Published in the May 13, 2021 edition.

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD — The Youth Council was formed a year ago, and this week several members went before the Town Council to provide an update on their maiden year.

Youth Council chairman Jack Dubow began by thanking adult advisor Catherine Dhingra, describing her as “absolutely amazing.” Next, he introduced Youth Council member Alyssa Toppi to review the ways that the Youth Council has engaged with the community.

Toppi talked about the Youth Council’s social media presence, noting that their Instagram and Facebook accounts have similar content, such as meeting announcements with links, posts about town events and materials related to Youth Council initiatives.

Meeting announcements are posted on the Instagram and Facebook pages two days before meetings, she said, and a reminder is posted the day of the meeting along with the links and codes needed to join the Zoom meetings.

In addition to its social media presence, the Youth Council sends press releases to the Daily Item and has worked with school administration and PTOs to send out bimonthly newsletters, Toppi said.

 She noted that when there are openings on the Youth Council, those are publicized along with deadlines and information on how to apply.

During the Town Election season, posts were created encouraging those eligible to vote on April 27. The Youth Council also encouraged voter registration and preregistration and provided links to those applications.

Dubow talked about the Youth Council’s role in eliminating the Wakefield Warrior logo.

He noted that on Aug. 5, 2020 the Youth Council liaison to the Human Rights Commission brought the logo issue to the attention of the Youth Council. Members discussed the issue and thought that it would be a good first issue for the council to focus on, he said.  They invited a representative from the HRC to meet with the Youth Council.

The Youth Council discussed the logo issue over multiple meetings, Dubow said, took preliminary polling data from the public and voted to recommend to the School Committee that the logo be changed.

“Throughout our time working on the Warrior logo,” Dubow said, “we put out a number of polls and questions to our social media audiences to gauge their thoughts and give them a platform to voice their opinions.”

Three Youth Council members took the issue to the School Committee and presented the council’s recommendation, he said, backed up by comments from the public, comments made by native tribes and prior research. He added that the Youth Council offered its assistance to the School Committee while they deliberated, before the School Committee voted to retire the logo in March.

Vice chair Lauren Blois discussed the Youth Council’s mental health initiative. She noted that the pandemic has caused increased isolation.

“We want to better understand the mental health of our peers and how we can help dismantle the stigma around mental health,” she said.

Toward that end, she said, members of the Youth Council met with the WMHS Guidance Department and GMS Student Support Staff. In addition, Alyssa Toppi created a survey that was sent out to WMHS students.

Resources were posted on the Youth Council’s social media platforms and a Mental Health Working Group was formed.

Results of the survey, showing that 80 percent of students were experiencing higher levels of anxiety due to the pandemic, were presented to representatives from MassSupport, the Wake-Up Coalition, the WMHS Guidance Department, the GMS Student Support Staff and the Wakefield Memorial High School and Galvin Middle School faculty.

Blois said that after the administration of the Youth Council’s mental health survey, social media pages were used to highlight a number of mental health resources available to community members.

Those resources included the GMS and WMHS Guidance Department contact information as well as other referral services and national hotlines.

Youth Council member Anthony Amatucci discussed the Safe Routes to School Initiative. 

“We want all students to get to school safely,” he said, “which doesn’t always happen.”

He noted that Youth Council member Maggie Fournier has been collaborating with Judith Crocker, the senior outreach coordinator for Massachusetts Safe Routes to School, to promote key information about the walking paths throughout Wakefield.

Amatucci noted that Maggie Fournier joined Wakefield town officials, including Town Councilor Julie Smith-Galvin and Town Engineer Bill Renault, to conduct a walking assessment on Feb. 5, 2021.

“At our next meeting, we will meet with Brian McCoubry from the Safe Streets working group to discuss how to move our findings forward,” he said.

Youth Council member Ali Zain Al-Abideen H. Atoui reviewed Youth Council Liaison Positions to other town boards and committees.

He said that having the liaison positions greatly benefits the Youth Council for various reasons. It allows members of the council to communicate with and advocate for the Youth Council with other town boards, committees and councils, he noted, and allows members to transmit important information to and from their liaison positions to the Youth Council.

Dubow talked about some of the posters created by Youth Council member Yana Herzog aimed at to promoting diversity and unity.

“I think it’s really awesome to have her artwork around representing not only the Youth Council but Wakefield High and the entire town,” he said.

Lauren Blois also talked about a “persuasive writing” session that she and Yana Herzog conducted for students at the Greenwood School.

Members of the Town Council praised the work of the Youth Council in its first year.

Town Councilor Edward Dombroski attempted to correct the common misimpression that the Youth Council is somehow connected to the schools. He stressed that the Youth Council is appointed by the Town Council and is therefore a town entity and is not affiliated with the schools.