County Lends Teens Its Ears

Conference Focuses On Youth Priorities

Two hundred Loudoun County teenagers gathered last week at the Dulles headquarters of America Online Inc. and listened to inspirational messages from AOL Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis, to a motivational speaker flown in from Arizona and a streaming video version of first lady Laura Bush.

Before the morning was over, though, the adults sat down and 18-year-old Nicole Poltash, chairman of the Loudoun Youth Advisory Council, took the helm. She laid out some ground rules for the afternoon as the students, missing a day of chemistry or algebra classes, were put to the task of creating a road map for youth services in Loudoun.

"Adults are here to listen," said Poltash, a senior at Broad Run High School in Ashburn. "Too often, decisions are made about youth without their input."

The Step Up Loudoun conference Thursday was part of an initiative to avoid that pitfall -- to make Loudoun a better environment for young people by asking them what they want and need.

With backing from the Board of Supervisors, the effort began in 2004 with focus groups involving 500 teenagers and a youth conference at Lansdowne. The teenagers cited such concerns as lack of public transportation and too few places to spend time outside of school and home.

Since then, the county government has made some youth-oriented strides, including opening a teen center in Purcellville, organizing a "Youthfest" in May in Leesburg that 1,500 teenagers attended and increasing access to public transportation. County staff also started a Web site, http://www.loudounteens.org .

But the under-18 population has changed since the first conference, with the graduation of two high school classes and the arrival of thousands of newcomers. "We can't assume [today's youths] feel the same way," said Tim Chesnutt, director of the Loudoun Youth Initiative.

So officials started the process over, this time with help from researchers at George Mason University. By commissioning a $70,000 study, organizers say they hope to build more support for county funding of youth services and draw cooperation from homeowners associations, nonprofit organizations and other groups that could help local young people, Chesnutt said.

Since July, the researchers have conducted hundreds of telephone interviews, organized focus groups and analyzed past research to identify significant teen concerns. They plan to draft a strategic plan by the end of the year.

At Thursday's conference, the researchers asked the teenagers -- many of whom were chosen by guidance counselors at public and private schools across the county -- to identify their top priorities. The students then gathered in small groups to brainstorm on ways to address those concerns over the next few years.

One group of nearly 20 students discussed how to make neighborhoods and schools more welcoming. When a facilitator asked the students how many had moved to Loudoun in the past few years, about half raised their hands.

Henry Brisibe was one. The 16-year-old junior at Freedom High School in South Riding said he moved to Loudoun from Long Island, N.Y., two years ago, leaving many friends and a place where he could stumble into a pickup game of basketball or bump into friends simply by walking down the street. Here, he said, he has to go out of his way to find things to do.

Brisibe's group suggested starting a teen-oriented newsletter or magazine so that newcomers could find listings of activities.

Another group focused its discussion entirely on creating more places for teens to gather. The students suggested a pool hall, a game-oriented restaurant such as Chuck E. Cheese's designed for older children and a dance club with a teen night.

Alexander Botts, 16, a junior at Briar Woods High School near Ashburn, said he spends many weekends "sitting around trying to find something to do." He suggested creating an arts and music center where teens could volunteer to help children with art projects.

Neima Izadi, 18, a senior at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, said he would like to see a youth Internet cafe.

"I know that a lot of people may not have Internet access at home, and it would be helpful to have a place for them to get online," he said.

After listening to some of the ideas, Supervisor Stephen J. Snow (R-Dulles), who has been a strong advocate for the Loudoun Youth Initiative, said he thought the event was "awesome."

The goal is to create a "community safety net" for youths so that they have the support they need and can, therefore, avoid getting into trouble. But, he added that there's only one way to do that. "It can't be top-down; it has to be driven by young people," Snow said. "Unless you have buy-in, you can't have success, because it's their program."