Youth Advisory Council

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth

Year: 2023

Maricopa County Department of Public Health Office of Tobacco Prevention and Cessation (OTPC) & Child and Maternal Health cooperatively facilitate a virtual Youth Advisory Council (YAC). YAC’s purpose is to include youth from diverse backgrounds to give their own perspective on different healthcare topics to structure public health programming and the opportunity to participate in a government level program during the academic year. The goal of the program is to recruit youth ages 14-18 living in Maricopa County to represent the diversity in our communities. YAC strongly encourages youth who are directly impacted by public health issues such as access to health care, tobacco use, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ youth to apply. In addition to the youth’s involvement, YAC is an established environment for all participating youth to thrive in. Youth members learn in different capacities to advocate for the community, grow in their self-confidence and resiliency. Our future for YAC is to have retention and be a sustainable program that delivers more opportunities for youth members to network with internal and external community partners. YAC hopes to expand those opportunities into public health internships, volunteer hours, advocacy work, college readiness, and leadership.