Youth program back on agenda

There’s no single way to run a youth government/advisory program. Just ask the cities of Irvine, Newport Beach and Santa Ana.

Each city has a program for young people to either learn about government, help plan youth activities or discuss current events and advise the city council. Costa Mesa council members have talked about creating their own program, but they can’t agree on which model — if any — to follow.

The Costa Mesa City Council will take up the issue again tonight, after voting in January to cancel a fledgling youth-in-government program and debating it for more than two hours at a February study session.

If council members wanted suggestions, they’d have several examples to draw from. Information from city staff showed at least six area cities have some sort of program for young people, though in Fountain Valley and Irvine they’re not directly related to government.

Irvine’s 15-year-old program, called the Youth Action Team, focuses on connecting with local teens and providing them with meaningful experiences, said Darin Loughrey, community services superintendent for Irvine.

A team of 15 kids appointed by city staff works with the community services department to develop programs that will interest kids and get them involved. The team does not advise the City Council.

Loughrey said the group has organized forums on teen driving and global warming — a topic that drew 350 people.

In Santa Ana, the seven City Council members each appoint a local student between the ages of 16 and 20 to the youth commission, a voting body, and 14 other kids serve as alternates and associates, program coordinator Juan Lara said.

The commission meets monthly and advises the City Council on youth-related issues. Right now, the group is working on a civic awareness video to tell young people about career opportunities in city government and a youth master plan for the city, Lara said.

“The kids who are appointed to the commission actually tend to be the No. 1 promoters of it,” Lara said of the 6-year-old program. “For anybody who has an interest in government, this has turned out to be an excellent opportunity.”

Newport Beach’s program, the oldest of the three, has been around since 1986. The group of about 25 kids from local high schools meets monthly to plan City Government Day, when kids shadow city employees; Chall- enge Day, and an anti-bullying program; and they learn about and discuss hot city issues, said recreation manager Sean Levin.

“The youth really enjoy it,” he said. “I get calls from parents over the summer saying, ‘When are those applications coming out?’ It’s been a real positive program for us.”

At the end of the program each school year, the students give a report to the council on what they did and talked about. And when they talk about city issues, they don’t always agree with the adults.

In February, the students’ mock council meeting was held just days before the Newport Beach City Council voted not to consider a city hall on a site planned for a park.

Levin said the students also took up the issue.

“They voted to put a park and a city hall” on the site, he said.