Mayor’s Youth Summit hopes to engage Boston’s future leaders

The 2025 Mayor’s Youth Summit will take place on Saturday, February 22. The summit is targeted toward youth throughout the city and gives them a forum to showcase their talents and build community. Implemented in 1994 under Mayor Thomas Menino, the summit was hosted annually for 10 years before taking a hiatus in 2005.

In 2024, Mayor Michelle Wu and the Mayor’s Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement restarted the program, and now in its second (technically 12th) year, the Youth Summit encourages Boston youth to connect with one another and utilize each other as resources.

“ Really, the goal of [the Mayor’s Youth Summit] is to showcase to the young people that local government is willing to invest in them on that level and really create these spaces for them,” said Pedro Cruz.

Cruz, the director of the Office for Youth Engagement and Advancement, is a born and raised Bostonian. His mission in the Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement since he began the role in 2023 has been to empower Boston’s young people to not only engage with their local government but to advocate for themselves and be participants in and beneficiaries of local government as well.

The Mayor’s Office for Youth Engagement and Advancement works throughout the year to support Boston youth and give them a platform for change that is supported by local government. Programs and initiatives that are supported under the OYEA are the Mayor’s Youth Council, Youth Speaks Boston, Youth Lead the Change, YouthLine, Partner Network, Boston After Dark, the Professional Development series, and, of course, the Mayor’s Youth Summit.

The summit will be held at the Artists For Humanity EpiCenter in South Boston; 500 free tickets will be provided to Boston teens ages 14-19. The summit will be an event where teens can come and see each other showcase their talents. There will be free food, speakers, giveaways, and performances from Beat the Odds and 617Speaks.

“ We wanted to revamp what a youth summit looks like and set a new standard. So [last year’s summit] was bright. It was fun. It was loud. We had a lot of activities. We had everything from a chocolate bar to our cotton candy station to just food everywhere and even a lounging area. It was a lot going on,” said Cruz, “and it was fun.”

Mayor Michelle Wu joined youth from across Boston for the Mayor’s Youth Summit at Artists For Humanity in South Boston last year. PHOTO: Jeremiah Robinson/Mayor’s Office

This year will be no different. While the summit is put on by the Mayor’s Office for Youth Engagement and Advancement, the event is also influenced by the ones who it is meant to support. The Mayor’s Youth Council, which is a body of high school students that speaks on behalf of the youth demographic in Boston, is also involved in planning the event.

“I think that’s the biggest mistake that adults make when planning youth stuff, that we think we know what young people want, so we always create a space for young people to tell us themselves,” Cruz explained.

Throughout the year, the Mayor’s Youth Council acts as a liaison between their peers and the city, finding out what they need and how the city can help them. Working in conjunction with the Office for Youth Engagement and Advancement, the goal is to bolster civic engagement among the city’s teens and provide them with resources that they want and will utilize rather than what the adults in charge think they need.

“Boston’s future is in our young people, and we’re lucky to have their leadership and energy to build a city for everyone. We were so excited to bring back the Mayor’s Youth Summit last year for the first time in decades, and this year, we will be expanding it based on high demand,” said Wu.

The summit will also highlight two teens who have distinguished themselves as leaders dedicated to civic engagement through the Youth Leader Award, as well as two youth organizations that have proven to be dedicated to youth empowerment.

“ I think the theme is the young people. It’s really showcasing what they’ve been working on this whole year. We want this event to be where [young people] go every year to tap into what’s happening with young people,” said Cruz, “look at it like the State of the City for young people. This is where you go once a year to engage with local government to find out what’s happening, what’s new, what people have been working on, young leaders that are rising out there.”

This year’s summit is expected to bring in over 400 participants, which is double last year’s attendance. The OYEA has planned for this year’s summit, for the most part, to mirror last year. There will be food, fun, and entertainment to cultivate an event that is truly for Boston’s youth by Boston’s youth.

“ We created a space for young people just to come and be young people. You know what I mean? And they could just come and drop their guard and just enjoy themselves and be fun,” said Cruz, “even like some of the [youth] performers [from last year’s summit] now are friends, and I know this because we still connect with them and some of the performers met at the summit and now they’ve performed together multiple times since [last year] because they’ve created this whole community amongst themselves as artists.”