Giving Brooklyn Park's young people a voice

This fall, Matt Norris created Brooklyn Park's first city satellite office -- in his dorm room at the University of Minnesota.

In between studying for his freshman classes at the Carlson School of Management and preparing for his mock trial competitions, Norris, 19, spends a few hours a week trying to create opportunities for kids in his hometown.

Over the last two years, Brooklyn Park officials have started quietly planning for a youth advisory commission and youth-oriented projects. But no one has been more involved and vocal in the process than Norris, who worked as a youth-planning intern last summer and organized the city's first youth summit.

Teen views carry weight

"Matt has been able to be a spokesperson for all these initiatives," said the city's recreation and parks director, Jon Oyanagi. "And coming from a teen it has a lot more weight with city leaders."

Two years ago, when Norris was still attending Totino-Grace High School and was the only teenager on the Citizen Long-Range Improvement Committee, he listened to adults talk about juvenile crime and the lack of programs for teens and kids. The solution seemed obvious to him -- ask young people what activities and opportunities they wanted to see in the city.

"The most difficult thing is that this is a whole change in the way that the city government has to think about things," he said. "We're trying to convince decision makers in the city that when you're working with youth opportunities, it has to be the youth telling you what they need instead of the adults trying to decide what the youth need."

One-day program worked

So Norris decided to plan a single day last summer where kids could hang out, play games and write their ideas on giant sheets of paper hanging in the Community Activity Center's gym. The youth summit drew about 50 kids, but that was only the beginning of what Norris had planned.

Over the last few months, the city started a partnership with Hennepin County for a project that will send teenagers to interview their peers, business owners and community leaders and create a map of youth-friendly businesses and opportunities in Brooklyn Park this spring. Norris also persuaded city leaders to create Facebook and MySpace pages to communicate with young people.

Showing the way

"If we give the youth a chance to express their views and we work with them, they can point us in some good directions," said Norris, who spent his winter break working on the youth initiatives and plans to come back for a second internship this summer.

The city is also holding a gala Feb. 8 as a fundraiser for the youth projects this year. While Norris won't be able to attend because he will be at a mock trial competition with his college team, he hopes the event will be a chance to "reach out to the bigwigs in the community and bring them on board."

For now, Norris and other city officials are still building a group of young people who will commit to being involved. But there are big projects that Norris would like to see in the future, mainly a teen center and a circulator bus to provide transportation for youth.

"I just want to keep working and improving and make sure it keeps moving along," he said.

Lora Pabst • 612-673-4628