That is why I am proposing the formation of the Dayton Youth Council — a permanent, city — backed body made up of high school and college-age residents tasked with advising the Dayton City Commission on key issues, especially those impacting education, job access, housing, transportation, mental health support, and justice. This is not about symbolic involvement. It is about real policy input from the people who will inherit this city.
We cannot keep asking young people to show up for us on Election Day if we refuse to show up for them the other 364 days of the year. Relationships have to be built, not assumed. It requires adults to listen, invest, and give students and young adults power in meaningful ways.
If you are 17 or 18 years old in Dayton, what message have you received from your city leaders? Have they asked you to interview for a job at city hall? Have they invested in your neighborhood? Have they shown up and asked your opinion about transportation to and from school? Or have you learned early on that political decisions are something that happen to you, not with you?
I am running for Dayton City Commission because we need leaders who see young people not as a problem to be solved, but as partners in progress. We need new ideas and bold thinking — not just in economic development, community-police relations, or housing, but in how we include and inspire the next generation. We need to rebuild trust where trust has been broken. We need to dream big again.
I am running for office to usher in a new generation of leadership — and to give young people the tools they need to thrive. Together, we can bring real, innovative ideas to the table and finally disrupt the status quo.
My opponents have acknowledged that youth complacency is a concern. But recognition alone is not enough — we need a plan. We need action. We need accountability. We need transparency. We need more than fancy marketing campaigns that will never bring peace or cure violence. We need commissioners who will rewrite the rules of who gets to lead in Dayton.
Over the last four years, our Mayor and City Administration have done little to earn the trust of the next generation. Students have been shut out of community centers, left off committees, and forgotten in civic discussions. When decisions are made about jobs, apprenticeships, housing, community policing, and education, where is their voice? Where are the seats reserved for youth? Their absence is not by choice — it is by design. We transport students to a “Youth Summit” once a year and call it “engagement,” but we all know the bus ride home leads back to the status quo.
The Dayton Youth Council will be a start to real, meaningful change. But it will not be the end. I envision civic academies in every high school, youth voices embedded in city planning, and real investment in internships and fellowships that connect young people to the work of government and encourage voting in large numbers. I want young Daytonians to say, “This is my city — and I belong here.”
I have seen it firsthand: there is a hunger out there—among students, artists, activists, and entrepreneurs — for a city that believes in them again. Let us meet that moment and prove to the next generation that Dayton is their home, their future, and their fight.
It is time for a new generation of leadership.
Jacob Davis is a candidate for Dayton City Commission.
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