Whitney Houston famously sang, “I believe the children are our future.”
Decades later, I still believe there is something powerful in that simple idea. But if our children are our future, we have a responsibility to show them how they can help shape it.
That is the idea behind Mini Mesa, a new youth civic engagement event coming to La Mesa Oct. 17 for sixth to eighth graders who either reside in the city of La Mesa or attend school here.
For one day, young people in our city will get a chance to discover what it takes to make La Mesa work; not by sitting through a lecture about local government, but by stepping into positions of power themselves.
The inspiration is personal for me.
When I was in middle school growing up in Honolulu, my social studies teachers encouraged us to pay attention to local elections and learn about the people running for office. I took that encouragement seriously. I became interested in a Honolulu mayoral race and volunteered to support the incumbent mayor.
I loved our mayor in part because, to me, he was synonymous with something I understood even as a kid: the bus. He was constantly encouraging people to use Honolulu’s public transportation system.
Suddenly, local government wasn’t something abstract in a textbook. It was about the bus I saw on the street; the same one my friends and I rode to the mall or the beach. It was also about my neighborhood. It was about decisions that affected people I knew.
Most importantly, I learned that I didn’t have to be an adult to care about any of it.
I want our kids to experience that same feeling.
First, I want our young people to feel empowered to use their voices. I want them to know that they don’t have to wait until they are 18 to have opinions about their community, ask questions or offer ideas. I want them to know that their city cares about what they think.
Second, I want them to understand — really understand — how democracy works.
Democracy is more than something students should learn about for a test. It is something each generation inherits, participates in and ultimately becomes responsible for protecting. I want our kids to see government up close, understand how decisions get made and experience what it means to have a voice in that process.
I want them to appreciate democracy enough so that, someday, when it is their turn to protect it, they will fight for it.
Our Mini Mesans will get an inside look at the many agencies and departments that make everyday life in La Mesa possible. They will learn directly from San Diego Community Power, Helix Water District, EDCO, La Mesa Public Works, La Mesa Parks and Recreation, the La Mesa Police Department and Heartland Fire & Rescue.
You flip on a light. Where does that energy come from?
You turn on the faucet. Who makes sure clean water comes out?
You put a trash bin at the curb. What happens after the truck picks it up?
Who takes care of the streets, parks and public spaces you use every day? Who responds when there is a fire or an emergency? Who keeps a city safe?
These are things adults easily take for granted, but behind every one of them are people, public agencies, policies, budgets and countless decisions.
Civic engagement doesn’t begin when someone turns 18 and registers to vote. It begins when a child understands that their community belongs to them, too; that they have ideas worth sharing, questions worth asking, and talents their community will someday need.
There is another reason Mini Mesa matters.
It is easy to become cynical about government. Our children hear adults complain about politics and institutions all the time. But local government is also where people come together to solve very tangible problems. It is where neighbors, public servants, elected officials, businesses and community organizations work together to make the place we call home a little better.
I want our young people to see that side of public service.
Mini Mesa is designed to make civic education tangible, interactive and, yes, fun. We’re going to let kids experience what it is like to help run their city for a day.
I think it’s going to be epic.
My hope, though, is that what happens afterward will matter even more.
I hope our students go home talking about what they learned. I hope they start noticing the fire station, the water district truck, the park employee, the police officer, the recycling truck and the people repairing a city street. I hope they start asking questions.
Most of all, I hope they begin to understand that La Mesa isn’t simply the place where they are growing up.
It is their city, too, and they have a right to take ownership of it.
If we believe our children are our future, then let’s teach them about the community and the democracy they will inherit.
Let’s teach them to value it and that their voices matter.
And then let’s give them the opportunity to lead the way.
Genevieve Suzuki is vice mayor of La Mesa. Students who are interested in participating in Mini Mesa may send an email to CMOFF@cityoflamesa.gov.
