Our Work

Mural Subcommittee

Cambridge Community Mural

This year, the Mural Subcommittee successfully planned and installed the Cambridge Community Mural in the CRLS cafeteria, which was unveiled in May.  The Mural Subcommittee regularly met throughout the year to plan and execute the creation of the mural.

Highlights include:

• Collaborated with Jack O’Hearn from the Cambridge Community Art Center who was the lead muralist

• Created a proposal to secure approval from Vice Principal Ms. Milner and Head Custodian Rob Cotaldo to hang our mural in the CRLS Main Cafeteria.

• Met with muralist David Fichter for guidance.

• Hosted tabling events and focus groups with students to find out what community means to them.

• Worked with Jack and the Community Arts Center to decide on a final design for the Mural.

• Helped paint the mural.

• Created this Making of the CYC Community Mural.

Read about it here: "Cambridge Youth Council Unveils New Mural at CRLS, Highlighting Cultures Often Overlooked in Cambridge" 

Events Subcommittee

Cambridge Public Library Events

CYC hosted three engaging events at the Main Library.

1. Art and Game Night offered a lively, welcoming space for youth to express themselves, connect, unwind, and explore their creative interests in a relaxed environment.

2. Valentine’s Day Celebration brought young people together to make themed crafts, share treats, and celebrate friendship and community spirit in a fun, festive setting.

3. The College Panel included panelists from a range of educational and cultural backgrounds who shared their personal experiences and journeys after high school. hey offered valuable insights and advice to students preparing for life beyond graduation, helping to demystify the college process and expand students’ perspectives on future opportunities.

It was great to collaborate with library staff!

CEOC Block Party

In addition to the library events, CYC played  a key role in the CEOC Block Party. We were actively involved in the planning and promoting the event and helped run various activity stations throughout the day. We believe our participation helped contribute to the success of the event and demonstrated our  commitment to community engagement and leadership.

Annual Fundraiser

We teamed up with the CRLS BSU and Cambridge Community Foundation to raise over $16,000 for CEOC in honor of their 60th anniversary. We chose to support CEOC for its dedication to ending poverty in Cambridge and are proud to help ensure its vital services continue reaching those who need them most

Read about here:"Cambodge Youth Council Raises $16,000 to Support Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee" 

National League of Cities Conference

Instead of attending the National League of Cities (NLC) conference in Washington D.C., this year we went to the conference in Tampa, Florida.They were celebrating their 100th anniversary, so it was exciting to be there and check out a different city. We participated in a contest to answer how youth will shape cities over the next 100 years by creating a video highlighting some of our past projects, including offering free transportation to all Cambridge high school students, providing free menstrual products, and expanding access to youth mental health resources through the Youth Headspace campaign. We won 3rd place and a $2,000 cash prize! 

We also had a great event with Cambridge City Councillors and city staff while we were in Tampa. We got to tell them all about CYC and learn about the work they do. Then we all went out for ice cream. 

Read about it here: "Experience of a Lifetime: Cambridge Youth Council Shares Experience from National League of Cities Conference" 

Spark Share:

CYC members attended a summit with other youth councils around Massachusetts to have the opportunity to share their work, network, and learn from other youth councils

MBTA Monitoring

We continue to monitor the Free MBTA M7 Pass program by tracking the data and creating this 2022-2024 report.

Since 2019, the Cambridge Youth Council has focused on three major initiatives: 

Mental Health

• Created and spread the word about their mental health campaign: Youth Headspace and Youth Wellness Resources Map

  1. Interviews

     1. Let’s Find Out 

     2. Loop lab 

• Developed a Youth Wellness Retreat to complement the Youth Headspace Campaign for young people and those who work with young people in Cambridge.

• Developed a mental health workshop for 9th grade health classes at CRLS

• Created a How to Reach Youth brochure for adults

• Advocatedfor free menstrual products in buildings throughout the city

Free MBTA Passes for High School Students

• In 2017, CYC successfully advocated for funding to provide free bus passes for students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch at CRLS. $250,000 was added to the City budget to pay for the free MBTA M7 cards.

• In 2021, they ask the City to expand the program to all high school students. Starting in September 2022, all high school students attending CRLS, High School Extension Program, Community Charter School of Cambridge, Prospect Hill Academy can receive M7 cards.

Vote 16

CYC worked with other groups advocating to lower the voting age so 16-year olds can vote in municipal elections. They also spoke at public comment at the state house and encouraged the City Council to pass a home rule position to lower the voting age.

Youth-Only Pre-Election Discussion

Organized a Zoom event for youth across the city of Cambridge to discuss the election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. They reviewed the policy platform for each candidate as well as a brief overview of the electoral college. 

Books for Success!

In an effort to close the opportunity gap, CYC held a test prep book drive and collected enough books to set up a “library” in the school’s College and Career Resource Center. They set up a system for students to borrow these books rather than spending a lot of money purchasing them. 

Update: The “library” was disbanded after a couple of years due to inactivity.

Microaggressions in the Classroom at CRLS

Developed a survey about student experiences of microaggressions in the classroom and approached the administration to talk about how microaggressions were reported and the follow-up that should happen. They had several meetings which culminated with a new reporting mechanism and a promise by administration that follow up would happen in a timely manner. CYC also spoke at several School Committee meetings in support of the Black Student Union’s efforts to bring awareness to the mistreatment of black students in the classroom and their demand that change occur. 

FAFSA Scholarship Workshops

CYC members worked with Emily Singer from the Office of College Success to help make sure all seniors fill out the FAFSA form so that more students get financial assistance. 

What does CP, Honors, AP and Leveling Up mean?

CYC created a document that explains what Honors, College Prep, Level Up, and Advanced Classes mean. This one page information sheet was translated into different languages in hopes this will help inform families that normally have a difficult time receiving this information.  

Amending the AV10 Policy at CRLS

CYC proposed an amendment to the AV10 (Attendance Violation with a 10 percent grade reduction penalty) policy at CRLS. The current system penalized students the same for being 1 minute late or 20 minutes late. They believe a minute system should be implemented, which means the number of minutes you are late would be recorded. If a student had 12 unexcused tardies their grade in the class goes down by one grade (A to B, B- to C-, etc.). They concluded that students should be able to “buy” back time with their teachers. They advocated to the CRLS administration and the School Committee for this policy change.

2012-15

Community Workshops Addressing Racism

CYC planned a series of workshops throughout the school year. All the workshops were well-attended by many students and adult supporters. 

• Race and Police: Through a structured conversation break down barriers between youth and police and help foster positive relationships between the 2 groups.

• Race and Media: By raising awareness of how race is portrayed in the media, CYC’s goal was to validate participants' personal experiences and give them the tools and skills to combat messages in the media. They recommended starting a I AM TOO campaign at CRLS, but it did not happen. 

• Race and Education: By raising awareness about race and education, we will jump start a discussion resulting in action steps. Some of the ideas included:

  • Posse - Create a support group for incoming 9th graders so they can travel through high school together.

  • High school students should be able to help 8th graders pick classes.

  • 8th grade teachers should not have complete control over classes students will be taking in high school.

Ballin in the Bridge

CYC organized an event at Sennott park. They had a food truck and organized a basketball game - youth vs. police officers. It was attended by many young people and adult supporters.

Supporting Middle School Students Transition to High School

Worked with middle school students to help them with their transition to high school, understand what to expect when they get there, and how to get involved and engaged.

• Attended events in the city to reach out to middle school students and provide them with information.  

• Prepared and presented a series of interactive workshops at several after school programs in Cambridge to help middle school students be prepared for their transition to high school. Workshops included icebreakers, activities, debriefs, advice and Q & A sessions. The focus was on developing important skills (including decision making, responsibility, not giving into peer pressure, advocating for oneself, study and socializing skills), share the benefit of certain attitudes (i.e. trying new things, staying and remaining optimistic, academic motivation) and inform middle school students of the opportunities and resources that can be taken advantage of to make high school and life after a huge success.

• Created informational videos to give their advice and answer the most frequently asked questions and used Facebook to engage with future high school students.

• Expanded their Facebook campaign to reach more members of the Cambridge community, including middle school students and their families by:

  • Get to Know YIS - A series of questions answered by YIS members each week.  

  • Posted links to interesting articles, pictures and videos about education and resources at the high school, so that students can feel better informed. 

  • Created and posted videos answering questions about high school. 

• Mentoring Program Y2Y: CYC wanted to help middle school students transition to high school smoothly by designing a mentoring program with a series of workshops. Outcome: CYC developed the curriculum and recruited high school mentors; however, it was challenging to find middle school students who wanted to be mentees. 

Relationships Between High School Students and Teachers

Focused on improving student-teacher communications and helping students build relationships with their teachers, so that students can be in charge of their success and feel confident in their academic abilities. First, they surveyed students and teachers to get a sense of how students advocate and communicate with teachers. Then they created prompt cards that had suggestions on how to start talking to teachers in various situations: to check in, to improve and to prepare for an upcoming test. The prompt cards took two forms: a large, laminated poster to hang in classrooms and a small quarter-size page for students to take with them. 

CYC asked teachers to hand out cards to students and hang up posters. They continued to revisit classrooms to remind them about the cards and posters. They also distributed flyers with resources that support students at a number of events. 

Family Engagement 

Worked with Heather Weiss and the Harvard Family Research Project on family engagement issues.  The Harvard Family Research Project is using what they have learned to further their work on family engagement.  

Created a presentation based on their perspectives of family engagement and presented their findings to the Family Policy Council, Cambridge School Committee, and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School Council. 

Global Family Research Project Blog (August 2017)

Youth Taking Leading Roles: Defining and Improving Family Engagement