Rockville Youth Commission Meeting – September 15, 2026

The Rockville Youth Commission met virtually on September 15, 2026, at 7:30 PM. The meeting focused on finalizing a youth survey to gather input from Rockville’s youth on city programs, challenges, and communication preferences. Members also discussed outreach strategies, including school announcements, social media, and in-person events, as well as plans to attend community visioning sessions for the King Farm Farmstead. The meeting included a staff liaison report on summer camp registration and the farmstead project, and approval of previous meeting minutes.

Consent Calendar

• Approved the minutes from the previous meeting by unanimous vote.

Discussion Items

• Youth Survey Revision: The commission reviewed a draft survey developed from prior discussions. Members proposed several changes:
  • Simplify question 8 to focus on how the city could better support youth.
  • Condense questions 11 (resources for school/career success) and 5 (new programs), and remove question 11 as it overlapped with question 5.
  • Revise question 7 to ask about communication platforms preferred by youth (e.g., social media, email) rather than how they currently share input.
  • Keep question 9 (top three challenges facing youth) as a key question.
  • Add a two-part question: “Is there anything you would like to see offered for youth?” and “Is there anything you feel is lacking?”
  • Make the question about current involvement in programs optional.
  • Move demographic questions (school, age, grade) to the end.
  • Add a comment box open to all answers that are not a definitive “yes” to gather more detail.
  • Change multiple-choice options for question 8 to include choices like “more services” or “more after-school activities.”
• Incentive/Raffle: Members discussed offering a gift card raffle to encourage survey completion. Staff noted that free program participation is not allowed, but gift cards can be purchased with city funds or donated by local businesses. Members volunteered to ask businesses (e.g., Panera) for donations. The raffle drawing is planned for the start-of-summer pool event in June.
• Outreach Plan: Members will promote the survey through school-wide announcements, SGAs, advisory periods, posters at local businesses, and attending after-school programs. Staff will create a poster with a QR code. The commission plans to attend a future after-school program at Twinbrook Community Center to speak with teens. A teen lock-in event on March 28-29 was highlighted as a prime opportunity for face-to-face engagement.
• King Farm Farmstead: Staff (Tara Stewart) presented upcoming community visioning sessions (March 5, March 25, April 8 in person; April 22 virtual). The commission agreed to attend one session as a group, likely on a different day than their regular meeting, and to help spread the word among youth.
• Next Meeting Date: A poll will be sent to choose between March 6 or March 26, aligning with a farmstead session.

Key Outcomes

• The survey structure was revised to focus on four core questions (top challenges, communication preferences, new programs, and demographics) plus optional questions. Staff will build the survey and share a draft by Friday or Monday for final review.
• Minutes from the previous meeting were approved unanimously.
• The commission will seek gift card donations from local businesses to use as raffle prizes.
• Members will begin outreach at their schools and local businesses once the survey and posters are ready.
• Staff will provide dates for after-school program visits and the teen lock-in event for the commission to attend.