This summer, Memphis Public Libraries (MPL) has partnered with BRIDGES to assemble the Comeback Stronger Youth Councils, as part of an initiative to boost teen engagement and expand libraries’ teen programming. The councils consist of middle and high school students, who represent five branches: Benjamin L. Hooks, North, Poplar-White Station, Raleigh, and South.
“We wanted to have a group of young people who could speak for themselves as to what they wanted to have in those [teen-specific] spaces,” says Terrice Thomas, manager of South Branch Library. “We looked for applicants with leadership experience or leadership potential, willingness to be engaged in their community, and willingness to be outspoken and talk to people.” With this goal in mind, MPL reached out to the BRIDGES Youth Action Center, an organization already creating authentic youth leadership opportunities in Memphis.
“BRIDGES believes that youth have the answers,” says Mahal Burr, BRIDGES Youth Action Center director. “When adults intentionally seek young people’s perspectives in efforts to shape the city’s future, we create a more inclusive community. Youth-adult equity in decision-making spaces like our public library system also ensures the decisions we make that directly affect the lives of youth are better informed and more effective.”
Burr continues, “We are currently in the process of supporting the piloting of the Comeback Stronger Youth Councils’ in five branches but will be supporting the expansion of these councils to all branches within the next three years. … Youth who are involved in the Comeback Stronger Youth Councils will benefit from stronger libraries that better serve them.”
The pilot cohort of 22 students has met weekly since June to discuss how the libraries can better support young people. They facilitated their own meetings with minimal intervention from library and BRIDGES staff, collected data from their communities about community needs and perception of the library system, and each council member received a stipend for their work. All of this effort culminated on August 5th in a presentation to the library staff, board, and funders. The students recommended solutions to a range of priorities, including transportation access, mental health services, community violence education, and financial literacy and career planning programs. A summary report can be found here.
Zahra Chowdhury, a Pleasant View School senior on the Benjamin Hooks Branch Council, says that her branch looked to improve intergenerational engagement through social media, adult-equity training, and youth-centered programming and spaces. “The libraries already have a wide range of programming and resources, but most young people don’t know or have never heard of them because they aren’t being actively advertised on the platforms youth use,” she says. The council also suggested that MPL host library tours and scavenger hunts to show “how libraries are more than just books,” not to mention how all the library’s programming and resources are free.
The Ben Hooks council, Chowdhury continues, also recommended programming around mental health through meditation and yoga classes or self-care and mindfulness journals, as well as educational support through ACT/SAT prep courses, peer tutoring, and a teen book club with discussions led by youth on books recommended by youth.
“We are still waiting to hear back from [administration] about feedback and what requests they can fulfill,” she adds, “but it was an amazing opportunity just to present to them and get their ideas on what the library needs to better engage young people.”
Thomas says that the administration is looking forward to bringing to fruition as many of the councils’ ideas as possible. Already, MPL is helping the Raleigh council with their initiative to have a block party this fall. “It’s great to see that the library is the opposite of what [the students] thought it was,” Thomas says. “Before they might’ve been like, ‘Oh, I thought the library was a place that wasn’t really for me, that people would be shushing me.’ But no, we want you here and we want you to be heard and express yourself.”
“Too often are young people offered a seat at the table but their voices go unheard or completely ignored,” Chowdhury says. “That’s why I am so grateful and appreciative that the MPL staff working with the youth council has continuously upheld the principles of youth and adult equity and are truly listening to what young people have to say.”
The end of the month marks the end of the pilot group’s term. MPL will start recruiting and interviewing for the next group of council members in September. This group will meet twice a month and will serve for the duration of the school year. To apply, students can go to memphislibrary.org.