Reuben McKnight, a graduate student studying historic preservation at the University of Washington, came to Historic Seattle a couple of months ago looking for a summer internship. Executive Director John Chaney and I were very impressed; he's intelligent, enthusiastic, and obviously a hard worker. Reuben is now a work-study student here at Historic Seattle, and is working on a study of preservation incentives (both direct and indirect) affecting historic properties in the Seattle area. See related article in this month's Public Policy section.

Work-study opportunities, internships, low-paying grunt work in preservation service firms, and research are typical first jobs for preservation professionals in training. Very seldom does someone in their twenties get an opportunity to sit on an advisory or regulatory board. Thanks to a one-year-old program spearheaded by local young adults who lobbied the city to get more young people involved in city government, Reuben will be joining our city's Landmarks Review Board. He applied through the Get Engaged Program that places several young people on city boards and commissions.

Get Engaged is a joint program involving the City of Seattle and the YMCA. The young people who first pitched the idea to the Schell administration received funding from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation to support the program. In 2001, its first year of operation, a dozen young people took positions on non-regulatory commissions, such as the Human Rights and Women's commissions. This year, with the help of Alex Field, who is in charge of Boards and Commissions in the mayor's office, young people are taking positions on selected regulatory boards. These include the Seattle Arts Commission, the Design Commission, the Planning Commission, and the Landmarks Review Board.

According to Project Coordinator Jessica Levy, she received 120 applications. The Planning Commission garnered the most placement requests (25). Ten young people expressed interest in our city's Landmarks Review Board. The term for Get Engaged participants is one year.

The response from the Boards and Commissions receiving this new energy has been positive on the whole. Though there was slight concern in the beginning that young people under 29 would not have much valuable input, many of the first batch of 2001 participants have been asked to remain on their board of choice. This is, without doubt, a clear endorsement of the program.

Each "class" of participants receives ongoing training and opportunities to engage with each other throughout the year. The program was conceived to build an ethic of community service among a new generation of citizens who will be tomorrow's civil servants, policy makers, and maybe even elected officials.

If you would like more information about the program, contact Jessica Levy at 382-5013 ext. 3853.

View last month's Young Voices article

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