DC Youth: Chat with Us

Twitter Chat

Elevating student voices is incredibly important because District youth have powerful insights that can help inform public policy. OAG hosts several youth programs, including the OAG High School Advisory Council, the "Do the Write Thing" anti-violence essay contest, and the Attorney General’s Right Direction Awards to engage young people, listen to their concerns and ideas, and celebrate their success.

In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency and social distancing guidelines, OAG has shifted to virtual programs, including weekly social media chats, to ensure we continue robust and educational conversations with D.C. youth.

Tuesday Twitter Chats
On Tuesdays, OAG is hosting #AskDCOAG Twitter chats for students to engage with local and national experts on important issues to young people and families. Our March 24th #DCFamilyTalk chat discussed managing intra-family conflict while social distancing. OAG attorneys and local experts provided participants tips and best practices for how teens and families can manage stress, de-escalate potentially violent scenarios, and remain healthy while staying at home together. This is an important and timely topic given that the D.C. domestic violence emergency response line has seen its volume nearly double amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the recurring themes during #DCFamilyTalk was that clear and open communication is key to staying healthy at home. During the chat, Dr. Akosoa McFadgion, Director of Howard University’s Interpersonal Violence Prevention, noted:

“Very often the root of conflict is unspoken disappointment, resentment, because of unmet expectations …families are home expecting certain behaviors without [a] conversation about those behaviors.”

One of the student participants agreed, suggesting that households can have regular “family meetings and everybody can communicate with each other and say how they feel.” Other participants suggested creating schedules and routines, respecting boundaries, participating in fun group activities, checking in on how family members are feeling, and more.

This first Twitter chat connected with thousands of community members, with content seen over 30,000 times on Twitter! OAG Twitter chats are hosted by @AGKarlRacine every Tuesday from 12pm-1pm ET. Click below to join our next Twitter chat and to catch up on our past topics:

  • UPCOMING: April 14 at 12:00pm ET: Consent and Sexual Assault. Follow #AskDCOAG to join in the conversation!

Past chats:

Students Earn Community Service Hours
To help students meet their community service hour goals, OAG partnered with D.C. Public Schools and Public Charter Schools to enable students to earn service hours by participating in OAG’s Twitter Chats. Students can earn up to 3 hours every week by answering questions during the Twitter chats, retweeting answers from other participants, and writing a 300-500 essay about what they learned and their viewpoints on D.C. law and policies.

You can stay engaged with OAG and follow the creative new ways we’re engaging youth during COVID-19 by connecting with AG Racine on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.