Antelope Valley Youth Speak Up, And We’re Listening
Ask a teenager in the Antelope Valley what it takes to get to school on time, and the answer might start with an alarm set for 4 a.m.
On Saturday, July 18, ARDI set out to hear stories like that one directly from the young people living them.
From Littlerock to Lancaster, young people and young adults came together for the ARDI Antelope Valley Youth Convening. ARDI partnered with the Department of Youth Development and AWA Consults to design and facilitate the four-hour, youth-centered gathering, built to surface local youth experiences, priorities, and recommendations, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office supporting with informational materials and connections with organizations in the Antelope Valley.
The convening is part of a broader effort to build the Antelope Valley Equity Atlas, adopted through a September 2024 motion authored by Supervisor Barger, who represents the 5th Supervisorial District of Los Angeles County. The motion directed ARDI to develop an equity analysis and a resource map for the region, alongside the Atlas itself. The input gathered at the Youth Convening on July 18 builds on convenings held by ARDI across the Antelope Valley since 2022. These convenings are helping to validate and deepen themes already emerging from community listening sessions across the region, directly informing future planning, service, and investment decisions.
Throughout the day, participants worked in small groups, voted on priorities, and shared reflections in response to three guiding questions:
What do young people value about life in the Antelope Valley?
What challenges, barriers, or gaps affect young people and their families?
What changes or investments would make the Antelope Valley safer, healthier, more supportive, and richer in opportunities for youth?
A day built around youth voice
True to its trauma-informed, youth-first design, the event gave participants multiple ways to engage through conversation, writing, drawing, and voting rather than a single top-down format. After a welcome and community-building activity called “What Makes Antelope Valley Home?”, ARDI and AWA Consults walked participants through the purpose of the Equity Atlas in plain language before moving into two interactive work sessions.
Work Session I, Opportunity and Well-Being, focused on youth development, education, physical and mental health, income and employment. Work Session II, Building Thriving Communities, focused on housing, homelessness, public safety, transportation, public spaces and community resources.
The day closed with collective prioritization and a youth report-out, giving participants the chance to compare notes across tables and where perspectives differed.
What the County heard
A shared investment in Antelope Valley youth
ARDI’s investment in Antelope Valley youth keeps growing, and Supervisor Barger’s office has backed that from the start. Her motion specifically called for child and youth development to be built into the Equity Atlas. At ARDI, we’re carrying that partnership forward, including pursuing philanthropic funding for the Equity Atlas alongside the Center for Strategic Partnerships.
For the young people who spent hours describing 4 a.m. alarms and services they didn’t know existed, the real test comes in 180 days. That’s when ARDI reports back to the Board of Supervisors, and the team has committed to lifting what young people shared on July 18 as it shapes the Atlas’s recommendations.