Youth engagement and reporting on responses teamed up to influence policy

The Current, a local publication based in Lafayette, Louisiana, used email, social media and in-person events to gather more than 500 responses from young people answering questions about key issues ahead of local elections, such as housing, quality of life and flooding. In addition to growing brand awareness, this outreach and engagement led to the production of solutions-oriented stories. The Current also produced a candidate questionnaire, which most filled out, and an election guide. Lafayette’s new mayor-president, Monique Blanco Boulet, took heed of the ideas for responses to housing issues presented in the solutions reporting and those discussed in public forums with local residents in shaping the policies of her administration.