Boston looks to next generation leaders to improve city

Hub teens have some million-dollar ideas to improve the city and Mayor Martin J. Walsh is all ears.

Boston is poised to set aside $1 million of the citys capital budget, ask kids ages 12-25 for ideas on how to use it, and then empower them to vote for which projects to fund, starting today and ending Friday.

Youth have not been ignored, but not heard for a while, said Naomie Bourdeau, 16, a junior at Snowden International School in the Back Bay. This is the first time I felt like Ive been heard.

Since January teens like Bourdeau, as well as 16-year-old Dorchester triplets Naomi, Brianna and Chantay Robinson, and Sadyia Gurhan, 17, have gathered ideas with Youth Lead the Change, the partnership between the city and the Participatory Budgeting Project.

The group said vetting ideas from the public meetings was a challenge.

Someone said we should install a Gatorade water fountain or something like that, Chantay Robinson said. It didnt make it.

The biggest issue for me was coming up with some good ideas that will benefit people, said Brianna Robinson, a junior at Bedford High School.

To make the ballot, the idea needed to meet capital budget guidelines: feasibility, impact, project need and community need. Between 12 to 14 proposals made the cut, from a free standing graffiti wall for urban artists to playground improvements at Franklin Park and renovations to high school biology labs. Projects receiving the most votes will be funded until the $1 million limit is met. The winners will be announced June 25.

Ashley-Rose Salomon, youth organizer for Participatory Budgeting Boston, said of the kids, They determine how its done. They get to say something and see it get done. Its effective, efficient and its empowering. It actually brings the power back to the people, Salomon said. I feel all too often, especially in marginalized communities, their voices are unheard, so they choose not to vote.

Gurhan, a junior at John D. OBryant School of Math & Science and a member of the Mayors Youth Council, said, Its important because its stuff that will impact them. Its something they can get involved in.

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Boston looks to next generation leaders to improve city