Episode 106: Youth in Local Government
Helping your community's young people feel connected with their local government can go a long way, according to multiple local government leaders we talk with on this episode. Gibsonville Mayor Bryant Crisp, Dallas Mayor Hayley Beaty, Albemarle Mayor Pro Tem Martha Sue Hall (NCLM's 2025-26 president) and more share perspectives and personal stories of programs, initiatives and mentoring efforts that link youths and city halls for rippling mutual benefit. The "Mayor For a Day" concept, municipal youth councils and more are in focus here. PLUS: An update on the ADA digital-government deadlines (the subject of Episode 104), which have been pushed back.
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Transcript
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From the North Carolina League of Municipalities, this is Municipal Equation, a podcast about cities and towns. Hi. I'm Ben Brown. Thanks for being here. This episode is about connecting local governments with our young people. And we've got multiple elected officials with us today talking about how they're doing that and why. Specifically, we'll be talking about creating opportunities to demystify and humanize local government and really generate that interest in the kind of work that goes on inside city hall with programs that give young people direct involvement and a lasting first impression that could ripple into something greater for them and their communities. We have excellent conversations coming up on that. But first, an update following one of our most recent episodes. As you know, we've been sharing information and training and know how with regard to, the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act requirements with regard to digital accessibility in government with your websites and your apps, making them ADA compliant. And the first deadline was just ahead, at the time of that episode in April. But the deadline has moved. It's been pushed out a year. It was a pair of deadlines both pushed out a year. As we told you last time, and I've been saying through newsletters and webinars and so on, this ADA requirement came with two deadlines. One was this month. But now we have word from the US Department of Justice of new deadlines, essentially pushing everything out of years so governments serving populations of 50,000 or more now have until 04/26/2027 to get compliant. And those below that 50,000 threshold have until 04/26/2028. This gives everyone more time to make sure they're all set up to be compliant with the federal rule. We've got a lot of material on how to be, including our episode last month, episode one zero four, digital government and ADA compliance. We also have information on our website. That's nclm.org. That's your update. These deadlines have been pushed out a year from their initial landings. Let's get to today's conversation. So a lot of cities and towns around North Carolina have have programs and initiatives to directly involve youths in government to give them a unique experience with their city hall and elected officials to spark a lasting interest, like mayor shadowing or local government youth councils, which often include people who are too young to vote but still have the opportunity to speak and influence what goes on for them in their communities. Different law enforcement agencies have initiatives, you know, to this effect. You know, you've seen things like Touch a Truck as well, where kids get an up close experience with big utility vehicles and response vehicles and so on, fire trucks. There are so many ways to reach out to the families and kids of our communities to dissolve any perceived silos, for instance. So today, we're gonna focus mainly on efforts that pair up young people with government leaders and the effects of public service. A question from the outside could be, is this just a feel good initiative? Or is this actually a practical thing to do where there is a real payoff to have actual efforts to involve young people in government? So today, we're gonna talk with a few faces in local government leadership here in North Carolina. I'd like your input too. If you're watching this and you have efforts like this happening in your town hall, I'd love to hear about it. Just to set the tone today, let's start with Albemarle mayor pro tem, Martha Sue Hall, who has been the twenty twenty five twenty six president of the North Carolina League of Municipalities. She's gonna hand over that gavel at our city vision conference in Raleigh in May. Hall routinely cites the well-being of our young people and her reason for serving in local government and in volunteer roles around her community. Here's mayor pro tem, Martha Sue Hall of Albemarle. Martha Sue Hall, thank you so much for joining us here.
So happy to be here. Stay thankful for the invitation.
And I've known you for a long time at this point. You know, we've we've hung out. I've I've heard you address audiences many times. I I know you have a history of working with children and young people in different ways from doing, you know, swimming lessons at the YMCA, to the Guardian Ad Litem program and more. And I'm only setting it up that way to say I know one of the the recurring themes of your services and why you do it is is children and making sure that kids are listened to, they can feel involved, and so they're absolutely not neglected. Give everybody a chance to be great. And today, I wanna talk about involving young people in government and, you know, building their confidence and connection with that world. And to ask it simply, what might be a good reason to better connect young people with their local government and leadership regardless of their eligibility to vote or maybe some sense of you gotta wait your turn or whatever? Why is it good to involve young people in government?
They are our future. Oh my goodness, Ben. They are our future. And if we there's no time like right now to get them involved or to understand what's going on or to see that larger picture or to meet their mayor or their council members or to take them to the governors. There there's no time like right now, but they are our future.
And since you've had a lot of of history, in advocating for children and and young people, I'm I'm wondering what you think might be on the menu of effective ways that government can connect with young people, maybe some things you've already seen, maybe things happening in Albemarle. What's on the menu of connecting with young people and making a good lasting impression on them?
Well, I'll tell you firsthand experience, and then I'll talk to you about off, suggestions that I made the day I was sworn in. Sure. It's important to me in every locality, not just in North Carolina, but every locality across the nation to get our young people involved. And I gave as examples and, for instance, scouting, boy scouts or girl scouts. Having a scout troop come and do do a flag presentation, lead the pledge of allegiance at a council meeting. Okay. And I can't that's mighty. It didn't take a lot on anybody's part, but it gets those youth there. And then while they're there, you can reel them in because everybody's got a citizenship in the community badge that they need to work on, boys or girls. And that's you know, get them in that way. It doesn't take a lot on the elected's, plight to do that. It just says to the scout troop, come do that. Internships, whether they're paid internships or not paid internships, shadowing for a day, whether it's the, honor society at the middle school or, academically gifted class at the middle school or wherever, or the fifth graders that they wanna come in and see, you know, how does how does the electrical department work? Be out there, bring those students in. One of the things that we do because we're in Electra Cities City. Mhmm. I can't say that too quickly. But as an Electra City's city, during public power week, we take the big trucks and the buckets out to the schools and let the students see that. Let them see how power is made and and what the electrical components are and the what happens behind that, on the elected part. We used to have what's called a youth in government day, and that's where an organization came and sat right beside of us during a council meeting. And they were given before the council meeting a copy of the agenda. They were given a copy of the most recent minutes, and they were then given the opportunity to listen to whatever it was, a public hearing or whatever it is, and their feedback is as important as anyone else's. Here in Albemarle, we have what is known as the charters of freedom. This is a not nonprofit organization that comes out and brings a different it's a wonderful permanent markers with the charters of freedom of The United States. And these are out for the public to see. So now with our two hundred and fiftieth going on right now of of the nation, what a you know, no better time to bring the kids out to see that. So there's a lot of different kinds of things. Some take no money. Some take little time.
Up next is the person who pretty much inspired this episode. This is mayor Bryant Crisp of Gibsonville, North Carolina. His interest in municipal government is with a heavy spotlight on youth involvement. Mayor, thanks for joining us. Could you maybe tell us a little bit about Gibsonville and how long you've been in office?
Well, thanks for having me. Definitely an honor. I love to have good conversations. Gibsonville is a town of just over 10,000. The census will tell you about 10,000, but we're growing every day. Mhmm. So that number's probably gonna be upwards 11 or 12 very soon. It's a what most people call a bedroom community. Our population is has typically been older, but we're having transplants from up north, and younger families move here now. I first came here nine years ago, and I ran and was elected to the board of aldermen in 2021 and then elected mayor this past November.
So at a recent meeting of the North Carolina Mayors Association and just to let people who don't know, know this, like, what when the group meets, when the mayors meet, they do a thing called the mayor's minute. And each mayor in attendance gets a minute to give an update on their town or about what's important to them as mayor. And you mentioned during your mayor's minute, that part of your interest in in elected office, at the local level was you wanna get more young people involved and aware of what local government does and give them basically a space to be, you know, better involved and better educated about their government at a young age. And wondering if I'm just if I'm remembering that or describing that correctly. Maybe you can reiterate what you were saying during the mayor's
minute. Yeah. Absolutely. So you're you're pretty close. So, I just noticed that during my first this is during my first campaign that there was a a gap in political education with all demographics, all ages. Just a lot of people see the the sound the sound bites and the national news, but they really don't understand how politics work. So my thinking was, you know, why not start at an early age with teenagers who are in school, who are taking civics and and history classes, but they don't know their inner workings and the day to day of how their local government actually works. And if you learn how local government works, it's real easy to learn how state government and national government work. It's just, it's just bigger numbers and the same words, same procedures, same kind of thing. So, I know I myself, I didn't really get into politics. I was probably 30 years old. I didn't know there was a side of lobbying and organizing or what a politician did, what a a a county commissioner did versus a local city councilman did. I didn't know those things until I was just kinda thrust in it because there was an issue I cared about. So I went down to the meeting to see what was going on, and I understood a little bit of it, but I'm like, wait. I don't know what that means. I don't know why they're doing this procedure, and, you know, I had to go do the research for myself. I said it would I I thought that it would be a lot easier if someone who knows these things, which is teach it to people on purpose. So having a a a teenager come in and shadow me for a day and literally go with me everywhere I go, go to my meetings with my department heads, go with me out to meet residents when they have issues at their homes, all the things, and learn what I do, then come to the meetings to see how we have the discussions, have the votes, learn that baseline. So by the time they're 18 and ready to vote, they know what's going on. Now you got an informed voter who can have their own opinions, but they have they have the processes and know how it works to back it up, and it's not just talking to be talking. So, yeah, you were pretty close.
And you mentioned, so you said you were about, 30 when you, you know, really kinda came into an awareness or an interest in politics and government and how it works and everything. Do do you remember what your impressions were, like, in, say, middle school or high school of, you know, what government was or how it worked? What I mean, I I think you mentioned, you know, there's a difference between, you know, the sort of local, state, and federal and what the responsibilities are of each and all that. Did did you have much awareness of that at a younger age?
I'll be honest. So, my family was not very political. If you listen to my grandparents and even my parents speak, they always spoke of government as these are these people that sit up on this hill and make decisions, and we just live in this world. And whatever they do, we just gotta abide by we weren't part of the process. We just kinda got the effects. And middle school and high school was kinda like that for me. When I got I I just didn't pay attention to that. And when I got to high school and turned 18, I started voting. I voted every time I was able to vote and definitely for the presidential elections. And my parents said vote for this person, so that's who I voted for because that's who they voted for. It wasn't until college and learning what I could do and coming out of college and becoming an activist and advocate and, you know, we were complaining about, okay, this side of town doesn't have this and this side does, but, okay, who controls that? And it was a mentor of mine that started teaching me these things. They said follow the money. Who allocates the money for that? Okay. That's city council has that. Okay. Have you been to a city council meeting? I'm like, no. Well, they were like, well, how do you expect them to know what you want if they've never seen you? And it never dawned on me to think like that. I'm like, well, they're not gonna listen to me. I'm I'm one person coming to complain about something, but, you know, the the the advocate and and the activist in me was like, well, what if I took a 100 people to the meeting with me? They'll pay attention then. So, I mean, it was just that someone had to kinda jog that in me and get that train of thought flowing for me to get out of that old mindset of we're not a part of the process, and we're not to, like, hey. This is these people are spending your money, your tax dollars. They're using that to provide your services. And once you get kids to understand that and even adults, when I when I'm thinking of doing this program and I'm having a teenager come, if their parents don't understand the process, they can come too. Bring mom and dad to and if you wanna get a true understanding, I'm fine with all of that. But, someone has to kind of ignite that flame for you to get interested to to do the digging yourself.
Do you think in in general, everybody's different, but do you think in general there is maybe a sense of maybe not being welcomed, among younger people? You know, as far as I I could see maybe being a sense of, like, I gotta wait my turn. I'm too young to be, you know, involved or because you're talking about people, you know, younger than voting age. Do you think there's an impression among younger people when it comes to how welcome they are to participate in government or maybe what their options to participate are?
That's a really good question. In years past, I would say yes. Like, when I was that age, you you would feel like that. Like, you're not ready for this yet. Just kinda wait till you're old enough, and then we'll fill you in on what we need to fill you in on. But the current generation of kids, in particular, these kids that are and I when I say kids, I'm 46. So when I say kids, I'm I'm talking really 25 and under. But even if you wanna say 18 and under, this generation of kids is probably the most informed, the smartest, most innovative, maybe even the most educated group group to come through. Yeah. And you kinda want that. You want the next generation to be better than you, but these kids are active at an early age. They're they're getting involved in things in their community at an early age. It's just that sometimes they they have that young energy and they wanna, hey. This thing isn't right. Let's do something about it. Now all they need is that harness that energy and learn the processes that we have to abide by and go through to do these things and apply that energy to the process. So I just wanna help them learn the process of how things work and where things need to change, put their inner energy into change in those processes. So we have some processes that, just to be honest, they suck. Sometimes government moves slower than it really needs to, and it could be faster if people push for that change. So they have the energy. They just need to know how. And, you know, if I can help bridge that gap in my own small little way in my town, then that's fine. And if we can grow it to something bigger, then, hey. Let's do it.
So you've you've mentioned a few ideas about, you know, shadowing and things like that. What what do you envision, as far as Gibsonville and your time as mayor and and how you're able to help younger people get involved and understand the process?
So, I I was blessed that when I just finally finally decided to to run my first race, I had a ready made mentor already in office. Mayor Mary Lenny Williams had been here. He put forty years total in, sixteen on the planning board and twenty four as mayor. Man was 90 years old. So he was ready to go into that next phase of his life and enjoy his family and all the things. But the the the first thing he wanted to do before he did that was identify someone he felt could be his successor and someone who could take the town in good hands and and and move it forward. So my idea and what I took from him, number one, I told people day one when I got elected, I'm not going to be mayor twenty some years. That isn't that's not my goal. That's not what I have in mind. We are in the middle of a transition phase, I'll say, in Gibsonville with the younger families moving here, people wanting different things. I I wanna take us forward into the future. I see myself being mayor, finishing this term, doing maybe one to two more terms tops, and then moving on to either a state race, congress, something else, and funneling money back here. But after about two terms, when we get this police station bill, get this library bill, get downtown where it needs to be, and these things are completed. And I don't wanna hit anybody an incomplete project. So once those things are completed and done, I'll feel comfortable. Like, here here you go. You take it. Bring your ideas and move us forward into 2030, 2040, and I can go on and funnel some money back here and help you do that. So, yeah, that's just kinda what I'll do my part to get us through this transition, get everything in a good space, and then let that next person come along and, add add that little part to it.
And our next guest is mayor Haley Beatty of Dallas, North Carolina, who's taught school children and actively involves the kids of her community in local government.
I'll go back to a personal perspective first. I wish I knew more before I got involved. Of course, I, you know, did my research and could have probably done more, just simply being a citizen and being involved. But I want our younger generation to want to feel connected early. I think it's important that they know the process of how local government works. I was a school teacher for ten years. I taught civics and economics, and I thought I knew what I was teaching until I was elected mayor. And once I was running my campaign, luckily, I worked in a different, municipality, so my kids were able to see a first hands on experience of how that worked, from, signing up and filing to going through a campaign to fielding questions and, the, you know, campaigning and going door to door and knocking. And then when I was elected, my students were able to see firsthand what actually happens and what the processes are. And if they are able to see that and have a better understanding of what's actually going on and how it really works, then maybe they can do something themselves, not to necessarily run if they don't want to, but to be more involved in local government and the community and how things work and how local government actually impacts their everyday life.
Yeah. It is definitely something to demystify because, I mean, I I remember well, you you had mentioned teaching civics, and I definitely remember that class and kind of, know, even stepping into it, it it can be kind of intimidating because it's not just learning about local government, their state and federal, and how all that works, and how it all fits together, who has what responsibility, what level, what the different roles are, you know, how a a bill becomes law. I mean, there there's a lot of stuff to kinda keep track of, and it can get kind of murky to, you know, to adults, to anybody. But I I love what you said about, you know, kinda kind of making that connection early, so the familiarity might be there. For Dallas, what what has been on the menu for connecting youth to to local government? Are there there there are specific programs. You know, what what does that look like in action? You know, how do kids and young people get connected to it? May maybe kinda take it from there. Yeah. So on the menu,
maybe something that we're actually bringing up. It's not quite available yet, but we are looking to start a, mayor's youth council. And I actually cannot take any credit for that. I know that there are a lot that, in different municipalities, but Ed Hadley, who's the mayor of Lincolnton, right when I was elected, he we got connected, and he said, Haley, this is something I believe you should do. I was like, okay. How do you do it? What does it look like? So that's been about two and a half years of how do I do it, what does the application look like, finding the right people to put it in place. So we are actually making the application available in May, and then we'll have our first run of that this year. So I'm really looking forward to that, especially engaging with our, high school kids to see how they can be more active in the community. They show, you know, great want to be a part, but I never knew how to actually make that connect. And so now this will this will be the connecting factor. And then for mayor for the day, I cannot take credit for that either. There was a mayor a long time ago, mayor Martin, and his daughter who owns the Country Kitchen, just a small local restaurant to eat in town, said, Haley, my dad ran a program called mayor for the day, and the kids really loved it. And she said, I'd like for you to bring that back. So two years ago, brought it back, and I got with our, principal of Carr Elementary and asked her how we could make this work. And she said, this is perfect. North Carolina's, curriculum for third grade is local government. And I said, perfect. So we incorporated this as a learning ability to to tie into the state's curriculum. And so it's pretty simple. All I do is I send the prompt, and it's if I were mayor for the day dot dot dot. And it allows the kids to be creative because maybe they don't know what the mayor does. Maybe they have this grand idea of what, you know, what they want and what they think you know, how they think things work. But that is that's what's on the menu. That's how we have laid it out. I've had two so far, and it has been a hit. And I'm not sure if this is the right time to talk about it, but I can kind of lay it out on on what the day actually looks like.
Yeah. Yeah. I'd love a walk through on just kinda how it goes. Yeah. So
I send I send out the writing prompt, which the principals and I, number one, most importantly, make a connection with your school system and your principals. That is so important in getting involved in that type of community work. So the the principals and I are are very close, and we work well together. So make sure you have that connection first. And so here's here's the the lay of how it works. If I were married for the day, the teachers have their classrooms write a response, and the teachers actually pick the winners. I would not feel comfortable picking the winners of of, you know, all of those children. And so they have five no. Six winners. So they'll have five aldermen and then one mayor for the day. So you have your runners up. And, what they do is we make a a day out of it. So it's a field trip day. The kids get to come to Dallas. We start at our courthouse, which is where we have our town hall meetings, and they we start there with a q and a. And I tell them who I am, and then they ask what do you do? What's your favorite color? You know, they're in third grade. They're asking questions. And, funny story, the first year I walked in, I had, like, a black and white striped dress on, and kids say the darnedest things. And I walked in and I hear, it's Beetlejuice, and everyone starts cackling. It was really cute, you know. And, of course, you acknowledge and say, who said that? That's funny. And, you know, you don't break them down for it because clever. I love that you know who Beetlejuice is. You know? Mhmm. So that was really funny. And then this year, a couple of, well, one kid specifically said, you're the mayor? I said, yes. They said, you look much older now than in your picture online. And I said, it's been a long two years. You know? So so that's it's been a lot of fun. So with the, with the program, what I've done is I've worked with other businesses in town as well. So the kids get to come in, and they do their q and a, and we open the day with announcing who the winners are. And, they get very excited about it, and they walk up on the stairs with our courthouse is. It's, it's old, and so they walk up on the stairs and we announce and take a picture. And then I have the the mayor for the day get to hit the gavel and announce that the field trip has begun, and, it's a lot. It's really just a fun experience to see them do that. Then what we do is we work with our museum. And in Dallas, we have a museum called Gaston County Museum of Art and History, and it tells the history of all of Gaston County. And so the kids are able to split up, and they go to the museum. Some go to town hall, and some go to the historic Dallas Jail, which was the original jail, for Gaston County, because Dallas was the original county seat of Gaston County. And that is where we held court. That is where jail was and said this was the the heart of Gaston, and they get to see the history behind all of that and where they live. And then they rotate through stations. You know, they get, like, forty five minutes to an hour at each section, and they get to see it some of the businesses and things. And then at the end of the day, they'll go across the street to one of our local restaurants and get ice cream, and, they have a picnic there as well. And so we we incorporate everyone there, and it's just they really enjoy it. And it stands out so much that they they remember who I am. Their parents may not know, but I may see them in an Ingles or food line. They'll say, that's the mayor. And so it's really it's it's a lot of fun and a good experience for the kids.
Yeah. I mean, fun is kind of the word. I mean, I I like how it's presented sort of like an opportunity, something you can win, sort of a chance to be part of. And then then you're you're there, and it's something that, you know, is is something to to to have a good time with and enjoy. It's sort of your first touch. Hopefully, it's your first, you know, great first impression of governments. And it's something that, you know, ideally, I guess, you know, could could spark an interest later on or that's a memory you hold on to as your reference point for government. I mean, those are, you know, some hypothetical positives. What what are some positives that you've seen in terms of just takeaways, you know, stepping away after the fact? What what stands out to you was a, like, a real positive?
Yeah. The biggest thing that that stands out to me is that they can see that being a part and speaking out and speaking up can make a difference. Your voice is actually heard. And I want them to see that they didn't just do this to win mayor for the for a day and that's it, then it's over. So, specifically, my first year doing it, I was very touched, and we have a project coming to fruition from this one child who is nine years old. And she her letter was about having handicap accessible playgrounds. Well, you know, your playgrounds already have to be handicap accessible. In Dallas, all of our playgrounds are handicap accessible. Anyone with a disability can go into the playground, but then there's not really much you can do when you get there. And so she acknowledged that. And she wrote, I wish that we had handicap accessible playgrounds. I want people with disabilities to have something to do. So I took that and I'm actually creating a new playground that is, inclusive. And so not just for, you know, kids without disabilities, but anyone with a disability can access the park and have something to do. And I'm going to name that playground after her so it's going to be the Kylie Camp Playground. And That's amazing. Yeah, so it's really cool to see, you know, an idea that was sparked from a nine year old and no one else. She has no one in her family with a disability. She doesn't have friends with a disability. That was just something that was put on her heart and that she shared, and now she gets to see it come to fruition.
Back to Albemarle mayor pro tem, Martha Sue Hall.
In nineteen seventy something, I won't give you the year, I was probably 16 years old and, did something. I have no idea what it was. I'm not sure what organization it was. I may have written an essay. Well, probably not because I wasn't really well written, but I I did something and won an award. And a county commissioner at that time in my county took the time to write a personal handwritten note to me. I didn't know him from Adam. That county commissioner's name was Tony Louder, and Tony is still living now, you know, fifty years later or whatever it is. And every time I still see him to this day, I tell him thank you for for penning me a note congratulating me on something when I was 15 or 16 years old. We never know. We may never know the impact that those kinds of things and notes and time will have on folks. We and and and I tell him that. And when I walk up to him in an event right now, he'll say I know exactly what you're about to tell me. And I said, yeah. But it it really was impactful. And I guess that was one of the seeds that was planted in me to do that for others.
Back to Gibsonville mayor, Bryant Crisp. Like a mentoring program to to, a, humanize government for people and give them an actual face to maybe associate with or something to aspire to. And then, you know, through that mentorship, they can learn the the nuts and bolts of things that may seem kind of you know, I I I because I can understand on the outside, maybe functions and processes of government maybe seeming kind of dry or uninspiring or you know? But but but there's the human part of it, and that's where the mentoring, you know, will will come in for you. Yeah. Absolutely. Because, you know, people might get bored, especially kids, if they're sitting in a meeting for an hour talking about
zoning. But if you relate it to people and how it affects people and then you actually go get to go out and see those neighborhoods and and what they're doing because of a decision you made, then you humanize it like you just said, and and you make it real for them. This is why I need to vote. This is why I need to participate. And, you know, I'd rather spend my energy educating either people who don't know or children in general than to trying to convince them to do something. If you're it's like, I like to use the analogy of, like, my my dad used with me when I turned 16. You know, every kid wants that first car. And my I had a little job. I was working at a grocery store, and my dad said, well, you know, you save up $1,500, and I'll match it, and we'll get your car. So I did that. I worked all summer. Took me till about October to raise $1,500. That weekend, the the weekend I got the money, my dad brought his 1,500, and we went to a car lot. I bought me a little small. It was a 1986 Nissan Maxima. I'll never forget it. But because I had buy in and I put effort into earning it and learning how to take care of it, I washed it almost every day, almost washed the paint off of it. I took better care of it because I had to work for it. When kids spend that time educating themselves and learning the process and and going through all of that and and the struggle of I don't know what this is and research and what does this word mean? And then they finally what does this word mean? And then they finally get it and that light bulb comes on, their vote means more. They take more care with their vote and then they're dragging their friends. No. You need to pay attention. I learned this thing. You need to come with me and it's it's kind of a good type of peer pressure, and they're dragging their friends along. But if you just, hey. We're gonna sit spend a thousand dollars sending mailers to this house from, August till October when voting time comes, and they're like, you need you need to vote. You need to vote. You need to vote. And they're like, there's no care behind it. There's nothing for them to care about. They're just voting, so you'll stop bothering them. And they don't care who they vote for. They just go in and check something. So you leave them alone, or they're just voting because their parents said go vote. You do it the other way, and they're going because they wanna go. And that's a different kind of voter that's gonna be a repeat voter, and it's gonna care. And when they eventually have kids, they're gonna teach their kids why, and they're gonna be repeat voters. And you're spending less time convincing. At least that's my theory anyway. We'll see how it plays out. Dallas mayor, Haley Beatty.
We, as the town of Dallas, have just partnered with the GBA, which is the Gaston Business Association. And, we partnered with them because for the past two years, they have been working with the city of Gastonia, which is a sister city for us. And through that partnership, they they, talked to our town planner. So the Gaston Business Association, which is like your Chamber of Commerce, talked to our planner, and they got them connected with a thing called District c. And it's recently been changed over to something else. But with that, what they did with Gastonia and Dallas, they said they called our planners and said, do you have any problems in your towns? And you're like, yes. So we presented from Dallas, we presented walkability and foot traffic through town and what that looks like. So we were already or the GBA was already partnered with Forest View High School, which is a, high school in Gastonia. So we're now working to work with, North Gaston, which is our high school. So we went to Forest View and presented these problems, our planner did, and they had nine kids, and they partnered in three groups, and they worked on a specific problem that they saw in Dallas. So they, took a field trip, came to Dallas, walked to downtown, and took pictures of things that they thought would need improvement. So they brought to our attention some uneven sidewalks, lighting in different areas, pedestrian crosswalks, and they gave a presentation to me and our staff, one day during school and showed us what some potential problems were. So these kids are actually getting to be engaged and be involved. And then after that, being a school teacher, I just kind of went to the next level and had them write a letter of support to our federal government, and our congressman is Tim Moore. I had them write letters to our North Carolina legislators as well as the Gaston, Cleveland, Lincoln MPO. And they wrote these letters, put them in a great format and on letterhead, and I'm gonna present those to our, our government and legislators. And so that gives, you know, again, another way to show that their voices are heard and then what type of impact they can make positively through through this program.
Right. So you don't have to be a voting age to, you know, have some direct impact on, on your community, what your your government does about it, what they know about, what your perspective is. I mean, all that matters. I I love that. Yeah. All of that matters. And it doesn't matter, you know, which side of the line you're on if you're a Republican or Democrat.
Those things, you know, don't matter when it comes to who's walking on the sidewalk and who needs more light and who needs, a pedestrian crosswalk. Everybody matters. And so it was really it was really cool to see that put into play.
Right now, I'd like to recognize a few towns that provided us some info on what they do to connect with younger folks in their communities and bring them into local government. Barbie Bruce is the town clerk for Waxhaw, North Carolina. She said last year the town's board of commissioners established the Waxhaw Youth Council to give residents, young residents, a meaningful platform to express their views, develop leadership skills, and actively contribute to the betterment of the community. They take applications from area students in grades eight through 12, and the Waxhaw Board of Commissioners makes the appointment after the town interviews them. Those selected are expected to participate in town sponsored volunteer spots and events throughout the year. Could be town meetings, could be festivals, service projects. These youth council members in Waxhaw also serve as ambassadors to represent the town at regional conferences and so on. I asked Barbie Bruce, again, she's the Waxhaw town clerk, what positives they're seeing or expect to see from this. She said even though it's just getting started, members of the youth council have already identified several promising initiatives, including a community garden and participating in the Adopt a Highway program, as well as volunteering at different town events and assisting with after school programs. I asked Bruce what advice she'd give to other towns that might wanna try something like this. And she said it's important to ensure that young people have a strong voice and get to work alongside town leaders and basically set the table for better connections and leadership motivation. I also heard from Hendersonville. They said the city's environmental sustainability board includes a seat designated for a student and that the town council just filled that seat earlier this month. The city of Oxford gave us some info as well. They have a program in partnership with the public school system and with a local charter school to bring in students and give them direct exposure to municipal operations, leadership, and civic responsibility, while also encouraging great performance in the classroom, particularly with math. We know there are many other municipalities out there doing something similar, so thank you for what you do. And let us know if there are any angles that we didn't cover here. Albemarle, Mayor Pro Tem, Martha Sue Hall.
I have said for many years that local government, municipal government is the closest, literally, the closest to the people. Okay? To the we see them in the grocery store, in the post office, at church, and at the schools. I mean, at the schools when I go into the schools doing things. In the pool, we're teaching swimming lessons. Whatever it is. It is the closest to the people. And what we need to really, portray to our young people is that elected folks are not untouchable. Okay?
Thank Thank you for being with us on this episode. I know many of you listening also have programs going on in your communities, maybe a a variation on what we discussed, or maybe it's something entirely different that we didn't cover here. I would love to hear about it because this podcast is all about idea sharing. Please reach out to me. If you have any thoughts, I would love to cover them on the next episode. You can reach out to me. Again, my name is Ben Brown, and my information is at n c l m dot o r g in the people directory. Wanna leave you with something. As I was putting this episode together, I was watching the Artemis mission splash down incidentally, the the astronauts coming back to Earth after the lap around the moon. And during the coverage of that, NASA associate administrator Amit Keshatriya said something that was right in line with the spirit of this episode. So I'll play that clip now to close it out.
Seeing that the people's faces here and then, you know, reading where I can about how things are going, I think I think this has been a gift to the world from NASA. NASA has given the world a gift, proving to to folks all over the place, especially young people. And that, to me, is what this is really about. Young people, when they see what we can do, when we work together, when we when we have teams that collaborate that, you know, it doesn't matter how hard, the the problems are, we can solve them. I I'm hopeful that Artemis two, as folks witness what we were able to do with this incredible crew, this incredible team that we've birthed into the world, scientists and engineers and artists that have been inspired by this. And even if they don't come work in the program, which separately, they should come work in the program because Lord knows we need the help. But even if they don't wanna come work in the program, hopefully, they grow up to to recognize they can do amazing things when they work together and contribute to society and be good citizens and really change the way you know, the challenges that that are coming in the world are are are overcomeable if we if we do if we work together like this.