Webinar Overview
Organizations increasingly recognize the importance of incorporating youth voice and lived experience into programs, policies, and system improvement. However, creating opportunities for participation does not always translate into meaningful influence over decisions.
This interactive session explores youth governance as a systems approach to moving beyond engagement toward shared influence and accountability. Participants will examine the organizational structures needed to ensure young people's perspectives consistently inform decision-making, including defined roles, authority, feedback loops, and pathways for action.
Through practical examples and guided reflection, participants will evaluate their own youth engagement practices and consider what happens after young people share their perspectives. How is their input used? Who is responsible for responding? How are decisions communicated? Participants will explore how embedding lived experience into organizational processes can strengthen accountability, drive continuous improvement, and create systems that genuinely learn from the young people they serve.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
Presenter Bio
Jaleshia "Jay" Brown is the Founder of Virtue Visionary LLC and a Youth Governance & Systems Change Practitioner specializing in the intentional integration of lived experience into organizational decision-making. Drawing from her lived experience in foster care, Jay designed, launched, and facilitated the Hamilton County Youth Advisory Board, a countywide platform connecting youth lived experience to policy, program design, and systems improvement. Today, she partners with organizations to build governance structures, decision pathways, and feedback loops that move lived experience beyond consultation toward meaningful influence and shared accountability. Her work spans child welfare, behavioral health, education, housing, and community systems, with a focus on strengthening organizational learning and implementation.
Attendance Certificates Available
*Must watch webinar LIVE to receive Certificate
*Each individual requesting a Certificate, must be registered and logged in to zoom under their own name.
If you have questions, please email Sarah.
