Preventing trauma is a strong motivation for Wednesday Pope, a Youth Advocate at John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY). This is just one of the goals she plans to pursue as a newly appointed member of the California Youth Empowerment Commission, the first statewide advisory body to consist exclusively of youth, aged 14 to 24. Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Wednesday on July 17th and she will serve a two-year term.
California State Assemblymember Luz Rivas established the state’s Youth Empowerment Commission with Assembly Bill 46 in 2021. It requires that five of the 13 commissioners have experienced youth homelessness, foster care, juvenile incarceration, or have special needs, ensuring representation from traditionally underserved youth. As a former foster youth, Wednesday will represent these interests and more.
According to Wednesday, many of the policies that are adopted by the state impact youth, but until now, there hasn’t been a formal channel to provide input, “Our commission aims to bridge the gap between youth and policymakers, enabling us to effectively address the concerns and aspirations of young Californians across our state.” The first meeting of the commission will be September 19th in Oakland.
This year at JBAY, Wednesday played a critical role in protecting two housing programs for foster youth in the state budget. The Newsom Administration recognized these efforts and saw the value that Wednesday could bring to the Commission. “Having the hands-on experience with JBAY has been so informative, and it has really made me feel so personally empowered. My experience with JBAY was a huge turning point.”
JBAY Director of Housing and Economic Mobility Simone Tureck Lee worked closely with Wednesday throughout the budget season and considers the Commission fortunate to have her passion and expertise, “Wednesday found her voice long before joining JBAY, but partnering with her this year gave her the perfect place to use it, and it paid off. Wednesday uses her story and struggles to bring both logic and humanity to how we approach state budget and policy decisions. I can’t wait to see her in action on the Commission.”
Wednesday is proud of her skills and acknowledges that they were born out of necessity, “Being resilient is a skill that I’m very proud to have, but the trauma that I had to experience to succeed is preventable. There’s a lot of ways we can help youth to stop the cycle of poverty and stop the cycle of retraumatization.” With Wednesday leading the way on the California Youth Empowerment Commission, we are confident that this ambitious goal is within reach.