AYC Program Consultant: Clintel Hasan

What is your name and position?

My name is Clintel Hasan, and I’m the Autonomous Youth Council (AYC) program consultant.

What adjustments or strategies did partners make to enhance youth engagement and create meaningful roles for council members?
Throughout the year, partners made intentional shifts to deepen youth engagement and clarify expectations. Many organizations moved from having youth “assist” with tasks to creating meaningful roles where they could co-lead meetings, contribute to planning and take ownership of parts of projects. Placement leads increased communication touchpoints and built in space for reflection and feedback, which helped strengthen alignment between adult guidance and youth leadership.

What’s one lesson you’ve learned from this work?
One clear takeaway is that placement leads need both time and capacity to intentionally plan for youth engagement. Partners who already had structures for working directly with youth found it easier to integrate council members in authentic and productive ways.

Looking ahead, what support or guidance do you think will be most important for both partners and the AYC team?
Authentic youth-adult partnership works best when structure and support are intentional. When placement leads were transparent and created opportunities for shared decision-making, youth confidence and initiative grew. Moving forward, both partners and the AYC team could benefit from clearer onboarding about youth leadership expectations and shared examples of equitable partnership in practice. It will also be important to increase the time youth spend with placement organizations; eight to ten hours a month hasn’t been enough to build deep context or sustain meaningful work.

What ongoing impact are you seeing from this work?
Encouragingly, most partners are sustaining this work beyond the current cycle. Several are extending their council members’ placements or building new youth leadership structures within their organizations to continue advancing youth-adult equity. These efforts show that the learning and relationships developed through the AYC are not just one-year impacts but are shaping longer-term commitments to shared power and meaningful youth leadership across Milwaukee’s ecosystem.