Nearly half of the first state Senate committee on energy and environment meeting this session was spent listening to testimony from eight people 鈥� all of them in their teens or early 20s.
An eighth grader spoke about the negative impacts of the meat industry on human health and the environment. A high schooler spoke about the conversations she and her peers have on the morality of having children as the climate crisis persists. A recent college graduate spoke about the inability to afford well-insulated, energy-efficient homes due to student loan debt and the rising costs of housing.
Young people have served a powerful role in political and social movements throughout history 鈥� from school integration and the Vietnam War to South African apartheid and March for Our Lives.
Today, hundreds of young Oregonians 鈥� kindergarteners through college 鈥� are in issues that affect them, their peers and their futures. The environment, the state鈥檚 child welfare system, student mental health and sexual violence prevention are just starting examples.
But new in Oregon this legislative session is a growing effort by lawmakers to regularly include youth perspectives.
This effort was first started by , D-Albany, and has since inspired , D-Hillsboro and chair of the Senate energy and environment committee, to do the same. They hope it becomes a wider practice.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about accessibility and letting people know that we are a 鈥榗itizen Legislature,鈥欌�� Sollman told the Capital Chronicle. 鈥淲e represent our community, and (youth) are just as much part of our community as someone who is voting age.鈥�
Sollman and Gelser Blouin said they haven鈥檛 experienced much pushback in the Oregon Legislature, but the issue has come up in other states. In last month, for example, some lawmakers banned people under 18 from testifying in their committees unless invited by the chairperson or accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Gelser Blouin said kids know what鈥檚 going on, and the decisions elected officials make will directly impact them. She wants to ensure young people see civic engagement as something valuable and open to them.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important not to call them 鈥� 鈥榯he next generation of leaders.鈥� They鈥檙e leaders today,鈥� Gelser Blouin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not cute when they talk. It鈥檚 not performative. The kids have important things to say, and we need to stop and listen.鈥�
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Eye-opening testimony
Gelser Blouin originally had the idea to include young people on a regular basis in testimony and when initially presenting bills to committees back in 2019. Her efforts came to fruition in the 2021 special session.
Gelser Blouin, a mother of five and vocal advocate in the developmental disability community, said the biggest lesson she鈥檚 learned from her work is the importance of letting people tell their own stories.
鈥淭hese are folks who too often have their stories told for them,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 just another way to take agency from people, even when it鈥檚 not intentional.鈥�
Gelser Blouin recalled a student who walked miles to a committee hearing of hers in Corvallis so he could talk about access to mental health services. She鈥檚 worked with young people who had to consult attorneys to testify and who鈥檝e navigated privacy issues to share their experiences publicly. One child spoke to lawmakers in a recorded testimony about being sent out of state for care when she was 9, being verbally and physically abused and put under chemical restraints.
鈥淚 can say it鈥檚 wrong to call a 9-year-old a prostitute, but to hear an 11-year-old talk about what that felt like and see how tiny and little she is and have her describe what it鈥檚 like to have bruises on her arms and feel like she can鈥檛 breathe and to cough up blood,鈥� Gelser Blouin said, trailing off. 鈥淲hen an adult says it, it sounds like something that happened a long time ago, or it鈥檚 just kind of theoretical. These are the people who are really experiencing it.鈥�
Some people have challenged Gelser Blouin about inviting young people to speak about especially troubling topics, like child abuse, saying it鈥檚 damaging or traumatic for the children to testify.
Her response? 鈥淚f they鈥檝e lived it, they should be allowed to speak it.鈥�
鈥淣obody can tell their story the way they can tell their own story,鈥� Gelser Blouin said. She said it鈥檚 eye-opening when young people testify and their accounts differ from what was reported by adults.
鈥淚f a policy is about someone, they need to be leading the discussion,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o, if we aren鈥檛 making space to hear from them, we can鈥檛 make good policy.鈥�
Sollman follows suit
Sollman was on Gelser Blouin鈥檚 2021-22 interim Senate Committee on Human Services, Mental Health and Recovery. She was moved by the chairwoman鈥檚 inclusion of young people.
When she started leading the energy and environment committee in 2023, Sollman said she wanted to ensure part of the meeting was dedicated to them as well.
Students are her committee in person or virtually and to submit written testimony. Interest from young people was strong at first 鈥� Sollman said students may have thought they would only have one chance to speak 鈥� but has tapered off. Still, Sollman promises the committee will hear from at least one young person at the end of every meeting.
Sollman pushed for a student representative when she served on the Hillsboro school board before her time in state office, and she worked with students across the state to ban single-use plastic bags. Her Senate profile has an entire webpage dedicated to in the Legislature.
After receiving letters from fourth graders in 2019 for , limiting plastic straw use only upon request, then-Rep. Sollman spoke the students鈥� words on the House floor.
She鈥檚 since received at least 500 letters from students asking her to ban polystyrene, and dozens of sixth graders have sent her letters in support of this year鈥檚 , which would make rescue cats and dogs the official Oregon pet.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 making decisions in the best interest of kids,鈥� she said, 鈥淚 need to go where they (are) and talk with them.鈥�
Sollman said some are waiting to see how effective her youth voices initiative is. One committee colleague, she said, recently said he wasn鈥檛 sure how it would play out. But after the first meeting, he told her, 鈥淭his is pretty cool.鈥�
鈥淢ore and more, people are opening up,鈥� Sollman said, 鈥渁nd I think that鈥檚 probably 鈥� because these students are being more vocal on social media and people can see that they (have) something to offer.鈥�
Sexual violence prevention work
In addition to committee testimony, young people are finding other ways to get involved in statewide legislation.
Audrey Bong, 17, was volunteering for the 24-hour crisis hotline when she got an all-too-common call. A teen was in distress after someone leaked their nude photographs 鈥� and they had no idea what to do.
The experience prompted Bong to start working with fellow high school seniors Maya Raphael and Gabriella Cohen on an initiative to prevent such abuse from happening in the future.
鈥淩egardless of the school you go to, there is always talk about sexual violence,鈥� Bong said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to generate a better awareness and expectation for how you should handle sexual violence as a youth.鈥�
All three Portland-area students previously interned at the Capitol, and they are among the five young people leading the Youth Interpersonal Violence Prevention Coalition, which partners with organizations and state agencies to create funding and support for sexual violence prevention education in Oregon schools.
"Regardless of the school you go to, there is always talk about sexual violence. We鈥檙e just trying to generate a better awareness and expectation for how you should handle sexual violence as a youth."鈥� Audrey Bong, 17, senior at Riverdale High School in Portland
They鈥檙e involved in a proposal this session that鈥檚 set to go before the Senate education and joint ways and means committees. The proposal, , would require the Oregon Department of Education to establish a $20 million grant for school districts to carry out the child sexual abuse prevention program known as . Initially passed in Illinois a decade ago, the law mandates sexual abuse prevention instruction now in 38 states.
Oregon鈥檚 version of the law was passed in 2015 via . It requires students to receive a minimum of four lessons per year on topics such as child sex abuse, relationships and online communications.
Any trained counselor, teacher or other educator can teach the lessons, according to . Cohen, 18, said this is meant to ensure students can talk about these issues with any adult they feel comfortable with at their school, though that doesn鈥檛 always work.
鈥淭hese teachers are very poorly equipped to deal with these kinds of situations when they鈥檙e brought forward by students,鈥� Cohen said. Raphael, 18, agreed, saying the lessons are often unengaging and students don鈥檛 always take them seriously.
鈥淚t creates a really unsafe environment for students to (go) to teachers who maybe don鈥檛 even seem interested in teaching the Erin鈥檚 Law lessons,鈥� Cohen said. Ideally, she added, each school would have trained professionals besides teachers to talk to students.
"These teachers are very poorly equipped to deal with these kinds of situations when they're brought forward by students."鈥� Gabrielle Cohen, 18, senior at Sunset High School in Beaverton
The three leaders said there鈥檚 also a lack of statewide resources for schools and little-to-no oversight holding districts accountable. If passed, the bill would add a second full-time employee to the Oregon Department of Education to oversee the Erin鈥檚 Law grant and make sure schools comply.
鈥淪ex education is abuse prevention work. And prevention work is something that often is hard to get passed because you can鈥檛 put a number on the amount of people that you鈥檝e saved from getting sexually assaulted,鈥� Cohen said. 鈥淭his is root-cause work that I think is ignored a lot of the time.鈥�
The three encourage other youth to get involved in issues they鈥檙e passionate about, even if it鈥檚 out of their comfort zone. They said there are more resources available than they may know and chances are, if they鈥檙e experiencing something, others are too.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to be involved on a policy level,鈥� Raphael said. 鈥淥bviously, that鈥檚 great, but even the conversations you have (with your peers) will have a ripple effect.鈥�
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