2nd Annual California Association of Youth Commissions Spring Conference - "CAYC 2026: From Clicks to Change: Youth Turning Issues into Policy"

The California Association of Youth Commissions (CAYC) is excited to host its 2nd Annual Spring Conference, CAYC 2026: From Clicks to Change: Youth Turning Issues into Policy on Saturday, March 21, 2026, 9:00 am to 12:30 pm. It is virtual on Zoom.  

This *free* event is open to anyone- teens in grades 5-12, adult youth advisors, parents- interested in youth civic engagement, local government, and youth commissions. We’ll be diving into sharing best practices for creating and maintaining youth commissions and discussing youth issues that can be pursued on the state level through engaging speaker panels (E-bike safety, AI in mental health and education, stronger DUI laws), interactive teen-led workshops, and breakout sessions. 

We have a tremendous group of speakers who will engage passionate youth attending the conference from throughout California (please see website for updated list- CAYC 2026 Spring Conference):

Amelia Stafford - Youth Ebike Advocate

Dr. John Maa - Trauma Surgeon MarinHealth & Governor, American College of Surgeons

Diane Papan - California Assemblymember, 21st District 

Jackie Speier - San Mateo County Board of Supervisors & Former US Congresswoman

Gwen Froh - Safe Routes to School Marin County 

Amy Thomson - Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition

Dr. Jodi Halpern - Chancellor's Chair and Professor of Bioethics, UC Berkeley

Rajen Sheth - CEO Kyron Learner and Former VP of Google AI Cloud

Isabelle Hau - Executive Director, Stanford Accelerator for Learning 

Office of Steven Padilla - California Assemblymember, 18th District

Ms. Jennifer Levi - Founder, Live Like Braun

Ro Khanna - U.S. Congressman, 17th District 

Rafael Mandelman -  San Francisco Board of Supervisors President

Noelia Corzo - San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President

We will also unveil the results of the  CAYC E-bike Safety Survey,  and the winner of the CAYC E-bike Safety Video Contest!

The CAYC was founded in 2024 to connect California’s 175 youth commissions, the only state-wide consortium of local youth commissions in the US. The mission is to share best practices, improve access to empower youth to form youth commissions in all cities and counties in California, and to formulate policy for teens on the state level important to them. Resources on the website include: 

Guidelines and Toolkit on creating and maintaining a youth commission

Blogs on topics and issues of interest for California youth

RSVP to the conference: https://www.californiayouthcommissions.org/spring-2026-conference

Please contact Anya Dalal (adalal@californiayouthcommissions.org) for further information.