Empowering youth voice and lifting up historically marginalized people and perspectives is central to fostering healthier communities. Earlier this summer, the second annual Bastrop County Youth Summit was held with the goal of building the capacity for youth leadership development, inspiring attendees to be advocates for change in their communities and addressing racial, gender and cultural barriers. Dynamic in both conversation and content, the summit created a transformative platform for engagement for the youth of Bastrop County.

Community Impact sat down with Priscilla Ruiz, youth director and co-creator of the Bastrop Youth Summit, and Krystal Grimes, mental health clinician and event co-creator, to learn about the impact of the event on Bastrop's youth.

Voices of the Future

“This experience has been incredibly rewarding. Collaborating with people I already knew, meeting new members, engaging with other teens and overseeing the event's execution provided a unique perspective on the effort it takes to create a meaningful experience for people my age,” Michelle Rico, a senior at Elgin High School and Summit leadership planning team member said. “Being part of this event journey has deepened my appreciation for leadership and the power of community in fostering personal growth and shared connections.”

Looking back at the 2023 Youth Summit, Elgin High School student Selene Plancarte said she immediately sensed the passion through the expressions and words of the speakers and knew instantly she wanted to collaborate.

“At a certain point of my life, I always felt like I had to look around and then beg for help. So, realizing that there are people that will help without getting anything in return is a true relief,” Plancarte said. “I was once told, ‘If you're having to beg for help, you're looking in the wrong direction.’ As I thought about it, I wondered where I could find these people, but now I have come to realize you simply network.”

Having the opportunity to speak on the panel made the day especially memorable for Plancarte, who said she was initially hesitant about being the only teenager on the panel.

“I asked myself, ‘What question could I probably answer better than these adults who have lived and experienced so much more than me?’ The next thing I knew, the microphone was handed to me. The only thing that came to my mind was to speak my truth,” Plancarte said. “At the end of the day, not only had I obtained help for future needs, [but] I felt like my experience could have potentially touched at least one person in the room. I looked forward to that day because I knew it would be fun, but I never thought my self-esteem would skyrocket as the event finished.”

How did the collaboration between different community members come about, especially involving students in agenda development?

Ruiz: The event's objectives are to inspire youth to become advocates for change in schools and communities across the county. It's also designed to increase their capacity to become leaders.

Grimes: After years of community-centered collaboration focused on the health and wellbeing of Bastrop County, we were aware of the need to intentionally incorporate more youth voices into our work. With Priscillia’s connections as a youth minister and many other community members who are advocates, mental health professionals, service providers or just parents to local youth, we came together alongside teens in 2019 to create the Bastrop County Youth Summit.

As local leaders and residents, what motivated you both to support and champion this event

Grimes: The needs of the youth in our region necessitate providing a space for diversity—not just diversity in terms of ethnicity and race but also in age. This was really, really important for us, especially concerning mental health initiatives in our community, to ensure that we are hearing the voices of all community members; youth and children are critical to that. For me personally, that was a driver to sustain the efforts. The hard work that goes into making this Summit happen is necessary because it's needed.

Can you describe your partnership with St. David’s Foundation?

Grimes: St. David's Foundation was an early advocate of the Summit concept and with their support, we’ve been able to grow the event in both content and attendance. Similar to the goals for the Summit, they are committed to learning alongside communities and co-creating solutions to address complex social issues. Helping youth in our communities understand that their voices matter, how they can be a part of change and empowering them with the skills to do so are beliefs we both hold. We appreciate their ongoing commitment to Bastrop County.

Ruiz: This continued focus on underserved teens of color and communities most impacted during pandemics and economic inflation has been significant, especially given the number of economically disadvantaged families, which customarily face greater impact due to these challenges. We've always aligned so well with the goals of St. David's Foundation, and this partnership has blossomed beautifully over the last several years.

What do you believe was the most important aspect or topic covered during the summit?

Grimes: I am a licensed professional counselor, so we consistently discuss mental health. We have a space called the Calm Lounge. This is a space available for youth that is staffed with licensed clinicians or social workers from the local Bastrop ISD. So, yes, it’s about mental health as well as civic engagement, enabling individuals to comprehend their role in our community, and also to bolster their competence to undertake those responsibilities and roles.

Ruiz: I would say that financial literacy is so crucial and I would like that to be the most important topic, but being able to interact with young adults and having three graduates from Bastrop County who are now college students return and lead a breakout session was truly special. It was really about gaining a practical understanding of what college life is like and what to expect. Because it was so raw and authentic, they could dispel certain things they had heard, contrasting them with their actual experiences. The teenagers seemed to respond very well to the topic of that breakout session.

In what ways do you see this summit shaping future community events or initiatives?

Grimes: In both sessions, we conducted a breakout session called "Creating Resilience." We explored how to create resilience from the youth perspective, and we received tons of feedback, ideas, and strategies. This year, to do things a bit differently, we actually held one of the breakout sessions under the theme "Visions for Our Collective Future." Discussing this from a youth perspective was beautiful. The feedback, and the vision boards will help us to build next year’s youth summit and develop what we're going to initiate in the community.

What kind of feedback have you received from the community about the event?

Ruiz: We consistently receive wonderful feedback from the community. “Why can’t it be bigger?” That’s one of the questions we always get. Interestingly, the cohort of kids last year was completely different from the cohort this year. We’re really not serving the same population multiple years in a row, but the feedback we hear is similar, “How can I become a leader? How do I become part of the committee who helps develop the youth summit next year?” Having that feedback from the youth community was important as well as having a list of 30 or 40 teenagers who want to be on the leadership team.

How do you envision the impact of this summit being felt in the Bastrop community in the coming years?

Ruiz: We continue to learn so much from the youth who attend the summit. Part of this work is being willing to go with the flow and let their hearts guide where the work takes them. We hope to always lean on and foster their passion to advocate for their own population in the county.

Grimes: Our goal is to present the ideas of the youth to both the city council and the county commissioners. However, we aspire that this year, as well as the subsequent years, will see the discussions evolving, taking a life of their own and the perspectives of the youth being actually incorporated into local policies and practices.

One exciting update is that the summit gained international recognition. The Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Maxima, visited Bastrop County to speak with ten youths about youth mental health and the similarities between what youth experience in rural Texas and what's occurring in the Netherlands. We are fortunate to also have support from The Hogg Foundation regarding this work and their support of youth leadership and resilience. I am hopeful that in the coming years, we will continue to foster international partnerships to unite youth from different communities and broaden the message.

How can members of the community, especially those who weren’t able to attend, support the ongoing goals and spirit of the summit?

Ruiz: I believe our ongoing goals primarily involve serving youth who have been historically marginalized. To achieve these goals, we need the community to support the mentoring of teens throughout the year. Currently, there are only a few mentors in our community, making mentorship a huge request.

Grimes: In the spirit of the summit, we are in partnership with Priscilla Ruiz and members of the youth leadership team to develop of a non-profit organization that will help to uplift the Youth Summit to ensure its sustainability and continuity. However, our focus is not just on the Youth Summit but also on different initiatives and policy changes, among other things.

Support the mission Bastrop County Youth Summit and learn more about how to become a mentor by emailing Priscilla Ruiz ([email protected]) and Krystal Grimes ([email protected]).

The above story was produced by Multi-Platform Journalist Holly Galvan with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.