The Mayor’s Youth Summit is a celebration filled with interactive art, a photo booth, food, cool giveaways, performances, and a lot more to look forward to. Cousin Stizz, a hip-hop artist from Boston, will be the keynote speaker at the event and Stizz will share his experiences as a POC artist and his success story.
The Summit scheduled for this Saturday, February 24, 2024, at the Artist for Humanity epi-center from 1 pm to 6 pm, marks the apex of a series of over 20 free events for teens hosted by various community partners throughout the February break. The collective effort aimed to offer engaging and beneficial activities for teenagers in the community and showcase the resources the city of Boston offers to its teens.
The Mayor’s Youth Summit was first held in 1994 under the Menino administration. The 2024 Mayor’s Youth Summit will mark 20 years since the last summit was held. Pedro Cruz, who is the Executive Director of the Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement (OYEA), noted that “It’s an honor to really take something that was his idea and kind of bring it back with a modern twist to it.” Cruz has enhanced the summit to suit the youth of today while still keeping core elements with the ultimate goal of highlighting various opportunities for teens in Boston and encouraging leadership and civic engagement.
The OYEA has a goal to create and support spaces that empower the next generation to become community leaders and agents of change. To achieve this goal, the OYEA has created programs like the Mayor Youth Council, Youth Lead the Change, MBTA Youth Pass, Community Council, Partner network, Professional Development series, and the upcoming Mayor’s Youth Summit. As the executive director of OYEA, Cruz uses his creative talents in photography, poetry, and creative writing to engage youth in conversations about challenges and opportunities. Cruz’s commitment to the advancement of youth has helped young people gain and develop academic, critical thinking, writing, and artistic skills.
By engaging with youth during the process of making the Mayor’s Summit, the OYEA made sure the Mayor’s Youth Summit was an experience the youth would want. Cruz remarked, “So we wanted to make sure that we continue to uplift young voices, and the projects and the programs that we run.” OYEA created numerous focus groups and feedback sessions so the youth of Boston had a say in activities, performances, food, and the guest speakers that would present at the Mayor’s youth summit. Thenceforth, OYEA hired an event planner and worked closely with the mayor’s direct team. Overall, engaging with young people played an important role in the process and that reiterates the fact that the summit is made for the youth.
Cruz stated the Mayor Youth Summit is a way, “to show the young people of this city that we actually care about them and we’re willing to invest, not just our money, but our energy and our time to make sure that they have everything they need to be successful as they grow up in the city.” OYEA cares about Boston youth and wants them to succeed by making spaces like the Mayor Youth Summit to celebrate and uplift youth with opportunities.
Cruz hopes that the Mayor Youth Summit, “becomes a tradition that we can do every year leading after this.” Make sure to get tickets to attend the summit on February 24th, 1 pm – 6 pm at the Artist For Humanity epi-center located at West 2nd Street Boston, MA 02127.
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