Reporter’s note: I joined the Democracy Collective this year to build my community engagement skills. Priscilla Cooper is part of my class. She told me about the work her daughter, Teralawanda Aaron, is doing to help young people amplify their civic voices. I wanted to share their story with Signal Cleveland readers.

As the election rapidly approaches, voters across the country have begun to cast their votes. Here in Cleveland, many residents are doing their part to educate about the importance of democracy and being civically engaged. A Collinwood resident is taking her civic duty very seriously as she sets her sights on elevating the voices of young people in Cleveland.

Teralawanda Aaron is the founder of The Spot Youth Empowerment Organization, or as many in the community call it, The Spot. The Spot focuses on young people aged 14-25 in and around Cleveland. The program helps them design a blueprint to become successful, informed and civic-minded citizens.

Activating the youth

Aaron started the organization in 2006, after she took some time to personally reflect on her life.

“When I would see kids in the neighborhood and look at some of the things they would go through and think about the things that I went through as a kid, I realized how important education and resources were for me to move forward in my life and be productive as an adult,” Aaron said. 

“Then I realized a lot of their roadblocks weren’t always education or money. Sometimes it is laws and policies that can keep them stagnant.” 

Aaron was concerned about the low voter turnout in the African American community, particularly among young voters. She wanted to create a space for young people to come together and learn about the role democracy plays in shaping their lives.

“My goals were to educate them about how the system operates, how to be smart about money and how to become civically engaged,” Aaron said. “Although there are a lot of programs out here for young people, they don’t often reach them because they don’t come into the communities where our young people really are.”

Aaron believes that The Spot is filling that void by meeting young people where they are and being intentional about centering their voices.

“Sometimes the media will highlight certain situations and sometimes it can make it look like the bulk of our kids are out of control,” Aaron said. “Most kids aren’t out there on motorbikes or participating in street takeovers. When you look at the bigger picture, it’s a small number of kids doing those things.”

“Now the city council is passing laws about those things and those laws are going to affect them all, in ways they don’t even know. So now more than ever, we need to have conversations with our young people. They are smart enough and they have solutions of their own. The only problem is, nobody is listening.”

The stars align

As Aaron continued to push for civic education in The Spot, she came across an interesting leadership development program.

“I was introduced to Erika Anthony, who is the executive director at Cleveland Votes. She told me about a program that they were rolling out called the Democracy Collective,” Aaron said. “She saw the work we were doing and thought I would be a good match for the program and encouraged me and my sister, Rosshawnda, to apply. We applied and got accepted and that was that.”

The Democracy Collective, or DemCo, is a nine-month leadership program designed to give participants the skills needed to mobilize their communities. Members of the collective will implement what’s called an activation project. That work will be focused on a community issue of their choosing. Members will receive support from Cleveland Votes.

Aaron decided her activation project would be a State of the Youth Forum, influenced by the work she had already been doing with The Spot.

“DemCo was a phenomenal experience. We’ve worked really hard on this project, so to see everything come together is very satisfying.”

‘Wow, I wonder if I could do this?‘

Someone who has kept a close eye on the work Aaron is doing is her mother, Priscilla Cooper. She has watched the Youth Forum grow since the initial idea.

“I would listen to my daughters talk about their experiences in DemCo and I would see some of the homework they were assigned. It all seemed very interesting,” Cooper said.

While attending their DemCo graduation, she was moved by all the projects the collective created.

“I saw what my daughters and all the other participants had put together, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I wonder if I could do this?’”

Cooper took a chance and applied for the 2024-25 DemCo cohort. She was accepted. She is proud of her daughters for continuing to do work that they are passionate about as she begins planning her own activation project.

“Being their mom, I was really excited. It was just encouraging to see what they had accomplished and how DemCo helped to push them forward,” Cooper said. “The State of the Youth Forum is an accumulation of all the work that they put in. I couldn’t be any more proud.”

First State of the Youth Forum

The youth who are leading the forum went through leadership training at The Spot this past summer. The forum is the first of many more projects to come.

“The first week in November they will be starting a podcast. They will also have a weekly show where they continue to talk about topics and issues that are important to them. We’re just helping them get the ball rolling,” Aaron said.

“As far as the forum, they will be welcoming guests, they will be hosting, they will be handling the registration. I’m just gonna be a spectator in the room.”

Aaron welcomes everyone to attend the forum to better understand the youth of the city and what everyone can do to better support them.

“We have to start listening to our babies because they are suffering a lot. It’s easy to just want to take charge when you’re dealing with them, but we have to remember that they are people too and they also have opinions of their own.

“They need us. We have to show up for them.”

The State of the Youth Forum will take place at Da’Vine Events on Friday, October 25 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The youth-led forum will feature peer-to-peer and panel discussions, resources networking and more. Civic and community leaders will also be in attendance, and participants in the forum will have the opportunity to engage with them directly. While all ages are welcome as spectators, those who want to participate in the forum must be ages 14-25. To register to participate in the forum, contact Teralawanda Aaron at 216-323-6049 or e-mail [email protected].