UPDATE: Design Your Future

“I'm a firm believer that when you create the right conditions in the right space, young people are going to show up,” said David Emmanuelle Castillo, founder of Equitable Systems Consultants.

Last summer’s Design Your Future Fellowship was precisely that right kind of space, with 58 young people showing up to create proposals on how to improve high school for Black male youth. David, who’s taken the lead in creating implementation plans for the projects, provided an update during the summer meeting.

Originally ideated as six different plans, the ideas have been consolidated into three proposals.

Mental Health in Schools

Proposal 1 includes a three-pronged approach aimed at making mental health a standard practice in schools, beginning with District Four. By partnering with SKY Schools, they plan to incorporate more robust mental health and wellness programming into schools, providing healthy and constructive ways for students to deal with stress and trauma. Then, through MENTOR Greater Milwaukee and the Department of Black and Latino Male Achievement, they’ll expand mentoring and peer-to-peer support networks. Finally, with help from the Coalition of Anti-Racist and Restorative Educators, they’ll roll out training to help teachers and staff develop their own cultural and racial competency, thereby improving the relationships between students and staff – as youth have explicitly called out.

Wraparound Supports

Proposal 2 involves after school wraparound supports, which would provide mental, physical and spiritual wellness programming for students who need additional resources. To be housed in the makerspace at the developing ThriveOn King building, this piece will include access to such partners as Vertical Essences Dance Company, Brazilian Joy Yoga and Fort Farms, all of whom youth named as important stakeholders. Not only that, but youth will also have the opportunity to shape what the makerspace looks like as the build-out of ThriveOn continues.

Autonomous Youth Council

Proposal 3 revolves around the creation of an autonomous youth council, which would simultaneously create a pipeline to attract local talent into education and act as an intergenerational network of practitioners.

“There’s been conversations on a national level about teacher shortages coming,” said David. “A way to get ahead of that issue is to start planning now and creating a pipeline where we attract local people into the field of education. And that’s a way to ensure we get people from the community to come back and teach in their community.”

The process, similar to Philadelphia Freedom Schools, would involve developing students’ “pedagogical toolbelts” during high school. Once they graduate, they would receive college credit toward an education degree, then eventually a signing bonus for coming back to teach in their community. This proposal would also provide a way for youth to explore and inform policies and practices, as well as bridging the divide between youth and adults. Potential partners include Marquette University, the Black Educators Caucus and HIR Wellness Institute, among others.

Get Involved

Youth Forward MKE is currently fundraising $600,000 to implement these youth-generated Design Your Future proposals. A donation – big or small – will help make these incredible ideas into reality.

To stay up-to-date on the work of our youth ambassadors, follow Youth Forward MKE on Instagram or TikTok. And mark your calendars for the next quarterly meeting on September 28 from 4-5:30 p.m., during which the Coalition will be highlighting youth leadership and advocacy groups.