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Youth Engagement in Government Survey

October 27, 2026
youth learning

UP for Learning and the Vermont Council on Rural Development are conducting a survey on youth engagement in Vermont. The survey was developed by the Center for Rural Studies at UVM in collaboration with a diverse youth-adult Steering Committee, ensuring that youth and adult perspectives helped shape this important project. This project aims to explore the ways organizations across Vermont practice youth engagement, youth-adult partnership, and/or involve youth in their mission.

Your participation will be valuable even if you do not think your organization partakes in youth engagement. Please feel free to share this survey with other individuals and organizations in your network. 

Follow this link to take the survey. Or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser: https://qualtrics.uvm.edu/jfe/form/SV_8erSf7GxTNJzj26

Please complete this survey by October 30, 2026.

Background on the Leading Together: Strengthening Youth Voice in Vermont’s Democracy initiative: Recent statewide findings underscore an urgent need to rethink how youth are engaged in civic and community life. The Vermont Vision for Youth Success (2024) and the Civic Health Index (2025) reveal a shared reality: many young people feel disconnected from their communities, while schools, municipal bodies, and community organizations struggle to engage youth in meaningful leadership and decision-making. At the same time, these reports affirm that youth are eager to share their voices, and many communities are ready to listen—but lack the tools, structures, and mindsets needed to remove barriers and collaborate across generations. Both reports, along with the Youth Success Symposium that followed, identified youth voice in school and community leadership as a critical, cross-cutting action step connected to broader priorities such as civic engagement, health, and access to resources. In response, partners who helped shepherd this work have convened a Steering Committee to design a pilot Youth–Adult Leadership Cohort that provides training, support, and real-world application for youth and adults working in shared leadership models. This initiative represents a collective opportunity to connect those ready to lead differently, learn from existing strengths, and courageously change systems so youth are recognized as leaders in their communities today.
 
Want to get involved or learn more? Contact Lindsey Halman: lindsey@upforlearning.org

Take the Survey