(FACT leaders Kayla McPike (far left) and TaNiya Robinson (left next to Sen. Baldwin) from Wisconsin and others met with Senator Tammy Baldwin in Washington D.C. this summer)
High schools from across the nation traveled to the nation’s capital recently to participate in the ACLU’s Advocacy Institute’s Summer Advocacy Program. Among them were Kayla McPike and TaNiya Robinson, local members of FACT, Wisconsin’s Youth-Led Tobacco Prevention Movement.
The program brought together the teens for a week long program aimed at creating the next generation of leaders by connecting them with lawyers, lobbyists, community activists, elected officials and other leaders to help them become leaders in their own communities and at a national level.
One skill that McPike brought back from D.C. was the ability to keep other teens active.
“I learned how to how to keep people engaged and get new people engaged, listening to our voices and joining different programs to support local initiatives,” she said.
Robinson also went to the camp hoping to learn how to make change in Milwaukee.
“Because I am “spreading the truth about tobacco,” this camp has helped to introduce more beneficial ways for me to reach my audience. I hope to bring back new ways to actually make a difference in the tobacco industry in how it targets communities, as well as introduce my peers to new ways to work with our community,” Robinson said.