On Friday, Jan. 30, nearly 80 partner organizations, youth, and community leaders gathered to launch the Futures Commission — a San Mateo County-based initiative focused on addressing the escalating mental health crisis through intergenerational dialogue, long-term solutions, and youth leadership. The event, held at the Redwood City Center for Creativity, featured youth speakers, networking, games, and opportunities for attendees to contribute to the commission’s ongoing initiatives.
Youth Co-Founder and climate dyad lead Veer Chowdhary, a sophomore at The Nueva School, described the event atmosphere as motivating.
“I’m really, really excited by just how many people have come and been engaged. It’s a starting point to go up,” Chowdhary said.
Echoing Chowdhary’s sentiments, Youth Co-Founder and sports dyad lead Ariya Kaushek, a senior at Menlo School, said she hopes the launch event encouraged youth to learn what they can achieve by participating in the Futures Commission.
“I really hope this atmosphere is making everyone feel like they can belong,” Kaushek said. “They can walk in, talk about their own mental health, talk about their family’s mental health, and what brought them here, and just feel more connected with each other. So I’m really grateful to put on an event like this.”
Before the official launch, the commission helped San Mateo County be the first jurisdiction nationwide to pass a resolution supporting the United Nations Declaration on Future Generations in early December. The commission is currently focused on three core initiatives: Futures on the Field, which partners with underserved cities to combine sports with mental health awareness; the 10K Youth Futures Form, which collects youth perspectives on wellbeing to inform county policies; and a series of events to foster intergenerational dialogue.
Policy strategist and co-founder Viva Mogi said she hopes this initiative will help youth understand the control they hold over their future.
“Their voice matters, and we will take that seriously. The team here will hold ourselves accountable to make sure that becomes a reality and a sense of connectedness,” Mogi said.“I would say, some hope about making sure that you know, the youth voices will be part of decision-making in the future.”
Chowdhary said his personal goal for the program is to help youth make informed decisions for their future.
“What we hope to see in the county is what [we’re] going for, but it is really a mix of youth and adults working together, talking about what we agree on, what we disagree on, what’s good for the county,” Chowdhary said. “So I really do see the Futures Commission… as a model of what I would like other commissions in the county to look like.”
According to founder and San Mateo County Behavioral Health Commissioner Frieda Edgette, the Future Commission and similar futuristic global movements were inspired by the 2015 passage of the Well-being of Future Generations Act in Wales.
“We are joining now, really a global movement,” Edgette. “There’s nations around the world — Wales, Spain, Italy, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Cameroon — taking legislative action to embed the well-being and interests of current and future generations.”
Still, Kaushek said San Mateo County’s program is unique in its approach and foundation.
“What is so beautiful about the one in San Mateo is that we have already, in such a short amount of time, reached so many,” Kaushek said. “I think that itself shows that this was something that needed to be built. We were just waiting for someone to actually build it.”
Edgette said she was surprised by how much attention the organization already received and emphasized the importance of prioritizing the opinions of generations.
“There’s a real dialogue around youth, real youth seats on boards and commissions where they can vote. It’s not purely advisory,” Edgette said. “So that gives me hope and makes me feel connected and just really feel an obligation to uplift the voices of young people on behalf of current and future generations.”
