Youth Action Coalition

Investigating & Designing Urban Spaces

Montalvo’s Youth Action Coalition with Adobe Youth Voices (YAC) brings together fourteen high school students from the Silicon Valley to work on urban design of the next generation.

The purpose of this year’s YAC is to investigate the City of San Jose’s development plan and use the multi-media arts to create an interactive installation of our own proposal for a San Jose more responsive to its young people. We will merge different types of art such as photography, web design, video design and communication with all aspects of urban planning. Our main goal is to allow some of the youth of this area to have our voices heard and to offer city officials a snapshot of the future of San Jose through our eyes.

Our Big Goals:

• Find out as much as we can about urban planning & design.
• Develop our skills in visual art & design, theatre, digital media production, web design, public speaking, collaboration, inquiry, model-building, problem-solving and getting our voices heard!!
• Bring the infinite possibilities of the imagination to urban planning & design.
• Spark community dialogue on how our cities should be designed to best meet the needs of all.
• Create a multi-media interactive installation of our proposal for San José’s urban design and organize a community event to present it.
• Create our own website/blog to bring our work to the larger public.

Our Responsibilities:

• Attend all/most sessions. (Contact Kirsten if you need to miss a session.)
• Keep a sketch journal/scrapbook of the process.
• Participate weekly on the blog.
• Respect all guidelines/agreements.
• Stay positive.
• Communicate your needs.

Our Guidelines & Agreements:

1. Celebrate Mistakes.
2. Appreciate Differences.
3. Open Yourself to Infinite Possibilities.
4. Step Up, Step Back.

Our Resources:

• Digital Video & Still Cameras
• Computers & Website/Blog
• Adobe Software
• Community Experts & Adult Advisors
• Cesar Chavez Community Action Center at SJSU
• Montalvo Arts Center & Lucas Artist Programs artist residency