Community Engagement Team
Trusted Youth Advocates ~ Public Awareness Campaign
by Jittu Gurmessa, Maixee Lee, and Por Ge Her
Who are we?
A lot of the time, adults think that they know what young people want, think, and feel. However, as young people we know that they don't always get it right. Thats why the Trusted Youth Advocates exist.
We are a part of the Sprockets Community Engagement Team. The Sprockets Community Engagement Team is a group of 10 hard-working youth interns. We work together with public health officials to create a media campaign to raise awareness about COVID-19.
Right Track, a program that offers summer employment opportunities for Saint Paul youth ages 14 to 24 who are from a low-income family or have a barrier to employment, employs us and gives us an opportunity to be a part of changing our community and connect us to more possibilities. Funding for this program was obtained through the Ramsey County Workforce Solutions. With support from many caring adults, we are leaders in the community and can bring change!
What are we doing? What do we hope to accomplish?
We are working with Sprockets Network and public health officials to target public health messaging to youth to address information vacuum about COVID-19 for youth audiences who don't necessarily subscribe to the channels our officials are using. Through these campaigns, we try to target youths about the age of middle schoolers to college students. As young people, we hope to encourage other young people to follow the safety precautions (wearing masks, washing hands, maintaining 6ft apart, etc.) through our messages to stay safe. In order to do this, we will use appealing language as well as media to help capture the attention of young people. This includes having catchy phrases or slogans so that people can remember our messages, and data or facts that may surprise the audience. We believe that social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram would be great places to market our campaigns because we know many young people enjoy using them. Through this process, we are developing our marketing and networking skills as well as learning about public sector work.
All of the work that we do is virtual! We have worked on some really fun projects where we raise awareness about COVID-19 through various art forms such as video-making, graphic designing, and newsletter writing.
Stay connected and updated with our work by following our social media! Stay safe and healthy!
Follow our work on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
