Youth Advisory Board

We are organized around our values: youth centered, inclusive leadership, honesty, accountability, and intersectionality.

Overview

The Youth Network allows all black and brown youth to get emails about opportunities in upcoming events such as DCGC open meetings, healing circles, Town Halls, etc.

Our Composition

The Youth Advisory Board is comprised of 9 young women, girls, femmes, and gender nonconforming people, varying middle and high schoolers as well as some ages 18-24 from DCGC’s membership base. As a middle and high schooler, they are also members of the United Leaders 4 Freedom Youth Coalition. General Membership will direct youth who participate in the programs to join the United Leaders 4 Freedom coalition to influence DCGC advocacy.  

DCGC YAB Member Rights and Responsibilities

  • Attend 75% of the Youth Advisory Board meetings.

  • Participate in quarterly General DCGC meetings.

  • Participate in meetings to review the issues and recommendations.

  • Review proposed issues impacting young women, girls and femmes of color and make suggestions.

  • Review proposed recommendations developed by the General Membership and make suggestions.

  • Support the development of and participate when possible in the coalition's advocacy efforts.

  • Make suggestions for organizations or groups that should be a part of the General Membership.

  • Assist DCGC with ensuring that it is responding to the needs of young women, girls and femmes, non-conforming and Transgender women and girls of color in the District of Columbia.

  • Vote on recommendations for the policy agenda and other coalition matters.

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  • Centering the youth voice in all aspects of the work. Ensuring that youth are guiding the work of the collective coalition. Uplifting the voices of youth with lived experiences by creating result-based action steps for issues they face. Allowing the mission and vision of the coalition to guide the work of each member which at its foundation is youth driven work. Making sure that all our outcomes are reflective of the diverse backgrounds and experiences of youth of color by rooting their voices in our work. Serving as an adult support arm for youth power and action.

  • Ensuring that decisions are made in an inclusive, community-based environment. Upholding the importance of collective responsibility by ensuring that roles, expectations and outcomes are clear and transparent for all members. Creating an open space in which all worldviews are respected, considered, and welcomed while understanding and highlighting the voices of youth of color in marginalized communities specifically. Practicing active and intentional forms of listening and sharing information.

  • Displaying a true and authentic version of one’s self and organizations. Showing integrity, empathy, and respect for other opinions while also expressing your own. Being transparent about the viewpoint you represent both individually and for organizations. Sharing openly your connection with youth of color and work you are doing with them.

  • Acting with intentions that are clear and easily recognizable. Acknowledging the intersection of various experiences and how they might impact one's view towards certain outcomes. Willingness to receive feedback and complete assigned tasks. Accepting responsibility for actions, statements, and creating a productive and inclusive space for members as well as youth of color.

  • It is our obligation to always center the most marginalized group in our work. It is our commitment to always work at the intersection of race and gender identity.

Open Meeting

Every three months the YAB will have an open meeting to allow all youth of color in DC from the ages 11-24 to participate in the process for building the DCGC work for the year. 


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Rock Star Grant

Each year the Youth Advisory Board selects awardees for the Rock Star Fund on behalf of Washington Area Women’s Foundation. The Rock Star Fund provides young women of color between the ages of 12 and 24 living in DC with up to $2,000 to invest in their learning, leadership, ideas, and community projects. These projects help to advance the Blueprint for Action and/or the DC Girls’ Coalition campaigns. The Women’s Foundation designed the Rock Star Fund as participatory grantmaking. It goes beyond traditional grantmaking, it allows young women and gender non-conforming youth of color the opportunity to review applications and decide awardees. This strategy engages young women of color and gender-expansive youth of color as agents of change in their communities.

Youth Advisory Board Members

  • Morgan Hicks (she/ter/they/them)

    Hello, my name is Morgan Hicks. My pronouns are she/her/they/them  and I’ve decided to join the YAB to support youth of color. The top issues I’m concerned about are do the schools have proper counseling programs? How are the youth who are homeless or in danger being helped?

  • Montanna Norman (she/her)

    Hi! My name is Montanna Norman (she/her). I am a recent graduate of the Edmund Burke School and currently a freshman attending University of Maryland, College Park majoring in Journalism and soon declaring a minor in Innovation Entrepreneurship. I am super excited to be a member of DCGC YAB. I decided to join DCGC YAB because I have always been a huge advocate for creating and sustaining change while elevating the voices of marginalized communities who often tend to be both underserved and underrepresented. There are many societal issues I am concerned about, a few of them being gun violence, homelessness, human trafficking, gentrification, and wrongful convictions. I look forward to meeting everyone and continuing to speak up for changes here in the District

  • Tonajea Mixon (she/her)

    Hello everyone! I would first like to start off by saying I am happy to be a part of the team now. My name is Tonajea’ (Jefe’) Mixon or Jefe’ if u cannot pronounce it, my pronouns are she/they. I live in the Shaw Howard area and I attend E.L Haynes high school. I am 15, a sophomore, and also a student-athlete and advocate. I joined YAB because I feel as though all youth Big or small, should have a voice in even the littlest of issues or biggest concerns. I joined to form a new community and meet new people just as excited as I am to speak up! Some of the top issues I am concerned about are The rising violence toward black people from the police and white community, another issue would be the suspension policy and food change in schools.

  • Ayoka Miller-Aganyemi (she/her)

    Hello, my name is Ayoka Miller-Aganyemi. I live in ward 8 in D.C. I attend Bard High School Early College, and I'm in the 9th grade. My pronouns are she/her/hers. I've decided to join the YAB to be a voice in the community. I want to help kids feel safe in their schools and communities. The top issues they're concerned about are children being shielded and comfortable in schools. Also preventing violence in our community.

  • Jaquelin “Jaqui” Santos-Castillo (She/her)

    I’m Jaquelin Santos-Castillo. I was born and raised in Washington D.C and live in ward 1. I graduated from Benjamin Banneker High School and I’m currently a sophomore at The Catholic University of America majoring in Finance. I am a founder member of the Youth Advisory Board with the DC Girls Coalition. I wanted to join YAB because I heard it was a coalition of women of color like myself that had the goal to improve DC systems and improve youth's rights. I am a very motivated and determined person and I absolutely enjoy being able to help others and strive for what’s right.