MI’s Youth Belongs group aims to help keep kids healthy

Published 3:00 pm Thursday, October 30, 2025

Mercer Island’s Youth Belongs group recently held its first meeting of the school year with members of the Mercer Island School District (MISD), Mercer Island Youth and Family Services (YFS) and Mercer Island Police Department (MIPD) discussing myriad topics, including issues, concerns and trends among local youth.

According to YFS Administrator Derek Franklin, who is this year’s committee chairperson, adult group members addressed the alleged sexual misconduct by a former Mercer Island High School teacher, along with student drug and alcohol issues, use of oral nicotine pouches, anxiety and depression and post-COVID adjustment.

“It’s a place for us to share existing resources with thoughts and concerns for kids and how to keep them healthy,” said Franklin, who noted that the committee was originally called the Youth Concerns group and began in 1999 or 2000 in response to the Columbine High School shootings.

MISD Superintendent Fred Rundle said Youth Belongs is committed to the well-being of all students. About 15-20 group members meet four times a year, Franklin said.

“The group evolves and adapts to the changing needs of our youth and represents a partnership between three organizations who serve our community. Despite changes in leadership within MIPD, MIYFS, and MISD, the committee persists, a testament to our shared purpose,” Rundle said.

A plethora of students will be amplifying their voices through their participation in a new group, Youth Matters, which will be run by YFS’s Michelle Ritter and hold its first meeting on Nov. 6.

“We believe it’s just important for kids to have a voice in the community, so we’re setting it up and getting kids from middle and high school to come together and facilitate a conversation where they, too, can say what’s on their mind and what their needs are directly,” Franklin said.

Franklin added that information coming from the Youth Matters group meetings can be forwarded to the Youth Belongs group for additional discussion.

On the Youth Belongs front, the group eyes Healthy Youth Survey demographics and results to see what issues they can be addressing, or what type of support is needed for youth. In the substance abuse realm, they previously released some public health messaging about the dangers of fentanyl, and now they have created education materials about the risks of oral nicotine pouches like Zyn.

According to a document presented at the Oct. 21 Mercer Island City Council meeting, “MISD staff have found (Zyn and other oral nicotine products) on school grounds, particularly near athletic fields.”

When the alleged sexual misconduct case came to the forefront at the meeting, Franklin said they discussed school counselors utilizing trauma-informed approaches to supporting kids, teachers and families in general regarding the situation.

Franklin said another topic that has come up at meetings is making kids aware of the Good Samaritan Law where they can call for help in case of an alcohol-related emergency.

As Franklin heads into his 21st year working for the city, he said the Youth Belongs group is one of the more positive aspects of his job at YFS.

“It’s really an opportunity for those of us who work for formal institutions supporting kids in this community to get together for mutual awareness of issues, sharing information,” he said. “I think it’s just one of the advantages of being a smallish community that shares a school district and a police force and a dedicated human service organization that all serve the same group of people.”