By Amy Meuers, CEO, National Youth Leadership Council

For more than 40 years, the National Youth Leadership Council has partnered with educators, communities, and young people to build a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. That work has a phrase at its center that I keep returning to:

leadership starts here.

It’s printed on our materials. It shows up in our conversations. And on June 22, it will take on a whole new meaning. But before that announcement, I want to sit with the phrase itself, because it deserves more than a tagline.

What does it actually mean?

Leadership Is Not a Title

On our website, NYLC defines youth leadership this way: Leadership is not an innate trait but a skill that can be developed through service, learning, civic engagement, and self-expression.

That sentence matters. It means leadership isn’t something you’re born with or appointed to. It’s something you grow into — through practice, through failure, through showing up for your community and discovering what you’re capable of.

True leadership, in NYLC’s framework, transcends personal success and focuses on contributing to something greater than yourself. It means serving your community, advocating for justice, and driving positive social change with purpose and accountability. 

That’s a high bar. And every day, I watch young people clear it.

Leadership Starts with Lived Experience

One of the most powerful things I get to do as CEO of NYLC is host The Power of Young People podcast. Every episode, I sit across from a young person and hear something that reframes what I thought I knew about leadership.

In a recent episode, youth leader Nidhi Veerendra shared how her younger brother’s experiences navigating behavioral challenges became the spark for her advocacy work as well as her organization, The Spectrum of Support. Through a conversation rooted in empathy and action, Nidhi reflected on why young people deserve to be seen not just as future leaders, but as leaders making an impact right now. 

That theme — leaders right now, not someday — runs through every conversation on the podcast. Nidhi didn’t wait until she had a platform to act. She built one because she saw a gap and decided to fill it.

That’s where leadership starts.

Leadership Starts with a Question

In another episode, NYLC Youth Advisory Council member Feven Tesfaye explored how young people across the country are driving advocacy, environmental justice, and community change and why the power of youth voices in decision-making matters as much as any policy or program. 

Feven didn’t become a leader because someone handed her a role. She became one by asking hard questions about the world she lives in and refusing to wait for adults to answer them.

Again and again, our podcast guests describe the same origin story: they saw something wrong, felt something deeply, or heard someone’s story that wouldn’t leave them alone. That’s where it starts. Not with a credential. With a question.

Leadership Starts in Classrooms

None of this happens in a vacuum. Behind every young leader is usually an educator who made space for them and who trusted them enough to say, “You see a problem. Now what are you going to do about it?”

At NYLC, we know that service-learning is far more than a project or a day of volunteering. It’s a transformative educational approach that connects classroom learning to real-world issues. It empowers students to lead change in their communities while mastering academic content. Our definition is straightforward: service-learning is an approach to teaching and learning in which students use academic and civic knowledge and skills to address genuine community needs. 

When educators design experiences around that definition, something shifts. Students stop being passive recipients of information and start seeing themselves as contributors. As problem-solvers. As leaders.

Students transform from passive learners into active contributors who recognize their ability to create positive change in their communities and beyond.

That transformation starts in a classroom. With an educator who believed it was possible.

Leadership Starts When Young People Are Trusted

The throughline in everything we do at NYLC — the podcast, the Youth Advisory Council, our Youth as Solutions program, our service-learning work with schools — is trust. At NYLC, we absolutely believe that young people are not just leaders of tomorrow. They are partners in shaping our world today. 

That belief isn’t rhetorical. It shows up in how we structure our programs, who sits at our tables, and whose voices we amplify.

For more than 40 years, NYLC has led a movement that links youth, educators, and communities to redefine the roles of young people in society, empowering youth to transform themselves from recipients of information and resources into valuable, contributing members of a democracy. 

That’s the work. That’s always been the work.

leadership starts here

So when I say “leadership starts here,” here’s what I mean:

It starts when a young person’s lived experience becomes a source of strength, not a story to overcome.

It starts when an educator creates a classroom where students solve real problems for real communities.

It starts when a youth council member asks a hard question at a national table and gets a seat to keep asking.

It starts when service becomes action, and action builds confidence, and confidence opens doors that were never supposed to open for you.

It starts with integrity, empathy, collaboration, and civic responsibility; the four pillars NYLC believes every young leader can develop, regardless of background, title, or age.

leadership starts here.

And on June 22, we’ll be sharing something new that brings that belief to life in a way we’re incredibly proud of. Stay tuned.