Our young people’s hopes, dreams, concerns, and ideas matter. PHL Youth Week is their space to be truly seen, heard, and celebrated.
The Mayor’s Office of Youth Engagement is partnering with over 20 youth-led & youth-serving organizations to bring PHL Youth Week to the City of Philadelphia. The series will run from August 8 – August 12. Each day we will host community-focused, youth-led events around the issues that young Philadelphians are facing: education, civic participation, public safety/gun violence, financial futures/entrepreneurship, and health & wellness. The overall goal of this initiative is to elevate these very critical issues in our city, while simultaneously celebrating the unique ability that young people have to inspire movements, both locally & globally.
The United Nations has designated August 12 as International Youth Day. This observance brings youth issues to the attention of the international community and celebrates the potential of youth as partners in today’s global society.
The idea for International Youth Day was proposed in 1991 by the young people who were gathered in Vienna, Austria, for the first session of the World Youth Forum of the United Nations System. The Forum recommended that an International Youth Day be declared, especially for fund-raising and promotional purposes, to support the United Nations Youth Fund in partnership with youth organizations.
We sought to use International Youth Day as an anchor for PHL Youth Week so that our young people know that they are not alone in the triumphs and challenges that they are facing as a generation. There is a global community of support – but most importantly, there is a community of support here at home.
Join us for what is sure to be an incredible week!
Event schedule
Monday, August 8, 2022
Event: School Daze – The State of Our Education
Time: 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Description: School Daze is a town hall hosted by the Philadelphia Youth Commission & Friends where student leaders from all over the city will have the opportunity to share their thoughts about the state of local schools, suggest student-led solutions to those issues, and find out from leadership what student leaders can do with their collective power to affect change throughout the District.
Location: School District of Philadelphia HQ – Atrium
Registration link: bit.ly/PHLYouthWeekEd
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
Event: Wake Up Everybody – How to Make Local Government Work for You… For Real
Time: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Description: Wake Up Everybody is a brave space hosted by the Philadelphia Youth Commission, PA Youth Vote, and Youth United for Change on the importance of Gen-Z voices & youth civic participation, while unpacking the truth about the state of our democracy and how we can get it back on track.
Location: City Hall
Registration link: bit.ly/PHLYouthWeekVote
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Event: Everything is Love – Making Generational Changes to Our Health & Wellness
Time: 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Description: Everything is Love is a multi-faceted healing space for Gen-Z Philadelphians to discover new and different ways to care for themselves – mentally, physically, and emotionally. The event will feature many ways that self-care, healthy movement, and joy positively affects us internally, but also how we experience the world.
Location: The Phield House
Registration link: bit.ly/PHLYouthWeekWell
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Event: Dollar & A Dream – Turning Your Vision Into a Reality
Time: noon – 2 p.m.
Description: Dollar & A Dream is an inspirational space for young business-owners, youth-led grassroots organizations, and local influencers to receive valuable information about how to fund, manage, and sustain their brands in an increasingly more crowded entrepreneurial pool.
Location: Skyline Room (FLP)
Registration link: bit.ly/PHLYouthWeekDream
Bonus event: MAC Night Market
Time: 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Description: The MAC Night Market is a space where the community can come out to shop and support local Millennial & Gen-Z owned businesses.
Location: Cherry Street Pier
Friday, August 12, 2022
Event: Keep Ya Head Up – A Community Conversation on Moving Forward
Time: 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Description: Keep Ya Head Up is a multidimensional creative space where attendees will have the opportunity to share their stories, insights, and solutions to our city’s public safety issues through art. The event will also feature a live panel discussion with local leaders and activists – all in the hopes of leaving the space with recommendations for City/State leadership around the epidemic of violence in our communities.
Location: TBA
Registration link: bit.ly/PHLYouthWeekRise
For more information on PHL Youth Week, please reach reach out to jeanette.bavwidinsi@phila.gov.
Who we are
The Mayor’s Office of Youth Engagement (OYE) was created in 2017 to be a megaphone for the voices of young people in Philadelphia. Our mission is to encourage & restore young residents’ faith in civic leadership & municipal government by creating brave spaces for them to reimagine & co-design the Philadelphia they want to live in.
OYE houses the Philadelphia Youth Commission and the Millennial Advisory Committee.
