GET INVOLVED!

Upcoming opportunities to get involved:

1. Attend an upcoming Youth Commission Meeting

Students in 7th - 12th grade and the public are invited to attend regular Youth Commission Meetings. Meetings are held at 6pm on the first Wednesday of each month between September - May. The FY 2023-24 Meeting Schedule is located here. 

All students are invited to provide school reports or information about your school activities or events. If you are interested to learn more, please email YouthCommission@toaks.org. 

3. Attend the 2024 Youth Leadership Summit 

Students in 7th - 12th grade are invited to attend the 2024 Youth Leadership Summit. The biennial program will feature Leader Roundtables, Youth-Only Roundtables, and a Keynote Address. The Summit is a great opportunity to interact with community leaders and have a voice. 

Date: March 13, 2024

Time: 4:00pm-8:00pm

Location: TBD

Please stay tuned for more information and how to register!

Past Youth Commission events include:

1. 2023 Coastal Cleanup

 On Saturday, September 23, 2023 the Youth Commission joined local efforts at Borchard Park to pickup more than 100 pounds of trash and recycling. The Coastal Cleanup Day is California's largest annual volunteer event where people across the state join together to clean our creaks, rivers, lakes, coast and shorelines of all kinds, to help restore our environment. 

2. 2022/23 Spreading Art Awareness

This committee purpose was for the youth to bond and express their creative freedoms within a positive environment. Creating art pieces of your own helps build self-awareness and improve self-esteem. It was meant to be a positive and exciting learning experience for the youth to explore and to be themselves. Art can promote freedom of creative expression, which can help the youth to relax and think differently. Anyone can make art, and there are so many different art forms, which can help the youth to gain independence, confidence, and self-esteem.

The committee planned and hosted an interactive art booth at the City of Thousand Oaks Arbor Earth Day Celebration on April 15, 2023. The YC provided recycled materials and facilitated an activity where attendees created vision boards. The theme was mental health and the environment, envisioning a future to aspire toward

3. 2023 Youth Trash Clean Up Day

This committee purpose was student engagement and education.  Environmental activism and promoting policies that limit pollution, was one of the concerns of the youth presented at the 2022 Youth Leadership Summit and is a priority of the Youth Commission. 

In FY2022-23 the committee planned and hosted a Youth Trash Clean Up Day event on Saturday, April 29, 2023. 27 students and 5 adults participated in this beautification project along Moorpark Road between Avenida de las Flores and Lancer Way. The event cleared dead organic matter and trash from the side of the road to help clear the area for stormwater runoff, prevent fires, and reduce pollution.

4. 2022 Youth Leadership Summit

THANK YOU TO ALL THE YOUTH AND COMMUNITY LEADERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE 2022 YOUTH LEADERSHIP SUMMIT ON MARCH 30, 2022! IT WAS A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS! 

The event brought together 22 leaders and 66 youth from the City of Thousand Oaks. The program included Leader Roundtables, Youth-Only Roundtables, and a Keynote Address. Topics discussed included: support and resources available to youth to deal with the impacts COVID, decrease stress, and improve mental health; issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; how to enjoy social media and ways to deal with inappropriate or fake content; how schools can better meet the current and future needs of students; how to increase recycling and improve the environment; among many others. There were a lot of important conversations that took place and many positive outcomes. Here's what the Youth are saying:

“[The Summit] made me believe that our City has great leaders who really care about our community and want to make it better”

“[The Summit] helped me realize many problems in my community and how I can help."

“[The Summit] made me feel I have a voice"

"[The Summit] gave me faith in the process and change that our generation is making"

"The [keynote] speakers really inspired me and I really loved it"

"I loved [the keynote speaker's] message. It really resonated with me...Talking about the quote that you should not let the fear of being great make an enemy of being good. I loved that."

"I loved meeting other intelligent people who care and want to make a difference."

“I have a lot more hope about our future.”

Youth Commission

Agendas posted 72 hours in advance of each meeting

Thousand Oaks Library

Alex Fiore Teen Center

  T. O. Transit

 Ventura 211

Conejo Unified School District