Sacramento (July 27, 2021) Members of the City Council Tuesday heard a wealth of ideas for how the city can improve its community programs from 45 young people in the culmination of this year’s Summer @ City Hall program.

This year’s class gave presentations to the Mayor and Council on issues, policy ideas and solutions that are relevant and timely for the City of Sacramento. Teams presented detailed ideas for public awareness campaigns to address mental health issues, fight human trafficking and animal cruelty and promote participation in the City’s parks master plan update. Each of the presentations included a short introduction, a video PSA, and a billboard that the students designed to share critical information on the issue they tackled in their presentation to council. You can watch all of the presentations here.

*A billboard design by one of the student teams from Summer @ City Hall 2021*

Summer @ City Hall brings high school juniors and seniors from all over Sacramento together for youth advocacy, civic engagement, workforce development, and opportunities to learn more about local government in a structured five week course.

This year, like last year, the staff for Summer @ City Hall pivoted to an entirely virtual experience because of COVID-19. In a normal year the students would have had a 40-hour internship opportunity somewhere with a civic partner. This year, the staff at the City’s Department of Youth, Parks and Community Enrichment instead offered participants a series of workshops focused on career exploration and understanding opportunities in local government.

“They (the students) have some amazing ideas, thoughts, they bring a lot of things to the table,” said Rhonda Patterson, the program supervisor for Summer @ City Hall.

Student participants in the 2021 cohort of Summer @ City Hall give a presentation to the Sacramento City Council on human trafficking and some suggestions for how to combat the issue.

Summer @ City Hall was started 11 years ago through the leadership of Vice Mayor Jay Schenirer and his wife, Bina Lefkovitz, both longtime advocates for the greater involvement of youth in civic life.

Kris Wimberly, YPCE General Recreation Supervisor, has been involved with Summer @ City Hall since its inception. “It takes an entire community to operate this program, and it also is part of the youth development campaign plan, and it really is youth engaged,” she said. “Youth are part of the conversation. Youth are the lead in many of the activities that we are doing.”

Summer @ City Hall partners with Natomas Unified, Sacramento City Unified, and Twin Rivers Unified school districts to select students for the program. The students can earn elective credits for their efforts because Summer @ City Hall employs credentialed teachers to teach the five week course that covers everything from civic engagement to career exploration to developing essential soft skills. Some students are able to earn community service hours instead of elective credits if necessary.

Students who graduate also earn a $350 stipend and this year had an opportunity to earn an additional $40 bonus for participating in a parks planning project. Approximately 800 students have completed the training and the internships for Summer @ City Hall since it started, with many of the returning the following year as program assistants for the next cohort of new students.

Young people interested in being part of next year’s Summer @ City Hall can find the application here. The program opens applications in March and typically runs from mid June to late July depending on the specific date for the last day of school with the partner school districts. Students from public schools, private schools, charter schools and homeschool are all encouraged to apply and participate.

You can follow Summer @ City Hall on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.