Youth leaders from PICO affiliate Peninsula Interfaith Action (PIA) in the San Francisco Bay Area have been busy this summer working with city officials to make their communities safer.

In May, youth from St. Joseph Church and St. Athanasius Church in Mountain View organized a town hall meeting with Mayor Tom Means and over 200 community members, pushing forward their plan to prevent gang violence and promote positive activities for teens by constructing a state-of-the-art teen center. Since May, the Mayor, together with other elected officials and city staff, have accompanied the youth on tours of nearby facilities and a teen center is now on the radar screen for the city of Mountain View.

After conducting a year's worth of one-to-one interviews with residents of East Palo Alto, youth leaders from Walls of Faith Church of God in Christ, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, and other local congregations identified the lack of sidewalks in their city as a major safety hazard. On July 17, the youth gathered nearly 100 community residents to ask City Councilmember Ruben Abrica to bring sidewalks to the 25 percent of East Palo Alto streets that do not have them. At the meeting, PIA youth leaders identified sources of funding and support from within city and county agencies responsible for public works improvements, winning Abrica's support. All city streets in East Palo Alto are expected to have sidewalks within five years, and on one of the most heavily used streets, within 12 months.

The youth's passion and boldness has demonstrated the potential of young people to be leaders in their communities with the power to bring about change.

For more information on Peninsula Interfaith Action, visit www.piapico.org

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