By Taylor Hall and Mikayla Johnson
Atlanta has long been shaped by young people who refused to accept the conditions of their education and instead worked to transform them. In the 1960s, students across the Atlanta University Center formed what became known as the Atlanta Student Movement, organizing against segregation in schools and throughout the city. In connection with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a national student advocacy organization, these students understood that democracy is something you build, not something you wait for. They organized protests, sit-ins, and town halls, using every tool available to shape their futures in real time.
As a Stanford exchange student at Spelman College, I (Taylor Hall) had the opportunity to sit in the same classrooms where these students once organized. Being in those spaces, and even attending a campus protest, made clear to me that student voice in Atlanta is not new. It is part of a legacy.
Today, that legacy continues in new forms. Across Atlanta, students are still organizing through walkouts, social media, and community gatherings around issues like gun violence, racial justice, and immigration. And they are also stepping into youth leadership structures intentionally created by schools and nonprofits to center their voices in decision-making. The modern Atlanta student movement includes student school board representatives, advisory councils, youth-led media, and leadership programs. These spaces reflect a growing recognition that building democracy begins locally and that young people must be part of shaping the systems that shape them.
One example of this work is the Learn4Life Youth Council, a leadership development program for young people ages 16–24 focused on impacting education systems across Metro Atlanta. The Youth Council is not simply about participation and resume building. It is about increasing youth decision-making power. Students are positioned as partners in shaping programs, policies, and conversations that directly affect their educational experiences. Through this work, we develop leadership skills, professional skills, and the ability to advocate effectively. As a recent college graduate, I lead the Youth Council in expanding their ideas about how to impact the education system, developing the next set of education leaders in Atlanta.
Importantly, the Youth Council does not exist in isolation. Many of our students are engaged in multiple youth decision-making spaces across the region. Mikayla Johnson, my co-author, is part of VOX ATL, a teen self-publishing organization where students share their ideas uncensored. Another member, Marcus Daniels, has served as chair of the Atlanta Public Schools Student Advisory Council (APS SAC) and is a former member of BEST Academy’s GO Team, working alongside district leaders on key issues impacting APS students. And Sydney Baker participates in the United Way’s youth grantmaking team, helping decide which organizations receive funding that are best serving students. Across Metro Atlanta, there is a growing ecosystem of organizations that recognize the importance of sharing power with young people.
For many students, the most impactful parts of Youth Council are the opportunities to engage beyond the meeting space. Through Youth Council Action Days, planned by the student leadership team, members attend community events, volunteer, and connect directly with decision-makers. One example of an Action Day was when our students partnered with the APS Student Advisory Council to attend Crossover Day at the Georgia State Capitol where students sat in on legislative sessions and spoke to state leaders. For Mikayla, these experiences made the work “feel real.” Whether attending school board candidate debates or visiting a local farm, students’ actions on their everyday experiences aren’t limited to discussing the issues. They are actively participating in the systems that shape them.
Students also engage in Learn4Life’s Change Action Networks (CANs), where they join educators, district leaders, nonprofits, and business leaders in conversations about education outcomes in early literacy, 8th grade math, and postsecondary success. These spaces expose students to the broader ecosystem of decision-making and reinforce that their voices belong in those rooms. As Mikayla reflected, being in these spaces made clear that students deserve a seat at the table because they are the ones experiencing the system firsthand.
A central component of the Youth Council experience is the research project. I brought youth participatory action research into the Council because of my own experience as a college student. The moment I felt the most agency in my education was when I was given the opportunity to create knowledge, to research issues impacting students like myself, and contribute to conversations about change through publishing and presenting at conferences. Like my mentors before me, I wanted to make that experience accessible to younger students, to our next generation of scholars.
Through these projects, students are producing research grounded in data, interviews, and their lived experiences. This year, students explored issues related to equitable school funding. Mikayla’s project examined differences in funding between DeKalb County School District and Decatur City Schools, analyzing how resource distribution shapes student opportunities. Other students explored the differences in funding for extracurriculars compared to sports, the hidden fees that low income high school students face, the importance of supporting small schools, and the use of resource mapping in school districts to increase equity in funding. These projects push students to think critically, ask questions, and develop solutions. In addition to supporting their learning, the goal is to equip students to act.
In this way, the Youth Council is a futuring space. It is a place where young people are not only reflecting on their current experiences, but actively imagining and building what education could become. Like the Atlanta Student Movement before them, these students are creating their future in the present, using the tools available to them today.
As Atlanta continues to evolve, the question is not whether young people have ideas about how to improve education. It is whether we are willing to create the conditions for those ideas to shape real decisions. Increasing youth decision-making power requires intentional structures, trust, and a willingness to share control.
The Learn4Life Youth Council is one example of what this can look like. But there is an opportunity for many more organizations, schools, and systems to move in this direction: toward partnering with youth, not only serving them. If you know a student who is interested in shaping the future of education, we encourage them to apply to the next cohort of the Learn4Life Youth Council.
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