IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 171 
Expressing support for the designation of February 2023 as ‘‘National Youth 
Leadership Month’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 27, 2023 
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin (for herself, Ms. MACE, and Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing support for the designation of February 2023 
as ‘‘National Youth Leadership Month’’. 
Whereas youth are children and adolescents as well as those 
making the transition into early adulthood; 
Whereas, while it is essential that we, as adults, care for our 
youth, it is also our responsibility to ensure that the 
youth are among today’s leaders and are well prepared 
to lead future generations; 
Whereas, as of 2020, 73,106,000 Americans were under 18 
years of age, comprising 22.1 percent of the United 
States population; 
Whereas it is especially critical that youth voices are uplifted 
in policy conversations because despite the fact that 
youth do not have the right to vote in elections, each pol-
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icy enacted by their representatives will have an effect on 
them; 
Whereas effective policymaking requires a clear and nuanced 
understanding of the problems and of the context within 
which policy solutions will take place; 
Whereas youth are the foremost experts in their own lived ex-
periences; 
Whereas youth have been at the vanguard of every social 
movement; 
Whereas youth are capable of engaging in substantive and 
productive discussions of issues and as partners in the 
policymaking process; 
Whereas the nuanced perspectives that youth are able to offer 
based on their aforementioned experiences are critical to 
crafting effective policies that avoid unintended con-
sequences; 
Whereas policies that impact youth are incomplete and insuf-
ficient if youth are not authentically engaged in the pol-
icymaking process; 
Whereas specifically youth who are or have been involved in 
the child welfare and youth justice systems have crucial 
perspectives about the functioning of those systems and 
how they impact youth and families; 
Whereas when youth are empowered to lead throughout their 
formative years, they develop a strong sense of identity 
and become engaged civic participants that take pride 
and ownership in their work and those that they lead; 
Whereas these benefits are especially potent for youth from 
communities that have been historically excluded from 
leadership roles, including youth of color, Native youth, 
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LGBTQ+ youth, youth from religious minorities, poor 
youth, and the estimated 391,000 youth in foster care on 
a given day; 
Whereas, in the context of child welfare, authentic youth en-
gagement is an approach that prioritizes elevating youth 
to be leaders in shaping their lives and directing their fu-
tures alongside the adults in their communities and the 
child welfare workforce and is recognized as best practice 
within the child welfare system; 
Whereas child welfare experts agree that implementing au-
thentic youth engagement for the purposes of case plan-
ning, court processes, and the implementation of youth 
advisory boards leads to better outcomes for youth within 
the child welfare system as well as positive systems 
changes overall; 
Whereas youth development experts agree that despite the 
benefits of youth leadership, the subject is critically 
understudied; 
Whereas conducting further empirical research on youth lead-
ership would yield immediate application for policy-
makers, educators, parents, and employers, and youths 
themselves; and 
Whereas we support designating February 2023 as ‘‘National 
Youth Leadership Month’’ to uplift current youth leaders 
and those doing the important work of supporting youth 
leadership: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the designation of a ‘‘National 
Youth Leadership Month’’; 
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(2) encourages Congress to implement policies 
to elevate youth voices to lead, support youth leader-
ship development opportunities, and encourage addi-
tional research on youth leadership; 
(3) honors the work of adults that prioritize 
and cultivate youth leadership; and 
(4) honors the dedication of youth leaders who 
advocate for the interest of their generation and fu-
ture generations. 
Æ 
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