This story by Lindsey Toomer appeared on Colorado Newsline on August 6, 2024.
Teens from the Colorado Youth Advisory Council presented to a state committee ideas that could turn into bills during the 2025 legislative session. The ideas included policy proposals related to naloxone distribution, accessibility and clean energy.
The proposals were developed by committees within the COYAC. The group of teenagers on the council come from all over the state and range in age from 14 to 19. Students presented their ideas for the next session to the Legislature’s Colorado Youth Advisory Council Committee last week.
Previously the council has advocated legislation related to eating disorder mitigation and prevention, gender-affirming care and free menstrual products for students, among other policies that have become bills or law. The students on COYAC engage with state agencies and subject matter experts to determine the best ways to turn their policy ideas into reality.
Students suggested various ideas that could help schools save money on energy by installing solar panels, reduce waste by introducing student-led food waste reduction teams in school cafeterias, and increase access to school transportation given an ongoing shortage of school bus drivers.
Another idea students suggested is a state-sponsored conference to educate high school students on the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Students also suggested adding two youth representatives to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board, one of whom would come from a disproportionately impacted community.
“The youth of today are not waiting for tomorrow or someone else to save the planet, and allowing students into the conversation is the only way to empower the next generation to solve a problem we have been told our whole lives is our responsibility,” Sophie Tipper, a 16-year-old from Arapahoe County, said.
Students will follow up with additional stakeholders to refine their ideas before the legislative committee’s next meeting on August 15, when the committee is expected to narrow bill recommendations down to no more than six.
The committee ultimately will choose no more than three bills to be considered for introduction by the end of its final meeting on October 1.
Makena James, a 17-year-old from Steamboat Springs who serves on the council, explained the disproportionate impact the opioid crisis has had on rural Colorado communities. She said the lack of access to naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug, is also more apparent in rural communities as well.
“Simply put, naloxone saves lives,” James said. “But for our rural youth and low-income communities, that life saving solution is out of financial or geographic reach.”
Suyash Shrestha, a 15-year-old from Thornton who serves on the council, proposed including naloxone in AED cabinets already located within secondary schools to increase accessibility for youth. He also suggested distributing naloxone to local businesses like coffee shops, convenience stores and restaurants to give away to members of the community free of charge.
“Availability of such an easy-to-use overdose treatment ensures that first responders can administer the medication as timely as possible, in addition to surrounding individuals in more complex circumstances,” Shrestha said.
Accessibility in schools
Kate Glover, a 16-year-old at-large member of COYAC, started using a wheelchair in June 2023, and returned to school in August to start her sophomore year. She said she’s always loved school, but the lack of accessibility made it difficult for her to return.
“For an entire school year, I wasn’t able to independently enter my own school,” Glover said. “My happy place was somewhere that I couldn’t get without other people helping me.”
She proposed the Legislature establish a proactive audit program so that school facilities are regularly inspected for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. This can be done through a state contract with a third party, by hiring auditors as state employees, or training current facility inspectors on ADA requirements.
The information that comes from these audits would then be shared publicly so families can make informed decisions about which schools are best suited for their students. Currently Glover said if a student has an accessibility issue, they have to take a reactive approach and talk to school leadership or file a formal complaint.
“For most people, you don’t have to think about how to get into a door, about how to get out in an emergency, about what classrooms you can go to, about if you can eat in your own cafeteria,” Glover said. “It’s not something that comes to mind until you can’t.”
Mia Portillo, an 18-year-old high school graduate and former member of the COYAC health care committee, is getting ready to go to college across the country, and she’s struggled to navigate how her health care will change as she will need to find doctors to treat her kidney disease in a brand new state.
Portillo said that the majority of what students learn comes from school, but school doesn’t equip them with practical knowledge needed for daily life related to health care, insurance and finding doctors. She cited data from the Children’s Hospital of Colorado that found 30% of parents have a hard time understanding basic health care information, and nearly 50% have a hard time understanding medication labels.
Portillo said health literacy is the ability to find, understand and use health information.
“If we concentrate our efforts in expanding health literacy resources, Coloradan youth will be better equipped to navigate the health care system as they grow older,” Portillo said. “They’ll be able to advocate for themselves, for their children and the people around them.”
Ranye Ezenekwe, a 17-year-old from Westminster who serves on COYAC, said the council wants the state to establish a Health Literacy Oversight Panel tasked with submitting questions related to health literacy to include in the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey.
The panel would analyze data from the survey to determine areas for improvement, establish self-guided learning platforms to help students develop skills needed to advocate for their health, and advise the Colorado Department of Education on revisions to academic standards that would fulfill health literacy needs. The panel would also produce an annual report highlighting progress in different regions across the state, Ezenekwe said.
Ezenekwe said the state could also provide health literacy educational resources in school-based health centers to help students learn about health insurance plan comparisons, public health, common medical scenarios and health advocacy.