Capitol Hill Day Chronicles with Pritika
August 5, 2024
“Nothing About Us Without Us” – 5 simple words with a deep impact.
It is critical for young people to take an active approach in advocating for their needs. Personally, I have advocated for youth involvement in various visionary organizations and been a part of their work to further youth voices in their initiatives.
MENTOR has prioritized bringing young people to the forefront of the youth mentoring movement. I have had the privilege of being a part of the Planning Committee for the first ever Summit Youth Track launch in 2025, an Agent of Change representative from Texas, and coordinating with many MENTOR teams (Policy & Advocacy, funding/budgeting, etc).
Organizations like MENTOR are trailblazers by championing youth voices!!
But where did I begin my advocacy work?
The Step Up Organization for girl empowerment is where I began my work in the mentoring field, helping to lead and create career camps for a diverse network of 2000+ girls across the nation, including those of underprivileged and disadvantaged backgrounds. For leading this nationwide corporate-mentoring initiative, I was the winner of the 2023 Excellence In Mentoring Award for Corporate Youth Leadership award, where I had the fortune of flying to our nation’s capital, Washington, DC to attend the 2023 National Mentoring Summit to attend the award ceremony and further the mentoring movement. But before the Summit began, there was something else exciting waiting……
Capitol Hill Day, an event where diverse stakeholders in the mentoring movement (including nonprofit staff, volunteer mentors, researchers, and young people) have the opportunity to meet with congressional staff to advocate for greater funding for mentoring.
I consider this day an epitome of democracy in America, where we can engage with our government and elected officials to continue to push for reform in our system.
Honestly, my experience at Capitol Hill Day was what I like to call serendipitous— it wasn’t planned out or set in stone, but I am forever grateful for the experience I had. I met with congressional staff from Texas regarding passing of the Foster Youth Mentoring Act. Going into the day, I was filled with a mix of emotions: excitement but also nervousness. As soon as I walked into the building, everything felt surreal – the positive energy was radiating everywhere, and definitely fueled and energized me.
When I attended Capitol Hill Day in 2023, there wasn’t a huge youth presence. This was a bit nerve wracking because I felt like my voice would be “softer” and pale in comparison to the other, more experienced mentoring champions present. In fact, I was the only youth present in the room when meeting with my state’s congressional staff. I was scared to share my thoughts at first, because I felt like I wouldn’t have anything insightful or knowledgeable to contribute to the table. However, after sitting a while, hearing others share their impact stories and different studies/facts, I finally mustered up the courage to share my perspective as a young person. I shared genuine, raw stories of my internship at a local Juvenile court, mentorship stories from Step Up and other personal experiences in life to encourage my elected officials to support the youth mentoring cause— because after all, mentoring provides much needed support that many diverse youth (foster youth, juvenile youth, incarcerated youth, etc.) unfortunately don’t currently have access to.
At the end of the meeting, the Foster Youth Mentoring Act was taken into consideration by the congressional staff and continues to grow in support by states and representatives.
My prior reservations and fears subdued and I learned one great lesson: If we as young people project our voice loud and proud, people will listen. We have the great power and responsibility to foster a space that is “reform and progress-oriented,” so we need to use privileges like Capitol Hill Day to create such an environment with our voices!
My biggest tips for first-time participants at Capitol Hill Day are:
- It is completely okay to feel nervous– You are not alone! It is a privilege and honor to advocate at the beautiful Capitol Hill Building, so enjoy it!
- During the meetings, don’t feel scared to voice your opinions, even if there are one/few youth present. MENTOR cultivates a positive caring community where people will listen to your voice. Just stay brave and project your voice– it holds great power!
- If you have questions or concerns,just ask! MENTOR and every mentoring advocate present at Capitol Hill Day are here to champion young people, so they would love to answer any questions you may have.
- Network and connect with other mentoring champions you resonate with. MENTOR is such a beautiful community, so cultivate those meaningful relationships!
- MENTOR will help you to prepare ahead of time during Capitol Hill Day training, but I recommend either writing out, typing on your phone app or just making mental notes of the following:
- Impactful mentoring stories you can share; preferably personal stories (that you would be comfortable sharing) or experiences of others you can share (while of course respecting other people’s privacy and keeping information anonymous when needed.
- Mentoring statistics to share with officials you meet with to emphasize the dire need for mentoring funding.
- Any research that helps you walk in informed of the current political climate, such as current spending caps, funding cuts, etc.
- A call to action– perhaps specific programs/organizations you believe need this funding the most and/or citing government programs that you believe should have more funding.
- Any questions you may have to ask to the elected officials you are meeting with!
- Reference MENTOR resources, like the Youth Advocacy Toolkit/Advocacy Guide to guide your planning.
- Encourage other young people to join… I want to see more young people participating in such critical conversations at Capitol Hill Day!
All in all, we as youth must work towards the future we envision! Change starts with us… Start shifting your mentality from just wanting to see the change to actually wanting to be the change.
Remember: “Nothing About Us Without Us”
I look forward to seeing more young people in the movement for positive change and reform!