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Sept. 14, 2022
Media contact: Erica Heartquist, 503-871-8843, Erica.J.Heartquist@dhsoha.state.or.us
PORTLAND, OREGON – The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is pleased to announce the formation of a Statewide Youth Advisory Council charged with supporting schools and communities with COVID-19 school-based recovery. This summer, OHA appointed 20 youth aged 15-19 to serve on the council and lead decision making for $1 million in recovery investment. OHA has partnered with REAP Inc. to facilitate and provide leadership development to the group.
“Our goal is for students to want to access our services. The way to do that is to build our youth-adult partnerships and listen to what youth around Oregon are saying they need right now” says Lev Schneidman, the program coordinator for the COVID-19 School Based Recovery Funds. “We are beyond excited to be partnering with REAP, an organization with over 20 years of experience providing multicultural youth empowerment and leadership”.
OHA recruited high-school aged youth from across the state and received hundreds of applicants. OHA and REAP selected 20 youth representing 12 counties and 19 schools. Fifty percent of the youth represent a rural or frontier zip-code. All members of the council identify with a community disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 including communities of color, Tribal communities, people with disabilities, LGBTQ2SIA+ communities and youth involved with the child welfare system.
Since their formation in June, the group has met four times and has already established values related to advancing health equity in the wake of the pandemic.
They began identifying several needs created/exacerbated by COVID-19, including:
- Difficulties with the transition back to in-person education – including issues with student behavior and challenges with socialization.
- Increased need for mental health and other healthcare services.
- Lack of engagement opportunities in schools and communities – fewer clubs, classes, and events.
- Food insecurity.
- Housing affordability and instability.
- Financial instability due to job loss or issues finding and maintaining work.
- Racism and other forms of oppression.
The advisory council is also supported by 13 community-based organizations from across the state including the Center for African Immigrants and Refugees in Multnomah County, Citizens for Safe Schools in Klamath County and Rogue Climate and Rogue Action Center in Jackson County.
By late fall 2022, the group hopes to have recommendations on how to invest funds to support school and community recovery. “I am humbled by the students and the experiences they bring to the table as we shape out a path for the future of councils and for Covid relief. There is so much care and passion infused into every conversation about how to better the entirety of our state, not just the larger cities,” says Anderson DuBoise, Strategic Initiatives Manager at REAP Inc.
The council is set to expire in a year. However, the YAC opportunity will create a foundation for an equity-focused approach to youth engagement and advisory within the agency. “We believe the experience will create structures that help embed youth voice in larger and longer-term statewide health policy and program decision,” says Schneidman.
 Youth Advisory Council Members:
A'ishah Mokrani
Araceli Granados
Brenda Ramirez Gonzalez
Connor Allen
Gabriel Jurado
Ivette Alonso Garcia
Jack Sparks
Jenny Duan
Kate Hawley
Kenney Phillips
Kenzi Haugen
Ndeye Sall
Norah Markham
Sage Waters
Saraya Kathrine Lumbreras
Sasha Shan'te
Sophia Richards
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