Um, can you tell me why bringing adults and teens together is so important, and what we, we lose by not having voices like Jasmine's in the mix?

Yeah.

I'm very, very fortunate to have t- come to Casey with a great deal of experience in youth and community engagement, and so joining the foundation was a no-brainer for me, in that at Casey, we've been investing in community change for decades, and the one thing that has shown up time and time again has been that sustainable solutions are designed when the people that are most impacted are at the table.

And so that's why youth leadership, and particularly intergenerational partnership, matters.

When young people are not involved in meaningfully shaping decisions that affect their lives, whether it's education, workforce, community safety, policy, we risk building solutions that don't reflect true reality.

Youth leadership, I think, strengthens systems, and intergenerational partnerships strengthen exactly how those decisions get made.

A lot of times, we see adults are bringing institutional knowledge and historical context, and young people bring proximity, they bring lived experience, and often a sharper read on where culture and technology are headed.

[laughs]