134. Youth Are the Present, Not the Future with Rachel Belin

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Why do we need to wait for youth to get involved? They’re here now and are highly capable of being a part of the dialogue and decision-making. This week on the podcast, we’re exploring what that looks like in action from an organization that has been in the trenches for a decade.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rachel Belin, managing partner and co-founder of Kentucky Student Voice Team works alongside youth to help create an intergenerational dynamic, where youth members are involved in raising their voices and helping others do the same. They’re involved in legislative spaces, advocacy, and more with adults as their partners.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Listen in this week to find out how legislators and the public have responded to KSVT in action, what ripple effect the organization has created, how it supports students who wouldn’t typically seek out something like KSVT, and so much more.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This conversation left me feeling inspired and hopeful.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">About Rachel Belin:</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rachel Burg Belin (she/her) is the Managing Partner and, with young people, a co-founder of the Kentucky Student Voice Team.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She has decades of experience by turns as a social studies teacher, media literacy leader, education policy aide, nonprofit development consultant, and commercial radio news director. In the course of this work, she has spearheaded nine different ventures to amplify and elevate the voices of students in civic discourse. With young people as collaborators, she has been the recipient of the Citizen's and Scholars Civic Spring Award, the Kentucky Nonprofit Network Excellence in Public Policy Award, the Pathway 2 Tomorrow Breakthrough in Education Innovation Award, and a George Foster Peabody Award. R