co-chair Izayn Umlani has experienced that exchange firsthand. Now in his third year on the council, the 17-year-old says members regularly interact directly with city leaders and staff while also getting opportunities to put what they learn into practice. “You don’t just have to sit and listen, but you get to do both,” Izayn says. “You get to listen and also apply. When you come back the next year, you get to do it all again, and eventually you turn out to be a leader who has not only learned but has made a difference.”
Former member Angel Wildman remembers seeing that dynamic play out when Bird scooters became an issue in Decatur. Someone working on the issue explained how the city was weighing the pros and cons and asked Youth Council members what they thought. “It was rewarding to feel like our opinions were not only valued tangentially by the city, but were actively sought out as representative voices for Decatur’s youth,” Angel says.
Over the years, those ideas have led to tangible projects around Decatur. Youth Council members contributed to planning for Decatur Legacy Park, including conversations about creating spaces for teens. They later secured a grant to plant a fruit orchard there and participated in a community planting day. The number of trees represented the boys and girls who were the original residents of the United Methodist Children’s Home, which previously occupied the property. Members have volunteered at city events, organized food drives, created public service announcements and planned events for other young people and the broader community.
For Salmoncain Smith-Shomade, who joined the Youth Council in 2019 and eventually served as chair, that meant opportunities to make changes he could actually see.
While participating in a high school career program with Decatur's Public Works Department, Salmoncain helped connect the department with the Youth Council to refresh planters along West Howard Avenue. Working with city staff, including the arborist, council members spent a Saturday replanting a stretch of them. “It was just a lovely experience being able to really make that change in the community directly,” he says. He also remembers helping organize a community movie night at Decatur Legacy Park, along with food drives and other service projects. Just as important were the people he met.
Salmoncain also valued meeting students who lived in the same small city but attended different schools, came from different places and didn’t necessarily see issues the same way. Learning to listen to those perspectives helped shape his people-oriented leadership style and taught him to seek out different opinions before making decisions. Now Salmoncain, 22, is pursuing a master’s degree in urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois Chicago. He credits the council with helping point him toward work centered on communities. The Youth Council, he says, helped him understand “how I could fit my leadership into a career path.”
That’s similar to Angela’s experience. She says serving on a youth council as a teenager helped introduce her to a career in local government. Decades later, that experience led her to help create a similar opportunity for another generation. Angela hopes students leave understanding that wherever they eventually live, their voices matter and they know how to use them. “Whether they stay in Decatur or move to a different community in the future,” she says, the hope is that “they’ll have the confidence to participate in their community.” For city staff, listening to those voices offers its own reason for optimism.
“I see promise in our future,” Angela says. “The students I see in the council really care about the outcomes. They really care and want to make a difference.”
“I see promise in our future. The students I see in the council really care about the outcomes. They really care and want to make a difference.” Angela Threadgill