Legislative Day

Legislative Day is an idea that Evelyn Tolbert proposed to the Tracy Youth Advisory Commission about four years ago. It is designed as a way for young people to interact and learn directly from our elected officials. Held once a year, Legislative Day invites elected politicians and/or their representatives to appear in front of a youth audience in a format that may vary from year to year.

The most recent Legislative Day was held on November 5, 2007. Previous Legislative Day events consisted of Elected Officials sitting as a panel discussing issues of importance to youth. The 2007 format involved Tracy Youth Advisory Commissioners portraying the leading candidates that had announced for the Presidential race being held in November 2008. The candidates portrayed were Barak Obama, Hilliary Clinton, Mitt Romney, and Rudy Giuliani. Each of the "presidential candidates" made opening statements. They were then given structured questions. The Tracy Youth Advisory Commissioners responded "in character" based on information they researched on their respective candidates. Following the forum, the youth audience voted for their presidential candidate. The local newspaper, the Tracy Press carried the information that Barak Obama had won the "election".

In addition to this very valuable and informative presentation, current Elected Official representatives made presentations on behalf of their bosses. The representatives then made personal presentations and responded to questions from the youth audience about the specifics involved in preparing for, and pursuing, careers in politics. Legislative Day again proved to be a very valuable endeavor for the Tracy Youth Advisory Commission, the young people in attendance, and the community as a whole.

Evelyn Tolbert continues to work to insure that there is a broad cross-section of programs and events offered in Tracy to maintain the interest of our young people in wholesome activities.