Welcome everybody to our, I'm not gonna say second annual, but this is our second youth town hall we've had presented by Mayor's Youth Council and Youth Ambassadors.

We want to welcome all of our attendees, youth, parents, um, our um elected officials who have agreed to either speak or be on our panel.

We want to appreciate you for coming out and being here today for Houston's youth.

Our youth are very important.

There's many kind of communities.

There's geographical communities, but there's also demographic communities, and youth is definitely a community in the Houston area and an important one.

Some of you may be um voting age already, some of you may not, but in getting ready to vote and getting ready to participate in civics, I think this is very important and very important for your elected officials to be accessible to you in order to prepare you and answer any questions you may have or curiosities you may have about their job and how it affects you.

Um I think many people forget about civics and we think about government.

We watch CNN and Fox all the time, and all you see is the feds, right?

Well, local government affects your life more than any other layer of government you can come in contact with.

So I just employ you to take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions that you may have, even if it's things you may not think.

Like, I want to ask this question.

There's no such thing as a not good question.

They're all really good questions.

So while you have them, you might as well ask, ask them the questions, right?

So I want to thank first of all, um, Ms.

Ebony and Jahar for the hard work they put into this event.

Thank you guys so much.

We appreciate their work because without them, this couldn't happen.

Our team members is what makes it happen, not me, right?

So without further ado, we have our MCs for the night, um, Kayla Horn and Clayton Wilburn.

Okay.

Before we go to us, we're gonna introduce Christian from Koya and then um Helene from the Mayor's Youth Council.

They have a few words to speak.

Good evening.

How's everyone doing today?

Thank you all for being here.

We are very excited to welcome you all to City to City Hall for the R City, our voice youth town hall.

My name is Christian Gonzalez.

I'm a junior at MacArthur High School and a City of Houston Youth Ambassador.

As part of the City and Houston Youth Ambassadors or COIA, I, along with my peers, work with the Mayor's Office of Education and Youth Engagement to develop youth-led projects that center youth voices and address issues affecting Houston youth.

This year, we worked on projects around public safety, college and career resources, mental health, and we also publish the second season of another step for youth podcast.

I serve my city as part of the mental health committee.

If you have not already, follow our mental health awareness campaign on the mayor's office of education's Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

I'm inspired to be a youth ambassador because I feel I understand and know my community, being born and raised here in Houston, and I like giving my thoughts and opinions on situations throughout the area.

Today, the City of Houston youth ambassadors join the Mayor's Youth Council to host the R City, our voice youth town hall in hopes of increasing Houston's youth understanding of local government and civic leadership, connect with our discussion makers and meaningful conversations and empower youth to make impact in their communities.

Thank you so much, Christian.

My name is Helene Wang, and I am currently a junior at Kerr High School, and I also serve as the vice chair of the Mayor's Youth Council, which is modeled after the elected Houston City Council.

The NYC provides valuable experiences to its members in the workings of city government.

Think about it like to acknowledge and appreciate all the Houston youth leaders present today, including outing votes, The Way Home youth action board, International leadership of Texas, high school for law and justice, North Shore Middle School, Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

Victory Early College High School.

And did I miss anyone else?

Okay, perfect.

It is exciting to welcome all of you guys here today, and thanks again for making the time and effort to be here.

I also want to acknowledge the City of Houston Department of Neighborhoods and Mayor's Office of Education Youth Engagement for holding the event today.

And special thanks to the Department of Neighborhoods Director Herbert Sims and the Mayor's Youth Mayor's Count Office of Education Youth Engagement Director Olivera Yankovska and the Office of Neighborhood Engagement Division Manager Paul Green.

And with that, I'd like to introduce the Department of Neighborhoods Director Herbert Sims again.

They just brought me back up here to um tell Christian how much I like his boots.

No, but now here are your MCs, Kayla and Clayton.

Good evening, everyone.

Please rise for the presentation of colors and the pledge allegiance led by Coya Member Junior Jonathan Fisher from SciFair High School.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Honor the Texas flag.

I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God.

And when it is invisible, you may be seated.

We didn't have to say that.

Thank you, Jonathan.

Good evening.

My name is Clayton Wellborn, and I have the privilege of serving as your master of ceremonies tonight.

I'm a district E representative on the Mayor's Youth Council and a civic leader rooted here in Houston.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Kayla Horn.

I also have the pleasure of serving as your Master of Surinamies tonight.

I am a district D representative, active member of the NYC and civic leisure through the mental health and voter engagement committees, aiming to advocate for the youth of Houston.

And now without further ado, I introduced Councilmember Pollard from District J to do our opening remarks.

What's up?

How y'all doing?

Y'all good?

Yeah.

Let's get some excitement in here.

This is a this is a great occasion.

As she mentioned, my name is Edward Pollard.

I have the pleasure of serving on the Houston City Council for District J.

That's the Gulfden Sharpstown Brayburn A Leaf area.

And it is such a wonderful time to see so many uh young people that are engaged in local politics.

I can tell you when I was you all's age, uh, especially in high school, I didn't know much about what a city council member did, or I was not very much involved in local politics at all.

And so to see you all at such a young age being tapped into these programs is very impressive.

And it couldn't be done without uh the administration and the directors and the staff that has helped put these programs together.

So let's give them a round of applause.

So today you all are going to be able to hear from three uh incredible council members that represent their districts very well, and I want you to take this opportunity uh to make sure that you ask your questions.

I've been talking to some of you all beforehand on some of your ideas and the questions that you have, but take advantage of the moment, and your homework assignment will be.

Your homework assignment will be to take this information, not only that you learned today, but all throughout your your time on the program to talk to your friends, talk to your classmates about what you have learned and why it's important to be civically engaged.

Um, you all are our future.

When I see the title of today's program, is Our City, Our Voice.

You all are a part of that.

Your voice, your opinions, your ideas, your creativity, it matters, and it's necessary.

And a big shout out to the parents who are in the room because you all had to sacrifice your time uh to ensure that your children were exposed to these programs, could get them here on time, and uh it really does matter to have that support from your from your support system, whether you're a parent or a loved one, a family or a friend.

I hope you all have an incredible occasion.

Ask all the questions you can, and you make sure that you remember to do your homework assignment.

Thank you very much.

Okay, moving on.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Pollard, for those lovely remarks.

Okay, for tonight's events, it's about something that matters the relationship between young Houstonians such as yourself and the people who lead the city.

That's them.

Before we begin, I want to share a few numbers with you.

According to the spring 2026 Harvard Youth Poll, half of young Americans believe that people like them have no real say in what the government does.

Tonight, I'm happy to say we're here to prove them wrong.

Here's how tonight will flow.

We'll open with a structured panel for 50 minutes, featuring city council members of District D, E, and I.

And we'll move throughout three rounds of questioning based on youth engagement, youth initiatives, and public service and quality of life in Houston.

Following the panel, we'll open the floor to a 30-minute QA session, both from the youth watching live online, and here in person.

Our audience engagement team of volunteers will assist with in-person questions, and James Gonzalez will manage in-person audience questions during that portion.

Before we get started, on behalf of the mayor's youth council and COIA, I want to offer our sincere thanks to city officials for joining us tonight.

Your presence sends a message to every young person in the room watching and watching from home that your voice matters.

So thank you all.

It is now my honor to introduce our distinguished panelists.

First, a champion for quality of life initiatives, public health, and community investment, a member of the Quality of Life Committee representing Houston City Council District D, Councilmember Shabazz.

Representing my districts, Houston City Council District E, an advocate for infrastructure, public safety, and constituent services for Kingwood, Clear Lake, and East Houston communities, Councilmember Fred Flickinger.

And representing Houston City Council District I, a champion for working families, neighborhood investment, and equitable growth across near Northside, Lyndale Park, and Independence Heights communities, a public servant dedicated to ensuring every corner of North Houston has a voice at the table.

Councilmember Martinez.

Welcome all of our panelists, and let's get started.

Okay.

Our first round sentence around youth engagement, how our city's leaders are thinking about and investing in the next generation of Houstonians.

This question is directed to um Dr.

Sabaz, Councilmember of District D, my district's best district.

Many young young many young people are polled asking for more engagement with local leaders.

What are some successful strategies you have implemented with your district to engage the youth?

Well, thank you, Kayla.

It is certainly my honor and my pleasure to be here.

I didn't know where I was going, so I said, Is it a party or what?

But anyway, and I brought my whistle.

Uh, but anyway, uh, and then this is these are my high school colors.

Jack Gates, I'm JY for life.

Okay, all right.

And you you'll have that same enthusiasm for your school later.

Uh, and I'll get to the question in just a minute.

But certainly, I I am really really honored to be here and very happy to see you here.

Um, I always say that if I had been engaged back in the years such as where you are, I would have possibly been the first woman president of the United States.

And I'm saying that seriously, and I'm saying that to you because you have no ceiling.

You certainly now you're doing a very important thing.

You're getting involved and you're getting engaged.

And we're looking to you to do great things.

Because the bottom line is without civic engagement and voting and taking care of those things, you have no power.

You have no voice.

Now, let's get to the question.

And I guess I can put my fan down, right?

Am I willful?

Okay, all right.

And so you said you could you repeat the question, please.

What are some successful strategies you have implemented within your district to engage the youth?

Well, one of the things that we that we do, and I I have my constituents director over here.

We employ uh internships.

We have students to come.

Yeah, actually, you get a bag, you get the money.

You come in and you work in the office and you do a lot of things, and some people think, oh, we'll just be pushing paper.

But that's not what you're doing with Miss Ingram.

She really puts you to work, and she lets you know how the offices are really really working.

And certainly we engage with the young people throughout the community.

We we give money uh for after-school programs, because that's very important as well.

And so just to let you know, if you live in a particular district and you're interested, I don't know if they've given up all their internships yet, but certainly you may want to reach out and find out if you can get a paying job.

Did anybody hear me say paying job?

A paying job in the city of Houston.

And so those are some of the ways.

And I like how Councilmember Pollard came in and left and told y'all to ask us all these questions.

I'm gonna call him back in here in a minute.

But anyway, thank you again, Councilmember Carolyn Evan Shabazz, the council member for district D, what I call the district of destination.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I'll have to look into those internships options because I need to pay off for my college.

Well, you better, you see that lady sitting right over there, raise your hand.

You better have a conversation.

And I'm actually, excuse me.

Excuse me.

No, you didn't I'm I'm prepared, uh, preparing now to go to my college reunion in Atlanta tomorrow.

So I am so very, very excited about all of that, and to engage with you before I go really makes it all worthwhile.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Dr.

Shabazz.

For council member Flickinger, what role do you see young people playing in community safety question or conversations for district E?

Well, obviously, young people can play as much of a role as they want to, and we hope they do.

Um, I am a little bit older, but I do remember growing up, and and I remember being your age and and doing things that I probably shouldn't have been doing.

Uh I think you as a group are a little different.

Uh you've self-selected to be doing this, so obviously you're probably a little more responsible than others.

But uh just making sure that you're doing the right things, try and influence your friends to do the right things as well.

Uh, if if you see something that uh is something that people need to be alerted about, obviously letting them know.

I think those are the ways that you can engage and trying to make it a safer safer community.

Yes, thank you so much.

Okay, this next question is directed for council member Martinez for district I.

If a group of high schoolers in your district want to propose a solution to a problem in their community, what's the realistic path for them to be heard at the city council level?

Great question.

Um, so engagement is definitely top priority uh for me and on all facets, right?

From your seniors all the way down to young folks like yourself.

Uh so if you're going to engage uh or try and figure out a way to work through a process at city council, I think the first thing that you need to do is to make sure that you're well rounded on the information that whatever issue that you're gonna tackle.

So let's say if it's transportation, then make sure that you are you know are understanding every aspect of that issue.

If it's uh, you know, um environmental challenges and make sure you understand what's going on.

When you do that, I think it's important at a city council level to definitely connect, you know, with for me personally, it would be with my office with my team uh to make sure that that we're helping support you get whatever information from a department uh from somebody in the administration, make sure that you understand where those resources are.

There's one thing that I try to do with everybody at uh within the district is pull the curtains back, right?

Under help you understand how city government works.

Um and then from there, you know.

I think the best way, and we had public session today, every Tuesday.

Um, we have public session where folks can come in and share their concerns, maybe share ideas.

Today we heard different ideas on on some things.

Um, but my team is is here to help you uh facilitate what that conversation looks like.

Again, make sure that you're well rounded on the information, you understand it, but then how to present it, uh, make sure you're addressing the right entities, whether it's a department, whether it's the mayor's office, whether it's a city council office, right?

Um, and then from there it's the follow-through as well, right?

So uh understand the issue, organize around it, come and speak, and then from there, what is the follow-through afterwards?

Um, lean into your elected officials.

We are here to serve you at the end of the day, and so uh the resources that we have within our office are here to make sure that you can see from point A to point Z how to get things done in your community.

Thank you so much.

I hope this inspires a lot of the youth in the audience to maybe get some move on some of the issues that you're worried about.

Okay, moving on to round two.

All righty, round two.

We'll now talk about initiatives happening across our districts and to the stories that brought our panelists into public service in the first place, Dr.

Shabazz.

What inspired you to pursue public service and how has your role as a council member shaped your approach to leading and serving your community?

And you don't want to start down there this time.

Well, I can hear it.

I can handle it.

Uh, certainly I am actually a retired educator, if there's any such thing.

And when I retired, I became very active in my civic club, as well as I became a member and now executive uh committee member, first vice president of the Houston branch of the NAACP.

Very, very important to engage yourself and some of the organizations, find that organization which you think you like and can support.

And then that way you get in somewhat on the ground level to find out what some of the issues are.

And I'm gonna tell you, I would I would say that you know, if you're a district D constituent, and I'm sure uh my colleagues would say the same thing, and I think he basically did, reach out to your council member.

We are there to try to help you to frame your issues to get your answers.

And I'm one council member that does not think I have to be the smartest one in the room, which means that I have a whole lot of respect for what young people bring to the table.

You certainly have a different perspective, and it may be the best perspective.

And so it's very important that I listen.

And so once I decided to uh get into those organizations, then I got the calling uh to um actually uh I was the first African-American female chairman of the what is now the Houston City College.

And so I got involved in that, which was kind of a natural step being an educator, and I got a profound respect, not just for academics, but for uh technical skills, vocational skills, because I'm a person that believes that even if you go and you get an academic degree, you still ought to have a skill.

You need to be prepared.

I'm actually a licensed real estate broker, and so I can do that, or and then I went on, you know, and I got a uh master's and doctorate.

Um but I have found that the uh real estate license is actually what pays now, right?

Uh not the doctorate or the masters, but certainly um after leaving, after uh getting engaged and involved with the Houston City College, then I decided when the current uh council member decided he was going to pursue another office.

I decided to run.

Now, what's funny about that is there were 16 people in my race.

Yeah, 16.

And one was a rapper.

Okay.

Scarface, he I don't know if you all know Scarface, but Scarface was in my race, right?

So I had to learn how to rap rap.

Okay.

Rap to the people.

Let them know who.

Anyway, I um, and it was really, really fun, even though you know, and I consider this to be my calling.

So that's why I guess I enjoy it so much.

And I'm gonna be kicking and screaming.

These guys are new.

I'm gonna be kicking and screaming at the end of next year.

I think I'm gonna do a pop A and say we can serve a little bit longer.

How about that?

I think I could get some people to sign up on it.

We'll sign on on it with you.

Okay.

We'll sign off.

Okay, okay, all right, all right, all right.

But anyway, um, yeah, and so then I ended up in a runoff with the rapper, right?

And then at the end of the day, um, you know, I and let me tell you if you have an opportunity to work for a campaign, do that.

Because I have a profound respect for people who are out there passing out those pamphlets and talking to your voters when they come in.

You can't be everywhere, and so you need to let people know who you are that are out there passing those out, and then make sure that they engage with people in an appropriate manner, because you can't talk to people crazy and act crazy and think that they're gonna support your candidate.

But certainly, uh, we'll talk more about that later, but I'll pass the mic.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You know, now is a good time to get involved.

It's midterm season, so it's a great time to go out there.

And um, I did it for Tal Rico, so it's a volunteer.

You may not get paid, but volunteer if you do it and do some block walking and pass out some pamphlets and you meet a lot of people.

Thank you, Dr.

Shabazz.

Thank you.

Okay, this next question is for Councilmember Flickinger.

When you think about young people growing up in District E right now, what do you want the relationship with the city to look like by the time they're adults?

I think the best thing I can do for the residents of district E is try and make it a better place to live and work.

Um, whether that means, you know, having to help take care of the streets or working on flood mitigation, crime, all those kind of things, it's just trying to make it a better place to live and work.

And hopefully the young people growing up will see that improvements have been made and we'll be grateful for the fact that the city is trying to do a good job.

Uh I know one of the things uh that people talk about is that uh, you know, big cities throughout the country have a very difficult time being run very well.

Uh one of the things I think uh Mayor Whitmeyer is trying to prove is that it in fact can be done.

Uh, and if you look a lot of the the different rankings where they they rank the cities on how well they're run financially and and how operationally how good they are.

Uh Houston does significantly better than all the other big cities.

Uh you know, I know the first time I looked at it, it was actually as a study from Wallet Hub about how the fine how well the finances were run in the cities.

And I'm looking through the list and Houston's like number 77, and I'm like, oh, that's awful.

But then I look further down the list, and New York City's 122, Chicago's 123.

Uh I mean, for a big city, we really do well.

Uh and hopefully the young people will see that you know we're trying to make it better and trying to do a good job for them and and leave them with a city that's financially stable enough and the infrastructure's good enough that they'll be able to continue on.

Thank you so much.

All righty, Councilmember Martinez, how has a teacher or class you took as a young person shaped who you are today personally or as a leader?

Did that experience inspire an initiative that you have led?

Um so I will say that I've ex I've had the privilege and pleasure to have several adult role models.

One individual that comes to mind, he's no longer with us, he was a mentor of mine.

Um he was my basketball coach in middle school.

He became the chief of staff for the district I council member in the late 90s.

Um when I was about to graduate, he saw me in the local park and he's like, hey, what are you doing?

Um, you know, what are you gonna do for the summer?

I didn't know what I was gonna do for the summer.

Uh but my dad told him just put him to work.

He doesn't have to get paid, you know, so on.

He allowed me to have access to City Hall for about three years off and on when I was going to school.

Um this this guy um he didn't talk about titles, right?

He was a chief of staff, but I didn't know what the chief of staff was in.

And now that I'm a council member, I get it.

Um, right, but even um understanding that he was my basketball coach, a regular person, quite frankly, all of us will be up here are regular folks as well.

Uh, what he shared with me, and it's something that my dad would always say too is uh one clown doesn't make the circus.

Um one day I'm gonna be out of this seat, and another clown's gonna come in and take over this position.

There was a clown before me, there's gonna be a clown after me.

And it it really puts it in two perspectives for me.

Uh when one clown doesn't make the circus, right?

That means that we're all indispensable, right?

We all can be you know be gone one day to the next.

Um, and so understanding that my time here is finite, um, something that I learned, you know, from my mentor, right?

That we need to make sure that we're pouring all of ourselves into everything we're doing at that moment.

The other aspect of it, right?

If I'm gonna be a clown in the circus, I need to be the best clown that I can be in this circus.

Uh someone like uh, and I will say his name because it's he's definitely worth saying, Johnny Soto, uh, my basketball coach, um, he instilled in me that I need to make sure that I'm pouring into young folks as well.

Um, and so whenever I have the opportunity to uh speak to you all, and I try to speak to you as many of you all before I got up here, apparently I took too long to get up here because I was talking to you all.

But quite frankly, I think those interactions is what he left me and giving me an opportunity to now be a city council member.

Quite frankly, I don't know how I became a city council member, like you know, I knew at one point I wanted to, but to have somebody just believe in you, pour into you, um, is what he left in me.

And that ultimately to the last question, like how does that like what do I how do I how do I now use that?

Like that's what I do now.

I need to make sure that I'm pouring into each and every one of young folks that are around me because quite frankly, you're gonna be the next clown in this seat eventually, right?

Uh, or you should be, or you should be the next clown in whatever other seat, but then be the best clown that you can be in the circus as well.

Okay, thank you so much.

Okay, this brings us to our third and final round sentence on quality life.

The conditions that shape what we feel like when we grow up, learn and thrive in Houston today.

For um, Dr.

Savaz, as a quality of life committee member, how can young people get involved with initiatives to support the quality of life for young Estonians?

Well, one of the things that you can do is organize community cleanups and come out and and help to clean up your community.

It gives you a sense of pride, and it just also helps you to engage and learn how to deal with one another.

And uh when you have a common goal, and so that's one of the things that that I think you need to look at.

Um, because I believe that a clean community um functions better, and it's also you have less crime, I think, when you have a cleaner community.

So you could really have some impact.

Uh, you know, we're talking about trash fees and dumping and illegal dumping and all of that.

But for you to get out there and really see it also gives you that sense of pride that lets you know that you shouldn't be throwing things out of your car.

You know, I mean, you ride by people and they put the whole McDonald's meal out on the side of the car.

You know, they open the door and they throw it out.

You know, when I was coming up, you know, don't mess with Texas, don't be a litter bug, all of that.

But just that sense of pride, if you're one of those that's out there helping to clean it up, you're not gonna take it very well.

And you're gonna tell other people, hey, let's have some pride.

Now I'm not asking you to be a hero or Shiro or anything like that, but it because it's all in how you treat people and how and how you talk to people.

I I some of these guys, you know, they throw the car and they look and I opened, I say, could you help me out?

Could you please?

And not ever has one said anything ugly to me, and not I've had him get out of the car and go back and pick it up.

So it's all in how you treat people, but certainly that is one way that you can get a sense of pride and and certainly provide a better quality of life.

Thank you so much.

Environmental sustainability is such a prevalent issue that's coming up more and more as you see things with climate change getting worse and worse.

So I really feel like um helping keep your community clean is a really good thing to connect them.

Alrighty, your last question, Councilmember Flickinger.

How do you plan to involve young people in the decision decision-making process for District E?

The biggest thing is to have a relationship with them.

Uh, and one of the things I've done with that, and kind of similar to Councilwoman Shabazz, in Kingwood, the community was actually cut out of a forest.

And when they put in the drainage and they did the streets, it kind of changed it up.

And we've got these very large medians that have just grown really unruly over the last 40 years.

So we have a thing called median madness.

And we have a lot of young people that come out and they help out with that and you work side by side with them.

And while I'm doing that, you know, they'll talk about different issues and ask me for advice and that kind of thing.

And I just think we're really having a relationship with them.

In fact, uh one of the groups has gotten very uh involved with it's called the Young Men's Service League.

Um, we had uh about 200 people come out here three, four months ago.

In fact, the mayor joined us as well.

So I think a lot of it's just having a relationship with them, talking with them, getting to know them, have them uh feel free to be able to ask you questions, tell you what they think, that type of thing.

Thank you so much.

Okay, our last question for council member Martinez.

How can we bridge the mentoring gap for at-risk youth in our community?

Great question.

Uh, just a little bit of background.

Before I was um a council member, I was on staff for my with my predecessor for ten years, but before that, I got to manage youth programs.

Um, so one thing I want to just, you know, and uh understanding this question at risk, um, let's take out at risk because what ultimately it comes down to is a lack of exposure.

Um I grew up in a family of 12 uh in the East End, and really all I knew was that neighborhood.

I didn't get exposed to too much, and so um you really need to make sure that, and I would even challenge you all.

Um it's not at risk, right?

Is how do you make sure that you bring to light something that somebody didn't know in your neighborhood, maybe in your school?

So if you're a senior or junior in high school, how do you touch that ninth grader?

Because quite frankly, you are a leader now, and they you can be a mentor now to open up their eyes to something that you've already experienced.

But then if you have access to middle school students, right?

Um, and how do you do that if you're a high school student and mentor at that level?

But quite frankly, uh it really does start a lot younger, and the more that you can um be a big brother or a big sister to an elementary student and read to them, right?

I mentioned to y'all uh finding those, you know, my mentor who's my basketball coach.

How do you become that person that ultimately provides uh a space and experience that they might not otherwise have?

Um, I think that uh for you all as young leaders right now, y'all should step into that role and find that opportunity to say, hey, um, I might not have, or there's something that I probably could have done better.

How do I make sure I go down to that elementary school and and make sure that this student understands uh what barriers that they need to be ready for and how do they prepare for that stuff as well?

Thank you so much.

Alrighty, that brings us to the close of our panel discussion.

I want to offer a genuine thank you to Councilmember Shabazz, Councilmember Flickinger, and Councilmember Martinez for being here tonight and engaging so thoughtfully with these questions.

We are now moving into our QA session, and this is y'all's moment to ask questions.

We have approximately 30 minutes for questions from both the youth online and here in the room.

For those of you watching live on YouTube and Facebook, your questions are being collected and will be read aloud.

For those of you here in person, our audience engagement team volunteers will assist you.

I'll now turn things over to James Gonzalez, who will manage the in-person questions.

Thank you, Glinton.

Uh, can we please have Mariam, ninth grader, please come on down?

Or up?

Thank you, come on up, so my name is Mariam Kahn.

I'm a ninth grader.

I'm representing the City of Houston Youth Ambassadors.

My question is more of a general question.

It's not directed to any specific council member, but one of my questions was: what are some easy ways that youth living in the greater Houston area can do to help out the city of Houston.

That youth can help out the city of Houston.

Yeah, in a more easier way if they aren't able to go into the inner city.

Yeah, um, and I think we all kind of touched on it.

I think what you can do is find out what's literally in your neighborhood.

There's civic associations, sometimes it's your church.

Um there's a there's gonna be something in your neighborhood that is looking to improve that quality of life.

Um quite frankly, it's they've been around for a long time, so it's really understanding um your immediate surroundings.

Uh every youth has access to this, right?

And then quite frankly, y'all have even faster access to it because you have the internet.

Uh so I would encourage you to find out immediately, like in your immediate area, who's doing things or what are you interested in, um, and then tackle it, and then if there's nothing in your immediate area but you're interested in, how do you start that right?

So I would encourage you all to um you know get on that phone, figure it out like what is it that you care about, what are you passionate about, and then bring others along with you.

We do find this a lot, and I'm sure they could attest to it.

Civic associations, we attend them all the time, um, and it's usually a neighborhood of a couple hundred homes, but there's always about 10 or 15 that are there dedicated, right?

So, understand that you're gonna probably be carrying a heavy load because there's not a lot of people that jump into this this role.

Uh, but don't get tired, don't get tired, right?

But keep on doing those things because at the end of the day, everything you do is for the improvement of your community and your your immediate family and surroundings.

To Councilman Martinez's point, uh, there's always something that you could volunteer to help with.

Uh, another good place to find that is your church.

Uh, a lot of times your church will have social ministries that uh do different things for the people in the community, find something you enjoy, something you'd like to do, and get involved with it.

I'm gonna maybe uh look at it a little differently.

My dad was a high school basketball coach, and so I know how important it is to involve yourself in sports.

You certainly, some of these summer leagues, it teaches you how to work with each other and it teaches how to be a team.

That's really important in doing anything for the city, because it's not one voice, it's several voices.

So you could start out picking a team or something that you like.

I mean, that sounds pretty simple, right?

Rather than trying to find somebody to let you uh and we and by the way, we do give tools and everything for picking up trash, but you know, but it might not be what you want to do.

But I think if you start out maybe getting engaged with some type of activity that's gonna give you some socialization, besides the internet, because the internet really takes away the socialization.

You know, we don't talk to each other anymore.

Um, you know, I think that's why we have a lot of violence, because we don't know how to resolve problems, and so I think that if you start out on a team sport and and you start working with each other, I think that's the great beginning of not only doing something that you enjoy, but working on a skill and developing a skill of team team working as a team and teamwork.

Thank you so much for answering my question.

Well, thank you for asking.

Okay, thank you.

All right, next thing we please please have uh Andrew come to the podium, please.

Andrew is in eighth grader, and he has a question for council member Shabazz.

And why?

Well, good evening.

How hard is it to be a city council member?

How hard is it to be a city council member?

Yes, ma'am.

Well, you know, people think, and and I know I'm I'm on TV a lot.

Somebody just passed me by.

I think I know you because I see you.

But it's not just, and I'm gonna be on TV again tonight.

I was on TV last night.

But at any rate, it I digress.

Anyway, um, it's really not as easy as it looks, basically.

It's not just taking pictures and kissing babies, it's it's certainly you have to have a heart.

I think you have to have a calling.

Because it's very, very hard to to do this job if you don't really have a heart for the people.

Because that's that's what this is about, making life better for someone else.

And sometimes it's, you know, you have to sacrifice your time.

I mean, you know, we're here now, and this is enjoyable, but at the same time, you know, we have to go out and talk to constituents and you know who are sometimes having sometimes having some real problems.

And so I would say that it's a hard job, but if you have a heart for it, it's not as difficult because I tell people, you know, I might say, Oh, I gotta go do this, but I am just explaining.

I am not complaining because I love what I do, and I think that makes the tremendous difference.

I appreciate that.

Thank you for answering my question.

Thank you.

Thank you for keeping it.

All right, next thing we please have Danzel, 11th grader.

Please come on down to the podium, please.

Danzel.

All right, I'll go ahead and ask uh Danzel's question.

Uh Denzel's question was directed for council member Flickinger, and he asked, as council members, how will you address educational funding concerns for students?

Actually, part of getting involved in government and learning about your government, you'll find out that the city doesn't do that.

Uh, that's actually a state function.

The state decides how much funding goes to education.

Uh, you know, that's determined by your state representative, your state senators, the governor.

Uh so that is one of the other things that I mean, a lot of times people will come to us with issues, and we have no authority over it whatsoever.

And and I think that's part of also being a good elected official, knowing what's your role and staying within your role, and that's not in ours.

Okay, thank you for uh the council members for answering these questions and also uh let's get a round of applause for all the people that submitted questions and asked questions.

All right, thank you.

I'm gonna go ahead and turn it back over to Clayton at the podium for our next segment.

All righty, does anyone else have any questions?

You're welcome to go ahead.

What's your name?

My name is Michael.

Michael, okay.

You can go up to the little mic there and ask it.

Just say your name and kind of where you're from and then which council member attacks.

Okay, so thank you everybody for being here tonight, and thank you for the special guests for coming here and being able to share your voice is a really powerful thing.

So I have a few questions, but I'll try to keep it concise so we don't waste too much time.

Uh, but my first question is for Mr.

Flickinger, and it's the fact that Houston is growing at an incredible rate.

And what is the challenge that the next generation is expected to inherit that the current leaders still don't know how to fully fix?

Um actually, and there's some disagreement on your first point.

Uh city has about 2.3 million people.

10 years ago they had about 2.3 million people.

Uh they've got about the same number of people.

It goes up a little bit and down a little bit each year.

Uh, one of the things that is different is the number of people per household has decreased quite a bit.

So we actually have more houses with the same same number of people.

Um there's a lot of challenges that we will not have solved.

Uh certainly our financial challenges are the biggest one.

Uh the uh budget is just getting rolled out this week.

Uh we're having budget committee meetings for all the different departments.

Uh, the budget is gonna be a challenge for a long time.

And it's the same thing with with all big cities, and in fact, Houston does significantly better than most big cities.

Uh and with the financial challenges, uh, the biggest thing with that is uh our infrastructure, uh, especially water.

Uh we're gonna be spending several billion dollars taking care of our water system and our sewer system.

Uh, and in fact, we're under consent decree currently where the Department of Justice from Washington said, Houston, you know, you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing to treating the sewage, you've got too much leaking out in the soil, and that went on for probably what, 15 years until finally, I think about 2017, they came back and you know, we agreed to say, okay, we're gonna fix it, we're gonna spend this much money with it, and the DOJ said, okay, we're gonna hold you to that, and you're gonna have to keep doing that.

So that's that's probably the biggest challenge is is the infrastructure, the long-term finances uh pensions are are still a long-term financial issue that we've got to deal with.

So that is the biggest thing that that's gonna have to be continued to be dealt with.

I I think this mayor and this administration has done a fantastic job in addressing it, but that is not a one-and-done thing.

Uh, that is something that we have to come back and address again and again and again.

Thank you.

And uh if I could ask another question, um, Houston is known, and this is directed at the entire panel, and Houston is known as the energy capital of the world, and that's a kind of one of the big things we're known for.

However, as the industry is evolving towards nuclear energy, LNG, more renewable resources.

How can we prepare our students, the students in the city of Houston, to adapt to the new job market and industries that will dominate 20 years ahead of now?

Is that for me as well?

It's just for everybody, yes.

Um fossil fuels are gonna be here for a long time.

Uh, even with the trillions and subsidies they have spent into doing wind and solar, I think it makes up about 10% of our total energy.

Uh so you know, fossil fuels are gonna continue to be the biggest thing.

Uh, obviously, we want to be on the leading edge of wind and solar as well, and alternatives, nuclear.

Uh, in fact, uh uh Texas AM is getting a nuclear reactor.

Uh so I mean that's gonna be something that that we'll see how that plays out.

Uh, really don't know what's gonna happen with AI and and what kind of demands that's gonna have on our energy needs because obviously they use a lot of electricity.

Um, but uh fossil fuels are gonna be here for a long time.

I really don't see an abrupt change, but you know, we still want to be on the cutting edge with with everything as well as well.

I'll add on to it as well.

So it is, and I think there's always gonna be differences of opinion as well, right?

Uh, when it comes to oil and gas.

And you know, we talk about the future and talk about clean clean energy and stuff of that sort.

So there is a uh a shift in energy transition as well here in the city of Houston.

Um, when you look at the workforce in 20 years from now, uh, we take take in consideration as well.

We are the one of the largest medical centers you know in the world.

Um, we also have the port of Houston, which is the largest port.

Um, so we're you know, we're talking about logistics now.

Um, when we start thinking about 20 years from now and what is what are those jobs that y'all should be looking at, right?

I think we still need to start looking at technol uh technology and innovation in that space um and figure out how um as whether it is oil and gas, whether it is here, but how do we start working to uh shift over to cleaner energy?

How do we start looking at um logistics and how that is also done in a in a clean way?

I think ultimately, as I have a daughter that's five years old, I want to make sure that she has a uh a city that is clean.

Um, I represent uh part of the port of Houston, uh also heavy truck industry.

Um, how do we make sure that that we are taking care of the environment throughout all of these spaces?

Um that you're that you um you know that that we currently are really settled in again.

I think we're always gonna be the energy capital of the world, but diversifying that more and more and more is important.

Um right now I think Austin is kind of seen as a tech and innovation hub in the state.

There's uh we have all the the pieces to the puzzle to be the tech and innovation uh you know hub in the state here in Houston, whether it's through the medical field, whether it's through energy, whether it's through logistics, and so uh start looking at what what is that how do you uh introduce that tech and innovation in every field that we're in now is important as well.

Thank you, and thank you for all of you guys for being here and answering my questions.

All righty we also have another question if you want to go ahead and step up to the podium, and then we'll get you or you can go after um the gentleman there.

Yes, I'm Andrew Miras, and I'm from Albow Speed Tech.

I'm a ninth grader.

And my question is, whenever working in the future, how do you all of y'all plan to enhance academics within our elementary schools to build a stronger foundation for children?

So I'll go go ahead.

Okay.

Well, so uh as Councilman Flickr mentioned, right?

Um, the education space, it's it's somewhat limited.

We do have some opportunities.

One of the things that we get to do, which I enjoy, enjoy because I used to manage youth programs, is um our Harris County Department of Education case for kids.

We get to identify uh schools within our district to be able to fund after school programming, and so I'm very cognizant about what types of programs that are being done uh within our district, but then if there's a gap also, um I make sure that we're introducing you know this opportunity to other nonprofits to be vendors with the Harris County Department of Education to where we're able to, you know, again to some extent uh um supplement the work that you know whatever school district which you're whether it is Aldeing or HISD, um but uh again unfortunately we can't we can't do as much as we would probably want uh but that does also open up opportunities and I know uh one of our uh adult leaders is here and he's uh on the board for Lone Star.

So how do you start connecting with some of those educational entities as well to provide that support um for young folks?

I think we have to start really young and maybe do interest inventories to find out what our students like, because if you find that area that you really really like, you tend to navigate uh gravitate to that, and I think you do much better.

And so, you know, some countries start you out with interest inventories and then they really gear you to because we have specialized schools that that handle certain things uh or a certain curriculum, and then we have to make sure that the curriculum is relevant, not something like back when I was in school, you know, we had cleaning and pressing and vocation, you know, just different stuff that is really not done much now, but certainly we're gonna have to stay on the cutting edge of what is relevant and start out young.

You know, that's why it's important that we go uh as adults, go back to these schools when they have those career days and kind of let students know, you know, this is what I do, and this is how I got there, because sometimes you would be surprised.

Something you could say to somebody as early as elementary school could put could pique their interest where they could move forward, and then by the time they get to high school, they are ready to go out and and really really uh tweak that interest.

So I think it's the the younger the better, and I'm just gonna say students are smarter now.

They really are.

I mean, you know, they say you're weaker and wiser, whatever that means, but certainly you are so wise, and it's things that you think about that never crossed our minds, but certainly you can take that interest and move it into something lucrative because you want to be able to take care of yourself and your families, but going to work on a job that you like is much easier.

So try to pique your interest towards that young in life.

And kind of taking off on what Councilman Martinez said, although from a government standpoint, there's not a lot we can do with education.

Uh certainly there is on a personal standpoint.

Uh, my mom was on the San Centro College Board of Regents for a couple of decades, and uh I've supported that college financially for quite a while.

In fact, me and my brother have set up a memorial scholarship uh in order to help kids uh get uh you know associate degrees there.

In fact, was just talking with Clayton and uh he is just getting his uh associates degree.

Uh my niece uh is getting her associates, in fact, she got her associate's degree last week.

She won't graduate to from high school until uh the next week.

Uh and there's certainly a lot of things you can do in the community colleges, and I think a lot of it is is kind of looked down upon.

Uh Councilman Martinez mentioned the port earlier.

Uh there are a group of people who pilot the ships in and out of the port.

Uh, doesn't seem like much of a job.

Uh those guys are making three, four hundred thousand dollars a year.

Uh you can make an excellent living doing a lot of different stuff.

Uh, and you know, if if you like being on boats, if you like the ocean, to Councilman Shabazz's point, you'll be doing something you love, making a really good buck doing it.

So there's a lot of opportunity.

So don't close yourself off to, oh, it's got to be a four-year university and I gotta do this.

Take a look at what whatever you can and see what fits for you.

All right, thank you.

And excuse me, and a lot of young people don't know the port has trades, and those trades will train you for free.

If you reach out to them, did you hear me say free?

And then you end up with a very good job.

Um, and and you have very good skills because they are out there and you know making the money, and they're gonna make sure that you are able to do the job well, and so you may want to look at those things, and then the associate degrees, they didn't have those when I was coming up.

That's really wonderful because at least by the time you finish high school, you have saved your parents two years of tuition, and and that's a lot because tuition now is a house note.

No, it's a how it's a mortgage because people are having to actually mortgage their homes now to pay for education.

So just imagine what two years of education on somebody else's dime can do for your families, and and then in two years after that, then you have a degree.

So those are things that you should consider.

Councilman Shabaz just reminded me of something.

Um San Central Community College has a program called the Edge Program.

It is down at Spaceport.

Uh they have a bunch of kids that work for intuitive machines, and they've got jobs there.

In fact, uh Intuitive Machines uh a year ago sent up the first lunar module that the United States has sent up in 40 years, and the kids all had their names on the uh foot pads for each one of them.

So there it was up on the moon.

So there's a lot of different opportunities, but make sure you explore them.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

I think we have one more question.

Uh good evening, council members.

My name is Eric Pace.

I am a junior at Clear Lake High School, and I have a couple questions that are directed to every one of you tonight.

So uh my first question is how do you plan on making political discussion less taboo and more accessible among the youth?

Because I think as one of you mentioned earlier, uh, you know, it's wonderful that we're all gathered here, but there certainly could be more people.

So, how do you plan on making that happen?

Well, in in my office, as I said, we hire a lot of interns, and they don't just push paper.

They actually give their ideas and have these discussions, and that's a start, but certainly uh schools have political organizations that you can join.

I've had the opportunity to go and speak to a lot of students at the University of Houston.

Uh they have uh political discussions, and and I'm gonna tell you that's what it's gonna take, because you you know, we have so many people who don't want to get engaged and they're like, Well, my vote doesn't count, your vote counts.

There are people who have won uh elected offices with three votes.

I mean, and you might think that that's ludicrous, but somebody told me that I did a podcast the other day, and she told me that she got in a runoff and she had three more votes than the person next to her, and that's how she ended up in a runoff.

But certainly understand the process, politics impacts everything.

You would be surprised if it's as much as this right here, they can think of an ordinance of something that controls that.

I mean, seriously, it may sound really, really minute, but you would be surprised what politics impacts, and so make sure that you become engaged, and then if you don't know, find an organization.

I know the NAACP has a youth organization.

A lot of organizations engage youth.

So go in and get started there, and then that way you can impact the process because you're gonna be you you get a head start because you're gonna be engaged before some of your other friends.

I think the biggest thing you can do to make it not so taboo is to try and take the vitreol out of it.

Um somebody that disagrees with you politically isn't necessarily a bad person.

In fact, they're probably not a bad person.

Uh, just because you know, we disagree.

In fact, me and Joaquin disagree quite a bit.

I probably enjoy Joaquin's company as much as anybody's.

Uh, you know, my politics are right or center, his politics are left to center.

It's it's fine.

You know, it's not the end of the world.

Uh, you know, he's not a bad person because he disagrees with me.

I'm not a bad person because I disagree with him.

Uh, a lot of times we just see the world a little differently.

Uh, and I think it's it's really gotten ugly.

Uh, you know, it's you know, everybody's a Nazi, everybody's this, everybody's that.

And it's like, come on, folks.

I mean, we're all Americans.

I I think at the end of the day, we all want what's best for the country.

Obviously, we have different paths, is what we think the best paths are to get there.

Uh, and that's fine.

We can have those disagreements.

Uh, I think the the gerrymandering of uh the the districts uh is awful.

Um, you know, I think when you divide people up like that, uh you play to the far left or the far right of the bases of that party, and you get kind of the wackadoodles come out, and and they're the loudest voices.

Uh, and and that just doesn't go on, you know, by state.

I mean, okay, you're in my district in Clear Lake, right?

What in the world are you doing in my district in Kingwood?

It makes no sense whatsoever, except it was done politically, the gerrymandering.

Uh, you know, we had this with uh Harris County and what they did with the commissioner's court here several years ago.

Uh, you know, that kind of stuff makes it far more vitriolic and gets people upset and gets people mad.

Uh, but we really need to take that out as much as possible, and everybody just kind of relax.

It's okay if you disagree with me.

Yeah, I'll add on to that, right?

So, as he said, I'm moderate left, he's moderate right.

Uh the key word is moderate, right?

And then we're able to have a lot of conversations.

And quite frankly, we actually agree on more things than what people might think we disagree on.

Um, what I would what I do to make sure that uh young folks stay engaged is you have to meet kids, young kids, a little bit older, young adults where they are, and so I really try to be intentional about that invitation to young folks all together, right?

We've done uh bike rides with uh there's a high school group, it's uh wellness on wheels at Millby High School in the southeast part of Houston, um, where we've participated in bike rides together, and then we talk about other other challenges and issues in the in the community.

Um there's other young groups that are that are meeting.

Um, there's probably about two months ago, I had several uh high school students from the East End that I represent.

Uh they came in and they were doing mock city council public session, and so again, it's it's being intentional about that.

Um, one thing that I wanted to start it my first year, I'm in my third year, uh, but as Councilman Flick and Jerry mentioned, there's some huge priorities like the finances and core services that we've been having to focus on.

Um, but a a um a young adult civics 101.

Uh, I'm gonna start that this year, hopefully.

Um, and it's essentially gonna be how does government work, right?

Specifically at the municipal level, but then also teaching them what that looks like in other levels of government, because again, we can't do everything, and then quite frankly, government in general should not be doing everything either, right?

So, how do you hold community accountable to those things?

So I think for me, it's always just showing up where young folks are.

I try to read in some of the elementary still, have conversations.

One of the things that I love to do with them is because they ask, Well, what do you do?

And I tell them there's two things that they can really relate to, right?

I make sure, so imagine if uh the trash didn't come to come come to your house for a month.

What does that look like?

And all those elementary students are like, uh, disgusting.

All right.

Or some of that problem.

We did.

We did.

The other question I ask them is imagine if you can't flush your toilet for a month, and they're like, uh, disgusting.

Those are things that young folks uh we're able to tell them this is what I do, this is what we do, this is what my team does.

We make sure we pick up your trash, we make sure you can flush a toilet.

Going to them and having a uh conversation where they understand, and then from there, how do you elevate that conversation so that way, as they understand, how do they stay engaged as well is important to me.

All right, thank you so much.

All righty, thank you guys.

Before we close out this evening, I want to bring up someone who has been instrumental and making tonight happen.

Please join me in welcoming Koya Advisor Ebony Jones for our closing remarks.

All right, good evening, everybody again.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You got to talk back to me.

I love to talk.

My name is Ebony Jones.

I serve as one of the program leaders for the City of Houston Youth Ambassadors.

We've had a lot of great conversation tonight about how to get involved.

This is a little off script, but if you're a part of either the youth ambassadors or the mayor's youth council, can you guys stand for me?

So for thank you guys, you guys can be seated.

For those of you that have questions of how you can get involved, you want to get involved and want to know like, hey, where can I start?

All of those youth that you saw sand are a part of either one of those organizations.

Those are two programs at the city that you guys can be a part of.

So see those young people that were standing, talk to them after this.

Ask them why they got involved, how they're involved, and just get to know them a little bit and stay connected so you can figure out how to get involved moving forward.

Back to the script, I serve as one of the program leaders for the City of Houston Youth Ambassadors, which is the program under the Mayor's Office of Education and Youth Engagement.

It's truly a pleasure to serve young people each and every day and create spaces where youth feel heard, valued, and empowered.

Seeing so many students engaged in conversation about leadership and civic engagement tonight has been incredibly inspiring.

And even in those times in between when things are like flashy and front-facing, it's inspiring each and every day.

Before we wrap up tonight's youth town hall, I sincerely want to thank every young person, educator, parent, community partner, and our city leaders who joined us this evening.

Events like this remind us that youth voices are not just the future of Houston, they're a vital part of Houston today.

It's been incredibly inspiring to see you guys here.

And with that, I want to turn it over to my amazing partner in this work and coordinator of this wonderful event, Johara Jackson.

All right, everybody.

Um, I will stick to the script because I tend to forget things.

Um, first, I'd like to say, on behalf of the Mayor's Youth Council and the City of Houston Youth Ambassadors, thank you for believing in the power of young people, and thank you so much for spending time engaging with young people tonight.

Thank you so much.

Big round of applause for you for that.

Um, special thank you to uh council members uh Pollard, Councilmember Dr.

Shabazz, Councilmember Flickinger, and Council Member Martinez, um, city departments, school partners, and all of the organizations represented here tonight for taking the time to listen, connect, and invest in Houston Youth.

We hope tonight encouraged everyone here to continue using their voice, getting involved, and helping shape the future of our city.

Thank you all again for joining us for our city, our voice, a youth town hall, and have a safe evening, everyone, and please join us for refreshments afterwards.