WLTC Team Spotlight: Plymouth Teen Leaders Inspire Community Action, Connection with New Advisory Board

Written by Dawn Tevis

Wisconsin Libraries Transforming Communities (WLTC) program provides a pathway by which public library and community teams develop and establish sustainable partnerships. These partnerships highlight the vital role libraries play within a community and the importance of community engagement. This series of 7 weekly articles are the results of the creative relationships and initiatives created by the WLTC 2020-21 cohort, libraries, and community organizations. The results of their work include a deeper level of understanding of and responsiveness to each partner’s needs and resources. Together, the groups are shaping one another’s evolution and helping to ensure Wisconsin libraries continue to serve at the forefront of equity and innovation within local communities.

Plymouth Teen Leaders Inspire Community Action, Connection with New Advisory Board

• Leslie Jochman: Director, Plymouth Public Library

• Jane Brill: Director, Generations Intergenerational Center

• Stephani Newby: Director of Community Education, Plymouth Joint School District

• Jennifer Fait: WLTC Coach, Milwaukee Public Library

When a series of community conversations revealed Plymouth residents missed activities for ages 10-25, as well as input from young people themselves, the Plymouth Public Library, along with the Generations Adult Community Center and Plymouth School District Community Education and Recreation, set out to create an empowering space for teen ideas and leadership to develop into collective action and transformation. The Plymouth team established a Teen Advisory Board (TAB), a group designed to involve teens in community decision making and, in turn, to offer participants skill-building experiences and mentorships that would further energize and position them to reimagine their world.

“When we hosted community conversations with teens in April, it was telling that they felt like they haven’t had a voice in events and things going on in the community—or that they feel like some portions of the community don’t listen to them or need to be more open-minded,” Plymouth Public Library Director Leslie Jochman said. She emphasized the importance of “having this group together, getting their voices out there, and letting them feel heard and seeing what it creates."

About 15 TAB members met regularly with team organization representatives, who helped the TAB members decide if an idea is feasible and which group should spearhead it. First among their projects helped the community with the “Return of the Walldogs” mural festival in August, which featured the addition of seven community building murals painted by artists from across the globe. Walldogs painted more than 20 murals in Plymouth when visiting a decade ago. This year, the TAB incorporated entertainment activities like an outdoor movie and carnival games to further engage community members. The event also featured a children’s mural that gave youth the opportunity to paint art to be installed in the library. Team Plymouth hopes teens learned practical skills during the process, like how to obtain a permit for street closure. WLTC’s support—from training on facilitating community conversations to meetings that provided the opportunity for relationship-building among team members—was crucial to the TAB’s success. Jochman noted WLTC’s long-term impact, too, as the program’s teams and coaches shared their training within their library systems. The library does not need to stay in the building, she reminds us, but should be embedded within the community through collaboration and resource sharing.

See more posts on the WI Libraries for Everyone page.