Box City Vigil Brings Young People to the Capitol
Approximately 100 students from across the Twin Cities metro spent the night of April 22 outside at the Minnesota State Capitol to raise awareness about youth homelessness in Minnesota.
Student organizers invited advocates and decision makers to participate.
“I was really excited to visit with State Senator Becky Lourey. Not only is the chief-author of the Runaway and Homeless Youth legislation, I can’t believe she spent the night outside with us,” said Jeff, an attendee from Oakdale.
United States Senator Mark Dayton, Michael Dahl, executive director of the Coalition, and Amy Laura Hall, an assistant professor of theological ethics at Duke Divinity School also participated.
A team of six high school students from Bloomington (three from Jefferson and three from Kennedy) organized this year’s event over a five-month period. They planned the event to coincide with National Youth Service Day.
As the Coalition staff member who supported the student organizers, I thought this year’s event was a rewarding experience for participants, and it was exciting to see so many high school students become more civically engaged and excited about ending homelessness.
Because of the students’ work, area businesses, churches, high schools across the south metro and a variety of youth agencies participated in the event, including:
- Delta Dental of Minnesota
- Bloomington United for Youth
- Normandale Highlands United Methodist Church
- Cub Foods
- Target
- Whole Foods
Five of the six students will graduate this year and plan to go on to college. All of them have said that this experience has given them a strong desire to explore how they can use their time in college to engage in social justice advocacy and organizing in the community.
