Santa Cruz County looks to boost youth participation in local government with Youth Commission

In April, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to establish the county’s first-ever youth commission. The commission was tasked with studying how the county can foster greater youth participation in local government in order to share recommendations with elected leaders who can actually change policy. To tell us more about the freshly-formed committee, Talk of the Bay host PK Hattis was joined April 29 by Elizabeth Padilla, a senior department administrative analyst with Santa Cruz County, Maria Cadenas, executive director of Santa Cruz-based nonprofit and frequent county collaborator Ventures, as well as Dylan Turk, a senior at Scotts Valley High School and member of the county Youth Task Force that recommended the board create this committee in the first place. They talk about how this new commission came into being, why youth representation and participation is so crucial for effective government and how interested local youth can get involved. RESOURCES: santacruzcountyca.gov/portals/0/county/cao/youthcommission/Youth-Commission-Flyer.05052026.pdf sccvonline.org/a-santa-cruz-like-me.html