Youth Empowerment Summit returns

The third annual event looked a lot different this year as it held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The third annual Youth Empowerment Summit looked a lot different than in past years as it held the first-ever virtual event via Zoom due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday morning, around 55 students from Woodland, Pioneer, Davis, Winters, and River City High School, along with a few middle schoolers, all tuned into the two-hour event.

The summit encourages youth to say “YES!” to leadership and civic engagement in their local communities. The first summit was held in March 2018 at Woodland Community College, with 74 students attending.

YES! is a collaboration between Yolo county organizations such as the Yolo County Elections Office, Woodland Public Library’s Teen Advisory Board, League of Women Voters, Yolo County Office of Education, Early Academic Outreach Program at UC Davis, Woodland Community College, Yolo County Friday Night Live and the Yolo County Library.

“Overall, it went so great,” said program manager for the Yolo County Assessor’s Office and event organizer Katharine Campos. “The discussions went very well, and overall I think it was very successful.”

Registrar of Voters Jesse Salinas kicked off the event highlighting the importance of voting, especially young voters in the 18-24 age bracket. He then asked students to get involved in the chat, gauging opinions about increasing turnouts.

Students then had the opportunity to speak with over 20 elected officials ranging from school board trustees to city council members, via 10 breakout rooms. These officials emphasized to students that they too can make a difference with voting. Some discussions focused on further engaging young voters who have traditionally had low turnouts for local and national elections.

Students selected the topics of discussion.

Last year, the summit was recognized and awarded a prize at the annual Election Center conference in Florida.