Overview of Y-Link and Civic Engagement

Welcome back to another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour. I’m your host, Jake White from Vive 18, and today we’re hanging out with Andres Mata, and I just met this guy in Kansas. He is awesome and doing incredible things in the state of Kansas for drug prevention, especially for youth. So let me tell you a little bit about him, and then we’re gonna have a conversation. 

Andres is a 2017 graduate of Salina High School South and a 2021 graduate of Bethany College. He’s been active in politics and public service his entire life. Beginning at the age of 9 and at the age of 11, he actually led a fundraising effort in the country of Haiti, raised over $1 ,700 in just two weeks. At the age of 13, he was appointed to serve on the Salina, we’ll ask him in a minute, Human Relations Commission. And then Mayor Norm Jennings, he was appointed to the City Planning Commission where he served for two years. He played a significant role as the voice of his generation in the social and economic development of his city. And then in college, that was just in high school, in college, he had the opportunity to advocate on Capitol Hill. While he was, he was recognized as a student leader community award winner for authoring a report on food insecurity. And it ignited a conversation on the topic in Lindsborg. he has a real passion for civic engagement and the rural Kansas and for further recognizing the gap of opportunity for young Kansans. here’s really cool. He founded the Kansas civic network in organizations centered around civic engagement in rural Kansas. And his free time, he likes traveling, keeping up with pro sports and being with friends and family. So dang, it’s awesome to be with you, Andres. 

Yeah, thanks Jake for the opportunity. Great to be with you.

Yeah, it’s so cool. And I was so impressed when I met you because we were, you know, we were doing that YLink conference in Kansas for youth. And, you know, I had the privilege of being a part of it with speaking in workshops and just hanging out for the day. So can you tell people here kind of a little bit about YLink? And then I want to hear more about your civic engagement and all that stuff. But can you tell us what you’re up to now and kind of about the YLink program? 

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, today just happens to be my one year anniversary with KDADS, Alright! the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, you know. So I’ve been here a full year, I can say that now. Congrats! Doesn’t seem like a year, but we’re here. So yeah, so the YouthLink or YLink program stands for Youth Leaders in Kansas. And so essentially what we do is that we provide  youth ages between ages 12 and 18 in the state, opportunities for civic engagement, and also youth advocacy through a mental health lens. And, you know, we have a different variety of groups, you know, we’re sponsored, you know, this program is state funded. And so that’s unique program in and itself that we have a state agency behind this program. And quite frankly, it underlines the, not only the investment portion, but you know, when you put a state agency behind something, you know, you have more credibility and it’s more sustainable. And so what we do with the funding or that we give each group, you know, it could be an existing youth leadership group or church group. Any really any youth group in the community. You know, what we do is we once we identify this existing group or new group, we provide them funding and support throughout the school year. And we also do statewide events like the conference we held in Bar and County, Kansas and Hoysenton. And, you know, we provide this support of because, you know, the youth today are hungry and motivated to make change, especially around mental health. And so, you know, my I have the best job in the world because I see that, you know, front and center and, you know, our kids today. So we currently have when I first started, we had 26 groups and fast forward a year, we have 70 now. And throughout the state of Kansas, our groups come from community mental health centers, community grassroots coalitions, and schools, of course. And what is unique about Barton County is that the 20th judicial district through the juvenile services division actually runs that group in Barne County. And so really from a youth, the circle of influence, we have pretty much everyone that would reach or come in contact with the youth at the table already. And so kind of like Shark Tank, I refer it to Shark Tank because you have this, if you’ve seen the show, you have this great entrepreneur has all checks all the boxes, but lacks the funding. And that’s where we step in. And because they’re doing great work. And, you know, we’re excited to be supportive from a state perspective. 

Okay, that’s really cool. And congratulations on growing so much this year and for having your one year anniversary at K -dads. That’s so exciting. I want to ask you, because the model is interesting, and I’m just going to pull this out real quick for our listeners is you said that when people work with you, that some of them, they might need to start a new club or an organization that supports mental health. Some of them already have the organization. They’re doing great things so they can come under your umbrella and you can support them and invest in what they’re doing. And that’s so smart and just a great use of resources that way, you know, that you don’t have to start it from the ground up, but there’s students and advisors and people doing incredible things already so you can partner with them and yeah, just one, want to say that’s awesome. And if people can pick that up, if you’re running an organization like that or wondering where to put funding and how to partner with people in your community. And then I want to ask you this, how do you find out about organizations that are already existing? Do you have like a process for that, for looking for them or finding them? And then what’s their application process look like once you identify them?

Yeah, and I think that’s a great question because, you know, we’re on that, you know, if a school and I think it’s very important for listeners to understand too is that, you know, we have, you know, from a school’s perspective, we have stuccos, you know, what we do, we want to enhance, right? We want to enhance their program or what they already have. And so we Okay, student council, right? yeah, the student council. And so, you know, obviously, well, it’s very clear once you hear student council, you know, you think student government. And so, you know, that might not be, you know, the, you know, if you were to ask who in your school is a champion for mental health, the student council is probably not in top five, you know. But we have them, you know, we don’t change. Their scope or their focus. We just want, you know, enhance because someone in the school building may already be doing, you know, it might be the stucco due for the month of May, mental health awareness month, but they don’t want, you know, whereas other clubs that we have in our fold, you know, they’re explicitly the mental health club. And it’s pretty clear what their goal and the function is of that club. 

And so I want to encourage your listeners because, you know, think outside, you know, step outside the box for a minute, you know, and we’re identifying and there’s a lot of great groups out there in Kansas and throughout the country that are, you know, it has been so prioritized from, you know, from federal government, you know, Surgeon General bringing the advisory on mental health. so mental health, think now and post COVID is really paramount from policymaking to state agencies and to the communities. And so, you know, the way I, you know, search or go on the hunt for new groups, you know, it’s primarily it’s word of mouth. It’s that, you know, from both sides of the street, because, you know, I might hear it from someone or someone hears about Y -Link and they reach out to me. And so in terms of an application process, you know, we have simplified our application process. You know, if you’re interested and you’re living in the state of Kansas and you hear this, you know, reach out and email to me and say, hey, and then once we’ll start, once we establish that relationship or that contact, you know We send in our mandatory contracting material from the state level that are needed. And so, you know, from that, it’s really, you know, ongoing process of, you know, how do we, because, you know, YLink is 100 % youth led and youth directed. And so the adult or the sponsor, you know, is there to manage the funding of course, and really, you know, encourage the youth. But, you know, we’re so easy for adults to like, yeah, that’s not gonna work. Let me take it over before it fails. And sometimes we need, you know, youth need that experience of, you know, when things go wrong and learn from it. so, you know, but from the process of becoming a whiling group, it’s really straightforward because, you know, again, we want not only do we want to grow, but we want to help our communities too. 

Advocacy for Food Security in College

Yeah, that’s cool. And that resonates so much that it has to be youth directed and led for sustainability sake. If it is one of us adults and we don’t equip them to take action, it’s going it’s gonna get lost. It’s not gonna be as effective, it’s not using the best strategies. So I love that and it’s empowering them to take it with them as they go. Which sounds like that’s actually your story because you started doing advocacy at such a young age. I’d love to talk about that for a little bit if you’re up for it. Can you tell me, can you tell me what Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You know, yeah. I would love to pick out one specific project, like one that you’re most proud of maybe where you saw this change you helped make. And then can you tell us maybe what was special about it that made that change take place and what we could learn from it? Like, do have an example of like, I love this story to tell or I’m so proud that I was able to be a part of this and here’s how we did it. 

Yeah, I think, like my bio says, I’ve been involved in politics and government for 16 years. And since really the age of nine, and I’m 25 now. But really, if I could go back and see, kind of reflect, I think the project, Food and Security that we did at Bethany College, we surveyed and that’s a student -led project. you know, Linsburg is about an hour north of Wichita, Kansas, for viewers, which is a, you know, 3 ,700 population community. And so that’s, you know, the community itself to start with is small, know, rural and small, but vibrant. 

And I think that’s what, you know, sometimes gets lost in the conversation of rural Kansas, rural America in general. However, when we surveyed, you know, we put a survey together, we survey staff and faculty and a separate one to our students. you know, Bethany College is a Lutheran, you know, it’s part of the ELCA Lutheran cohort and the NAIA. So it’s not Kansas State, KU, right? And so small, and so 700 students. And so we surveyed both bodies and what we found from our students was that one third of our students were food insecure. And that small enough, you know, because college is a community within the community. And so, and then on the flip side from our staff and faculty, they reported a quarter of them were currently on, were on food assistant programs. And when you think of private college, you know, you have this perception or this narrative that, hey, private college, you have this chest full of cash hiding in the back somewhere. 

And so, well, that flipped the script. Our data flipped the script and we presented the data to essentially the change makers, the folks who could change things tomorrow. The council, the president of the college, and her team, and pretty much everyone that had you know, a position to change things. we presented it, because they didn’t tell a story. And when we were researching about doing those projects, Jake, we found that prior to us coming along, the community itself had been having conversations about food insecurity already for 12. And what, and so those, you know, conversation, it’s not like nothing happened within the 12 years. Conversations were had, projects were put together, but never executed for various reasons. you know, and we presented our findings in February of 2020. Time is very important here. And once we presented, you know, Lindsborg like any other community, rural community, you know, they’re very passionate about their community, you know, there’s a lot of fest, know, civic pride is well alive in Lindsborg. 

And there’s a lot of churches, you know? And so the Messiah Lutheran Church said, okay, let’s put a pause. We’ve been talking about this for 12 years. Let’s put something together. So they started putting folks together and they brought together other partners within the county. And so after that, they said, okay, we’ll take the rest of the spring semester and the summer to hopefully open up fall of 2020. 

And two weeks, two, three weeks later, COVID happens. You know, the whole world was, you I was sent to home from spring break for eternity, I felt like, you know. And, at the flip side, that accelerated the need for having a food pantry. And so I think, you know, timing was ripe to have the conversation. And so in all, you know, like any other community in Kansas and across the country, Linzburg has been around for 150 years, well over. during a pandemic, in the middle of a pandemic, you know, when, when things get tough, know, us Kansans, you know, we don’t shy away, we roll up our sleeves and we get the job done. And so that’s what that community did. And so in the middle of pandemic, they opened the first food pantry in its history. And all we did was publish a survey, you know, I think we weren’t driving the vehicle, you know. We were like third row, essentially. But it’s very important to have, and I think the lesson here is to have a strategy because as young people, want to, the instant gratification, we want to do something. Or it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. You know, and so, and so, you know, again, Lensburg had conversations and things were done, but something was missing. you know, and at that time I was probably a sophomore or junior in college. And so, you know, just a group of 20, 18 and 19 year olds coming together, a group of three, you know, and pushing this thing across the finish line really presenting the data that it seemed that was non-existent. Because in a rural community, if you don’t see it, the problem doesn’t exist. 

Right, you could probably feel like, why do I see this problem, but no one else sees it. Even if maybe other people do, without the numbers, without the data, we can tend to think no one else gets it or no one else is experiencing it. It’s just me. 

Mm -hmm. Yeah. And, you know, with Y -Link, you know, what’s really cool is that I get to travel crisscross the state of Kansas. And, you know, I love Kansas. And I think, you know, timing right now is going on in the state of Kansas, you know, from an economic perspective or development perspective, but also a prevention perspective. Know, timing right now for our use is paramount. 

We’re right on trend because, you know, what we do for our youth is that we provide a, you know, we provide a statewide conference in the summer and we have an opportunity, or we bring our kids, the youth from our groups to Youth Mental Health Advocacy Day in Topeka, where they get that one on one time with their legislator. And this year we had over 350 youth attend. That’s incredible, wow. From all over. And again, it’s having that exposure. The first time I heard about Y -Link is when I applied for the position. And it’s been around for seven or so years, but it’s that exposure to our youth. I come from the economic development slash policy side of the world, but not only do we have prevention program, Wylink is a prevention program, but it’s also an economic development program because you know our youth, we want to in order to grow, we want our youth to stay in Kansas. You know, we say there are the future, but we’re actually walking the line because you know we have our alums, know, Wylink alums going to Wichita State, going to other universities in the state, and majoring in social and so, know, Gary, our director likes to say, you know, we’re building the next generation of behavioral health in the state of Kansas. And so again, it’s, you know, there’s a practical and the adaptive of leadership. And so it’s really cool to see those come together. like, you know, every group sends me their report for the quarter and just, you know, the variety of what I see. 

Wichita all the way to the Colorado border and everywhere in between. everyone’s given the same guidelines, but they add, or the youth add their flavor to it, what, know, salina is different than Heston, and Heston’s different than Wichita and everything in between. Instead to have that, and so you we saw that at our conference with you being the keynote, Jake, you said that, you know, the coalescing, the networking, it’s not the conferences you and I go to, We sort of that are energetic, But really, you know, it’s about showing up and being impactful for our youth and recognizing that, you know, that our youth now are facing so many challenges in terms of, know, beyond mental health, but mental health being, you know, you know, the attention that, you know, and so it’s important for us from a state perspective to listen to our communities because, you know, I may be, we may be in Topeka, but I think it’s crucial to have that, you the voices being heard throughout the state.

Yeah. And I think what’s so cool about you being on the advocacy side and your story and how it relates to what you’re doing now with Y -Link is like a couple things is the model is so neat because you’re centralizing prevention and all the groups, the youth groups that are there. And so they have a common bond with you. And they’re learning similar things. They’re getting similar opportunities. And you can be the one to help gather data, to use that data and all those things. and I saw what, what you were talking about of two, like there’s a push and I think it’s so important, especially in rural areas to not glamorize going away, but saying like, Hey, it is great here. We need, we need social workers here. We need like every type of person and profession. We want you to come back, you know, after college and show how great it is. And a lot of that is building a healthier community in schools, in your town, a sense of belonging and just overall, like being a benefactor of your city and then contributing into it. Which I did see when I worked at, I think it was in Iola and then Erie, Kansas as well. I saw this and to be a part of it was really cool. Then I want to take something back to what you said because you gave us that cool example of how you created change and helped that in college with the food insecurity. And what I think was cool is that you played a part of it. Like you said, they’ve been doing this for 12 years. They’ve been talking around it or doing things and trying things as well. And you stepped in to do one thing, which kind of was, we’re going to create the data. We’re going to collect it and present to maybe the right people. Maybe they already knew about it, but kinda they didn’t have the numbers, but you presented it to them saying, hey, here’s what we found out from people all across our community. And now we can’t ignore it. Like it’s probably was elevated on a priority level. And then the champions were able to say, great, awesome. Now that we know this, here’s what we’re gonna do about it. And I love that. It was inspiring to hear like that my part could literally just be gathering data and that’s my part in it and I can help present to the champions and they’re going to have their part in it. And I want to say this before I forget, I was just hanging out with some friends in Sacramento, California. They run this incredible program called My Brain is Bigger Than Yours. And it’s about, it empowers people with dyslexia. Students with dyslexia think that they have of a learning disability when in reality it gives you access to more of your brain and you have more creative thinking abilities and things like that. Of course there’s challenges with it too with reading and spelling and you know stuff like that but there’s these assets as well. So they have this incredible training and one of their partners, their role is they went to these meetings, these city council meetings school board meetings for a year and a half, a year and half, they just went to the meetings, they listened and they piped up every time just to tell a quick story or to, you know, refocus on what they wanted and what they asked for. And I think about it. If you don’t have a lot of resources, even just the tenacity to go into a meeting for an extended period of time. So they start noticing you and that you’re a part of it. 

Like could be your part. Are you passionate about something so much that you would spend, you know, once a week or once a month for that many times, you would show up to ask for what want. And there’s really no limit to what we can do when we have the mindset of, I’m going to help, I’m going to bring it forward, and maybe I don’t have to do the whole thing, but here’s my part in it. I think it’s really, really powerful. 

Yeah, and you know once I or you know I like I mentioned before I and that’s really interesting you bring that up Jake because you know part of my role you know in my role I get to like I mentioned crisscross the state and You know and establish and I visit our all of our groups and I see you know whether it’s during their meeting time or school time it depends on what structures they have. I, you know, get to, there was a price once they saw me being introduced because, you know, I wasn’t too far out. You know, seems like yesterday I graduated high school. And I think that is important too, because, you know, I’ve been in their shoes. Amd you know, and so I, you know, when I go to Clay Center, when I go to Wichita, you know, I know to an extent, know in terms of advocacy, you know, always been the youngest in the, I know how they felt, you know, I’ve been the youngest in the room always, you know, and so I think that is too crucial to relate to our youth and, and said, okay, you’re not alone. You know, and sometimes they need to hear that.

Understanding the Community and Players

Yeah, absolutely. That can be one of the most powerful things you say. If you don’t know what to say, even that is one of the most powerful things to say. Before I let you go, I would love to ask one last question, and then we can find out how to keep in touch with you and follow Y -Link and all that stuff. If you had to break it down into, let’s say, a two and a half minute lesson, just the template or the structure, it sounds like your superpower and passion has been advocacy. And when you teach young people how to do advocacy, what are those things that you teach them? Hey, if we get good at this, this, this, and this, or here are the steps, how would you teach that to someone new? And of course, knowing that we’re not going to spend an hour doing that. What would that outline look like?

Yeah, I think, you know, I did debate forensics in high school. And so we always started off with a quote. you know, one of my mentors early on told me, you know, if you’re at the table, you’re on the menu. And that has guided me through my entire, all my 16 years in this capacity. know, that has been my North Star because, you It’s very important to, one, acknowledge that. And two, I think, in terms of an outline, knowing, I usually tell youth, take a step back and know about your community. From a historical perspective, or any other issue campaign or anything like that take a step back what’s been done and be able to identify the, you know, some successes and failures from past. Because, you know, if we don’t learn or we don’t take the time to assess what’s been done, how do you go and know where to go and how to move forward? And on that, also know the players, know the players who is a champion and who’s going to be, you know, because like, you know, a great example of this is, you know, Wichita Northwest, you know, are one of our whiling groups. You know, you could have had a therapist, a superintendent go up to the school board and say, hey, we need youth mental health first aid. You know, it’s not, you it’s usually an up and down vote, you know, or just gets an agenda item. But when they’re used to it and they got it done, they had, they did use mental health for a state in their school for all their teachers. 

And so, know, it’s knowing the players and going to or recognizing the champions, you know, who and also, if I may add, know the language. You know, because if I go in to. For instance, let me wear my economic development hat for a second. So, for instance, if I go to a chamber of commerce. You know, or anyone. In that realm and I say hey, Y -Link is mental health X, and Z. They might not, you know, they might give me the time of day, they may not. But if I say hey, would you like to assist me in helping and giving youth a chance to stay in Salina, stay in Kansas? That’s their you know what mean? So you’re reframing the conversation too because at the end of the day, we’re all busy. We all have a long to -do list, personally and professionally. And so we keep passing up the response. How many times have we heard, that’s not my responsibility. That’s not my job or take it up as, you know we keep shopping around and going in circles and asking ourselves, why have there’s not been progress? You know, I say this a lot too. In Salina, the most, you know, about 3 million cars go through Ninth and Magnolia a year in Salina. And I say, you know, if there’s a pothole in the middle of that road, no matter what side of the road you’re living on, whether it be North Salina, South Salina, West or East, 

The longer the powerful sits there, unattended, the longer it affects the community health or the health of the community. Because it’s an eyesore and you avoid it. But one of these days is going to get you. And so I think it was very important to, from a professional standpoint, look beyond the job description. And know that we need partners and like I said, reframe the conversation because it depends on who you’re talking to because if I go to a nurse, hey, mental health, the nurse is gonna get it. And so, and having that, you know, being graceful with some partners and you know, half the time it all takes the conversation. And I think, you know, we’re, we’re, you know, I think as society, we’re, we’re not known to take risks. We don’t want to fail. We want to be in our comfort zone, you know, invite the same people to a fundraiser or whichever community event. But, you know, in Clay Center, this is a great example. They did, so that community had within, October or was it late September to October, they had the community of, you know, 3000, I want to say, or the county experienced three completed use suicides in six weeks. And our use there, you know, took the lead on having that conversation with the community. They had the local theater for free. They were given to them. They had raffle prizes from businesses, local businesses, say, hey, we want to bring people, know, provide the fun, you know, it’s a heavy topic, but we want to provide door prices. And so, and our youth, our local violent group, set, you know, they framed it as a community commitment night. 

And we had a panel, or they had a panel rather, of our Wiley students and essentially called it, know, here’s what you need to know about youth today. And having how impactful that was, you know, there was not a dry eye in the auditorium. And they had different sessions. You know, they had a session on face and suicide. They had self-care, cell phones and social media. And so, you know, and that’s a great example of when you leading the charge and taking ownership. I think we need more of that.

Reframing Conversations for Effective Advocacy

Yes, and that’s why it’s so important that I’m just going to put this out there. If you’re listening, this could be an episode that you send to your group or you go through with your group for some examples. And there might be different episodes that you find, hey, you know what, actually, this was super helpful. Let’s go through this with my youth group so they can glean something from it or some clips that you take from it. Feel free to do that. That’s the whole purpose of what we’re doing, to spread this goodness, help equip other people, and hopefully every episode there’s one idea that you can steal, you can use in your community, because that’s what we should be doing. And I’m just going to say this, Andres, to kind of pull all of that together, and it helped. I had this visual when you were explaining it, and there’s this advocacy chess game that we have to play, and you said we have to understand what’s been done in the past. So what are the games that we’ve played of chess before? How did it work? Did we win or we lose? Not only us playing, but other people. So you’re studying the game a little bit and you’re studying your environment. How does the game work? And doing that will help you move forward in the game. 

The next thing you said is we need to understand our players. So which ones can get you farther into the schools? Which ones can get you farther into the community or government or lawmaking? or maybe up in the state level. And so you mentioned too, like don’t overlook the power that youth have. And so maybe the youth is your queen and it can move anywhere it wants to in the board or somebody’s a knight and they can move in different places, but you’ve got to understand your history, your players. And then I really loved is you’re like, once you get to that place, it’s almost you play the game and you have to win first. Like you have to understand the game and win a round first to even have access to somebody. And then you have to speak their language, understand, Hey, what are they going after? And how can my initiative actually support their initiative? And I can speak their language and help them reach their goals through our program, which that is such an incredible skill thinking about them and what they want alongside what you and what you want. 

Practicing that is so, so important. So I love the fact that you said that. 

Yeah, if I might add Jake, know, not Tiger Woods by any stretch of imagination, but I’m a golfer, know, adver golfer. But, you know, we were taught, you know, I know in Salina, the first tee program, you know, they’re not, of course, you know, if you want to build up the skills, but also the soft skills, because how many times in business, know, they’re not going to be, you know, majority, it’s not a business program. Right? But how many of them or how many times have we heard golf is where, you know, that networking, you know, being there, being present, you know, so that’s just what reminded me of that.

The Power of Small Actions and Contributions

Yeah, like you said, being at the table, right? You’re either at the table or you’re on the menu. Ooh. That’s so good. Well, Andres, there, before we sign off, there anywhere where people can follow you on socials or if they want to email you about becoming a part of what you’re doing in Kansas, how can they get ahold of you? 

Yeah, absolutely. So my email is andres.mata or excuse me, andres.mata@ks.gov. And we do have a social media presence on Instagram, which is at Kansas underscore Y -Link. 

Perfect. That is awesome. Well, Andres, thank you for being on the show. Once we close this, stay on the call for a little bit, because it’ll load the rest of the episode. And for anyone that’s listening here, thank you for the incredible work that you’re doing, partnering to invest in youth mental health and drug prevention. Because although the power of what we’re doing is youth, it’s their involvement. 

We have to have an adult in the room to help guide, to help them have access to funding like Andres is doing, all this stuff. And what’s really cool is like, Andres, you’ve been part of this since nine years old. That is such a fun story. And I would love it if you’re listening to this. Imagine what it would be like if your students who are just getting involved became advocates, who became professionals in the field or who just became so passionate about this that they’re bringing it to their workplace, and they became one of those chess pieces that would transform mental health, public health, drug prevention in your state, and you didn’t even know it, but the small work, the small piece that we’re playing now could lead to something huge in the future. So it’s been one more episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour and we’ll see you next Monday for another episode.