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The California Report Magazine

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Commentary: Politics Matters Even If You Can't Vote
KQED Youth Media contributor Anoushka Ambavanekar is 15. She attends Vista del Lago High School in Folsom and brings us this commentary about why it's important to pay attention to politics.

Youth Program Lets Teens Take the Reins of State Government
State government handles a lot of big, adult things. So what would happen if we let a bunch of teenagers take the reins? That's the idea behind a California program aimed at teaching students about state government in the most hands on way possible -- by letting them build one and run it. KQED's Amanda Font met up with them in Sacramento.

Audio Diary: What It's Like to Lobby Sacramento As a 14-Year Old
We hear from a teen who recently went to Sacramento to lobby real elected officials for the first time. Jeremiah Castillo joined a group of about 200 young people for a youth advocacy summit. He wanted to talk about something that's really important to him: preventing kids from getting profiled as gang members. He recorded this audio diary chronicling his trip.

California's Youngest Mayor Rebrands 'America's Most Miserable City'
Michael Tubbs was born to a teenage mom, and his dad is still incarcerated. But that didn't stop him from becoming the mayor of Stockton. In fact, he's the city's first African-American mayor and the youngest mayor of any big U.S. city today. He's 26, but he got his political start back when he was a teenager.

Youth From 826 Valencia Send a Message in a Bottle
Ava and Piya are two middle schoolers from San Francisco who are passionate about politics. They're part of a program called 826 Valencia, a nonprofit that supports kids with their writing skills, and they bring us these commentaries as part of the podcast "Message in a Bottle."

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Is Fighting Discrimination Too Hard? Not for This 11-Year Old
After attending the Women's March in Sacramento with her mother in January, Kiera Kaiser started thinking about how she could make a change of her own. She wanted to give kids a platform to talk about why equality was important to them. So Kiera planned a demonstration in front of City Hall. She called it the "Kids Rally for Equality." Some kids talked about bullying, others about LGBTQ rights. Almost 200 people showed up. She follows the news and goes to a regular meeting of local activists. She even spoke at a Fresno Unified School District board meeting to encourage the board to pass a sanctuary resolution to protect undocumented students. Kiera has done more public speaking -- and more media interviews -- than most adults. But that doesn't mean she's forgotten how to be a kid.

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