Jun 18, 2026 · 37 min · 9 segments
Young people aren’t just future leaders. They’re already leading in their communities today, as caregivers, workers, and activists. In the third episode of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's series on…
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Tracy BrodyGuest
Gloria RivieraHost
Tosca Nance-JonesGuest
Jasmine BernardGuest
As people who work with a lot of young people, and Jasmine as a teenager yourself, tell me how old you are.
Well, I wanna start this off by asking all of you, what do you wish adults understood better about young people as leaders? Let's start with Jasmine.
For me, I wish that adults recognize young people as leaders in their own rights, and not necessarily in only the ways that adults expect us to lead.
Like, a lot of times we see adults expect students to be leading only in student government, or in ways that they've created, but I think there needs to be a better recognition of young people creating their own opportunities for leadership.
Tosca, how about you? What do you think adults need to understand better about young people as leaders?
I wish that they understood that young people a- already have leadership instincts.
What they often lack is access: access to information, access to rooms where decisions are made, access to the same grace that adults give each other while they're learning.
I think oftentimes adults think that protecting outcomes means limiting youth authority, or that including youth in decision-making will slow down the process.
I think it's about lack of access, and young people are already navigating complexity.
They're managing school, they're managing work, family responsibilities, social systems.
I wish more adults understood that youth leadership doesn't have to look exactly like adult leadership.
It may move at a different pace, it may challenge tradition, but it doesn't make it less strategic, and I think that I wish adults understood that young people don't need to be protected from responsibility.
They just need to be supported in exercising it, and when adults shift from, "Are young people ready?" to asking themselves, have they created the right conditions for young people to be able to lead, like, that's when everything changes.
What would you say, Jasmine, to a friend who hasn't even heard of Bridges before? How would you describe it, and how did you first get involved?
Well, I'll start with how I first got involved, and like, I first got involved with Bridge Builders when I was in seventh grade.
As people who work with a lot of young people, and Jasmine as a teenager yourself, tell me how old you are.
Well, I wanna start this off by asking all of you, what do you wish adults understood better about young people as leaders? Let's start with Jasmine.
For me, I wish that adults recognize young people as leaders in their own rights, and not necessarily in only the ways that adults expect us to lead.
Like, a lot of times we see adults expect students to be leading only in student government, or in ways that they've created, but I think there needs to be a better recognition of young people creating their own opportunities for leadership.
Tosca, how about you? What do you think adults need to understand better about young people as leaders?
I wish that they understood that young people a- already have leadership instincts.
What they often lack is access: access to information, access to rooms where decisions are made, access to the same grace that adults give each other while they're learning.
I think oftentimes adults think that protecting outcomes means limiting youth authority, or that including youth in decision-making will slow down the process.
I think it's about lack of access, and young people are already navigating complexity.
They're managing school, they're managing work, family responsibilities, social systems.
I wish more adults understood that youth leadership doesn't have to look exactly like adult leadership.
It may move at a different pace, it may challenge tradition, but it doesn't make it less strategic, and I think that I wish adults understood that young people don't need to be protected from responsibility.
They just need to be supported in exercising it, and when adults shift from, "Are young people ready?" to asking themselves, have they created the right conditions for young people to be able to lead, like, that's when everything changes.
What would you say, Jasmine, to a friend who hasn't even heard of Bridges before? How would you describe it, and how did you first get involved?
Well, I'll start with how I first got involved, and like, I first got involved with Bridge Builders when I was in seventh grade.
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