Youth commission and council merger raise concerns before process has chance to unfold

Jun. 16—ROCHESTER — Thomas Theiler said a recent letter announcing changes for the Rochester-Olmsted County Youth Commission has him wondering whether he'll be able to continue the work he started last year.

"In the short time that I have been a member, we have pursued a project for environmental sustainability, advocated for an increase in funding for mental health resources and pushed for history to be taught truthfully in our schools," he said.

Earlier this month, youth commission members, along with members of the separate Rochester Mayor's Youth Council, received a notice that the two groups will merge, with plans to seek applications to define the new membership.

With an initial proposal to limit the participants to 25 youth, Thieler and other youth commissioners have voiced concerns.

"I fear, and this has been a concern of many on the commission, that a stricter application process will be more exclusive than inclusive, and the individuals that may not have had the opportunity to previously build their resumes will be marginalized," he said.

Approximately 35 youth were expected to return to the youth commission in the fall, and 35 high school and college students served on the youth council this year, with some overlap between the two groups.

"If they only take 25, there are a lot of kids that aren't going to get in," said Mary Gorfine, who helped coordinate youth commission efforts for 22 years before retiring June 3.

Gorfine said the number of potential youth commissioners has been capped at 50, which is a drastic increase from when she started working with the group in 2000.

"When I started with the youth commission, it was a very exclusive group limited to 16 (members)," she said. "The kids who had the highest grades and the longest resumes for volunteer experience were the kids who got on it. It was a very competitive interview process, and it didn't reflect the diversity we were beginning to see in our schools."

As membership options grew, the application process was also streamlined, meaning most students interested in joining landed a position on the commission.

"It was creating a precedent that people who don't have time to do so many extracurriculars are able to participate in youth commission," said Salma Abdi, who served on the commission for four years before graduating from Century High School this spring.

"They didn't have to prove they deserved to be on the youth commission," she said of her fellow members.

Olmsted County Board Chairman Mark Thein and Rochester Mayor Kim Norton said it's too early to judge the application process, since it hasn't been defined.

"The process is what has to play out," Norton said. "There is no predetermined outcome. We have to work with the process."

Youth are expected to receive details on the application process in August, with the first official meeting for the merged group scheduled in October.

Thein said the effort to merge the two groups was partially spurred by Gorfine's retirement and a need to fill her advisory position.

"Now is the time to rethink what we are doing, because we are going to start fresh either way," he said.

Olmsted County Administrator Heidi Welsch said she expects much to remain the same.

"The county wants to ensure that the youth commission continues to feel welcoming and inclusive, and functions as well as it did for the many years that Mary Gorfine led it," she said. "The future might look different than the past, but the fundamental role of the youth commission will remain, and we will work to ensure that this vital work continues."

The youth commission started in 1994 as an organization led by Rochester Public Schools in partnership with the city of Rochester and Olmsted County.

By 1999, Gorfine said the school district's funding dried up, and Olmsted County stepped in to take the lead role with continued funding from the city and support of the school district.

This year, the county has budgeted $17,500 for the program, and the city has budgeted another $17,500, with $7,500 of it earmarked to send youth commissioners to the National League of Cities Conference.

The mayor's youth council was created by Norton two years ago to address specific city issues and operates out of the office's existing budget.

Gorfine contends the city group was started because commission members opted not to tackle topics proposed by Norton, but the mayor says the city group sets its own topics of discussion, much like the youth commission.

"The youth have driven the topics in both the youth commission and mayor's youth council," said Norton, who has served as an adult mentor on the commission in the past.

Dominick Nowakowski, a member of both youth organizations, said both groups are rooted in youth involvement. While the commission has focused on specific youth concerns, he said the youth council has offered members insight on specific issues facing Rochester, from general operations to efforts to work with nonprofits on a variety of subjects.

"The (youth council) members' focus included similar topics but was community based," the recent Mayo High School graduate said, comparing the new group with the established commission. "We shared our concerns, priorities and questions. Mayor Norton addressed every concern and followed up with guidance on taking action or plans underway within our city to remedy the issues."

Rochester City Council member Molly Dennis said she sees distinct differences in the two groups.

"It's a totally different philosophy between the two," said Dennis, who serves as the city council's representative with the youth commission and has been invited to attend youth council meetings.

She said her experiences show the nature of commission meetings provides more opportunities for youth to express their personal views.

"This is one place where youth aren't spoon-fed the subject or the mission," she said.

For youth commission member Nandini Iyer, that's been important.

"It meant a lot to me," said the Mayo High School student, who will be a junior in the fall. "It's been a way for me to put my voice out there in the community."

Prior to the decision to merge the two groups, Olmsted County Commissioner Gregg Wright, who has served as an adult mentor on the youth commission, expressed concern about the differing nature of the two groups.

"The independence of the group is really important," he said. "They are self-directed pretty much."

Thein said he anticipates the commission's independence will continue amid efforts to merge the best aspects of the two groups and potentially create a larger role for Rochester Public Schools.

Norton said she expects the work to redefine the youth commission will include members of both youth groups.

"We have this opportunity now to be able to combine two or three different youth groups to create something that will hopefully be fabulous, but we need to work with the youth to do it," she said.

Nowakowski said he sees potential for the two groups to merge and provide added resources to youth involved.

Rochester City Administrator Alison Zelms also pointed to potential benefits amid change.

"It's always healthy to re-evaluate how we do things and look for ways to streamline our processes to have greater clarity, alignment and unity in our collective impact," she said, pointing to options for added engagement to center on youth perspectives and voices.

Others said they see potential, but some remain hesitant.

"I hope for an even better entity to come out of both of these," said Melissa Amundsen, a Rochester Public School Board member who serves as an adult mentor with the youth commission. "Take the best of both groups and combine them into something else that will be great, but I have a little bit of skepticism."

She said the skepticism comes from the sudden nature of the announcement as youth were already planning next year's work.

"I can't help but get back to the idea of taking a bunch of kids who have been working on projects and suddenly telling them they are done," she said.