Their Turn at the Mic
How the Future Leaders Council stepped into the room — and changed it
Nobody handed them a seat at the table. They built one.
On the evening of February 23, 2026, the Cole Building at McCurdy Ministries in Española filled with the kind of quiet energy that comes just before something historic. Hum from small talk and greetings. Candidates adjusted their notes. Community members settled in, some curious, some skeptical, all wondering the same thing: Who exactly is running this forum?
The answer was sitting at assemble tables ready with notecards, nerves, and six months of preparation.
The Future Leaders Council — a youth-led group born just seven months earlier in August 2025, rooted in the United Way Northern New Mexico Collective Impact program — was about to do something that had never been done before in their community. They were going to stand before the candidates vying for Mayor and City Council of Española, look them in the eye, and ask the questions that mattered most to the young people of the Española Valley.
No adults would be doing the asking. This was their forum.
Collective Impact Coordinator, Daisy Arevalo-Rodriguez, addresses introduces Future Leaders
How You Build a Leader in Seven Months
The Future Leaders Council didn't appear out of nowhere. It was grown — intentionally, carefully — one meeting, one experience, and one opportunity at a time.
Since their founding, the FLC had been building something that couldn't be rushed: confidence. They learned about public speaking. They explored internship pathways and job readiness. They processed hard things together, including art therapy sessions that let them speak when words alone weren't enough.
In November 2025, they helped prepare for the Beyond the Valley Youth Ignite Summit. A City Proclamation followed, framed and hung in the Casita — their space, the place they called theirs.
Then, just two days before the forum, on February 21st, they walked into the Española Valley Chamber of Commerce Gala. Not as guests, but as escorts — introducing themselves, naming their accomplishments, announcing what was coming. They were learning that showing up was a skill, and they were getting good at it.
All of it was leading to February 23rd.
The Questions Nobody Else Was Asking
When the FLC sat down to decide what to ask the candidates, they didn't reach for safe, abstract topics. They reached for the truth of their community.
Two things kept coming up, the same two things they saw when they looked out their windows and walked their streets: the opioid crisis and the lack of support for young people like themselves.
These weren't political talking points to the Future Leaders. They were personal. They were the reason programs like theirs existed. They were the reason some of their friends had left school, why some families had fractured, why the word Española sometimes carried a weight that felt unfair.
So they asked their candidates about it. Directly. Respectfully. With the kind of moral clarity that only comes from growing up inside a problem and deciding to face it rather than flee it.
The forum ran from 5:30 to 7:30 PM — two hours in which Española's aspiring leaders answered to the community's youngest advocates.
Future Leader, Desmond Garcia, addresses candidates.
What It Felt Like From the Inside
Vanessa, the Future Leaders Council President, didn't have words for it at first. Then she found them:
"The forum was a wonderful experience for me; it made me feel as if I was taking part in the important things happening in our community while also having the opportunity to express our thoughts as a youth and our concerns for the community as well. This was a very successful event, and I am very happy and proud to have been able to participate in such a great event."
Across the room, Giselle, the FLC Program Lead, was processing something she hadn't expected — a shift in how she understood herself and her place in the civic life of her town:
"The forum was a great experience because it helped both me and my friends learn about politics in our community. We learned a lot and realized how important it is to have our own voices. I am grateful for the experience and for the community's support in showing up."
Two young women from the Española Valley, at a candidate forum they organized, talking about their community — not as bystanders, but as participants, advocates, and, for one transformative evening, leaders of the room.
More Than a Forum
What happened on February 23rd was bigger than any single event. It was proof of a theory: that when you invest in young people — give them training, give them space, give them the dignity of being taken seriously — they will rise to meet the moment.
Vanessa, Daisy, Miquella, Giselle, and the rest of the Future Leaders Council didn't stumble into civic engagement. They were prepared for it. And in being prepared, they found something they'll carry for the rest of their lives — the memory of the moment they realized that their voices weren't just heard. They were needed.
The UNITE! Municipal Candidate Forum was the first of its kind in the region. It won't be the last.
And the young people who made it happen? They're just getting started. There's a radio appearance coming. A podcast. More summits. More tables to build.
Because united — as they're learning — is the way.
The Future Leaders Council is a program of the United Way Northern New Mexico Collective Impact initiative, in partnership with the Española Chamber of Commerce. Triad National Security, LLC. is a leading partner in our mission to build a more resilient region. Their instrumental support was a catalyst in launching the Collective Impact Program
