Oakland Youth Commission

The Oakland Youth Commission (OYC) empowers youth to enter the public arena and tackle important issues related to public safety, housing, civic engagement, and health. Formed in 1985, OYC advises City Council and the Mayor on youth priorities. We currently have 17 youth between the ages of 13 and 18. We welcome transitional-aged youth between 18-25 to join us as Peer Advisors and Community Ambassadors.

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2021-2022 Commissioners

Executive Committee Members from 2021-2022 Cohort

Three hands raising three flags with words Oakland Youth Commission in each flag respectively. First flag has Oakland tree logo, second flag has fist of power, and third flag has Oakland skyline.
  • Aniyah Story, D2, Co-Chair
  • Estefany Velasquez, D7, Co-Chair
  • Mia Hatfield, D1, Operations Officer
  • Benjamin Salop, D1, Government Affairs Officer
  • Giselle Venegas, D7, Social Media Officer
  • Kai Medina-Safir, D3, Graphic Design Officer

Subcommittees

  • Oakland Youth Vote and Civic Engagement
  • Transitional Aged Youth Homelessness
  • Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy
  • Citywide Youth Strategic Planning
  • Citywide Youth Engagement Training
  • Oakland Shadowing Program
  • Oakland General Plan

Transitional Aged Youth Homelessness

On April 25th, 2022, our panel of 12 youth commissioners, 4 Youth Advisory Board (YAB) members, and 2 Career Technical Education (CTE) Hub youth leaders MADE HISTORY as the FIRST ever Youth Homelessness Hearing! We as a community gathered at the City Council meeting to be heard by 94 attendees and over 20 callers made up of youth and adult allies. Every single contribution was worthy and moving. Many of us were deeply touched by pain and hope. We appreciate you all for your presence.

This monumental hearing convinced the City Council to unanimously support our proposal to form a Task Force with Council President Pro Tempore Sheng Thao at the helm. In the coming weeks, our coalition will meet with CM Thao’s office to coordinate next steps. We hope that you will continue to be part of our journey to stop and prevent youth homelessness.

Oakland Youth Vote and Civic Engagement

Since Measure QQ was passed in 2020, we have been working to ensure young people can get registered to vote before the 2022 school board elections. As part of this work, we are pushing the District to implement programming to expand voter registration across the District starting in Fall 2022. On June 22nd, the Oakland Unified School District Board is meeting and we need your help to ask them to commit to civic engagement in our schools!

Oakland Youth Commission

Allow Us to Reintroduce Ourselves!

Recently in May 2022, we officially renamed ourselves as the Oakland Youth Commission to fully represent our youth representatives and uplift youth voices in city policies. To truly account for youth engagement, we also modified our quorum to 9 Commissioners. Thank you to Commissioner Benjamin Salop for speaking at the May 4th City Council meeting! The name change will be official on May 17th. We did it! Click to read the legislation that we authored to rename ourselves as the Oakland Youth Commission!

OYC History

Learn more about our past campaigns through the following pages!

OYC's Love Our People Trail of Knowledge and Liberation OYC Public and Community Safety OYC Civic Engagement

Press

Check out our youth who have been in the press.

About

Youth know what's best for us, and with the support of adult allies, we can influence positive lasting change in our community. We are committed to listening and providing opportunities to engage in local government.

Contact Us

Address

Address

Youth are invited to attend all Commission meetings.

Phone Numbers

Email Address

Business Hours

We meet as a full Commission from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on the 1st and 3rd Mondays each month.

Social Media