Orange County commissioner Nicole Wilson, representing District 1, has launched a new youth leadership council in partnership with the Orlando-based nonprofit Empower Teens United that will serve as an advisory group highlighting youth perspectives.
Wilson’s district consists of parts of west and south Orange County, including Winter Garden and Windermere. She told Orlando Weekly in an interview that conversations with local high school students on issues such as teen vaping prompted her to create a platform for students to advise on local government policy.
“Everything we do will affect them,” Wilson acknowledged. “I think about it all the time.” Wilson’s district office recently created a general leadership advisory council that meets monthly.
Its goal is “elevating community voices, conducting issue-focused research, and developing actionable policy recommendations that advance equity, opportunity, and quality of life for District 1 residents.”
Wilson explained that during the launch of this general advisory council, her office had received a surprising number of applications from young people, inspiring this new opportunity for high school students in her district.
“I can’t think of a single thing that we’ve talked about at the Board of County Commission that won’t impact our young people. And so having that, the ability to look at the top topics in their range, and then ask, you know, the young people who want to participate where they are on this — do they have any information, background, research, anything they want to contribute” is an important goal, she explained.
Offering this “in a structured way,” to allow young people to contribute their ideas and feedback, “is really the goal,” she said.
The district youth leadership council recently ended its first open call for applications on May 15. Applicants must reside in District 1 and be a student in grades 9 through 12. Applications, however, will continue to be accepted and considered on a rolling basis, according to Wilson’s office. The program is open to students “of all backgrounds” and is intended to help students “build leadership, communication, problem-solving, and advocacy skills,” according to a program flyer.
Orange County is a sprawling county of an estimated 1.5 million people in Central Florida where higher housing costs are pricing locals out, the tourism industry is king, and the public school system is struggling to navigate funding losses driven by a federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants, declining birth rates and the expansion of taxpayer-funded vouchers for Florida’s largely unregulated private schools, according to district officials.
Wilson said that two issues of current interest to students she’s spoken to — currently under scrutiny by county commissioners — include a proposed ban on smoke shops near schools and regulations for micro-mobility devices, such as electric scooters.
As the Orlando Sentinel reported this week, several local municipalities have introduced or pursued regulations on these devices to promote safe use and prevent avoidable accidents and fatal tragedies. Orange County leaders will be discussing the issue Tuesday.
Earlier this month, a 13-year-old boy was fatally struck by a truck in Lake Nona while using an e-scooter to go pick up flowers for Mother’s Day, the Sentinel reported.
Florida law doesn’t require a government ID to use these micro-mobility vehicles, although some local governments in the region have enacted their own rules to help fill in the gaps, including minimum age requirements, ID requirements and speed limits.
“We want them to have the freedom to travel around, but we also want to make sure they’re safe,” Wilson told the Weekly. “They need to have a voice.”
During the public comment portion of a board of county commissioners meeting last month, several high-school students from Wilson’s district spoke in favor of Wilson’s proposed ban on new smoke shops within a certain distance of schools.
“We have seen how quickly vaping becomes normalized among students. What starts as curiosity turns into habits, and for many, addiction,” said Evan QuiQuia, a junior at Windermere High School and founder of Empower Teens United.
“As students, we are also navigating academic pressures, social media and mental health challenges, and prioritizing long-term impacts over short-term convenience is one of those decisions that needs to be made,” he argued. “By supporting this initiative, you are helping create an environment where students can grow, lead and succeed without unnecessary exposure to harmful influences.”
Through activist groups like the Sunrise Movement and Youth Action Fund, young people have also been at the forefront of local activism on issues ranging from mandatory parking minimums for new housing developments to expanding know your rights initiatives in schools for immigrant families.
Wilson said that young people, unlike adults, don’t always censor or filter their thoughts — a characteristic she sees as an advantage in gaining additional insights into an issue. Although youth participants on her council won’t ultimately be the ones voting on actual government policy, she wants them to be able to share their input in a structured setting.
“Really being able to get the perspective of our young people without the constraints, I would say, that we sometimes face as adults is another really … a motivator to be able to have them weigh in,” said Wilson.
Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
