In a first for both her and her office, Representative Melanie Stansbury convened a Youth Summit in Albuquerque on Saturday for young people all across New Mexico’s first Congressional District.
Held at the Explora Science Center, Stansbury partnered with several local organizations to hold this summit, which allowed these students to connect with one another and speak directly with Stansbury about how congress worked, what issues were important to them and present their ideas of policy to the Congresswomen.
Students voiced the issues first to Stansubury and her team, then were split into groups with others to discuss solutions that could be rendered for them.
These issues ranged from addressing homelessness, substance abuse and domestic violence to school safety, funding for tribal communities and LGBTQIA+ rights.
Each group’s discussion was led by representatives of the local organizations that had partnered for this event.
At the end of the summit, each group had an opportunity to present their issues and solutions directly to Stansbury, who in turn said her office would begin working on legislation to help address the concerns raised.
For the Congresswomen, the change to hear from the youth in her district was an important step in understanding the needs of her constituents.
“The entire purpose of this is just to hear from teens across the district about, ‘what do they care about?’, ‘what’s important to them?’ and how can we use that information to shape our policy priorities and what we are working on in congress.”