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Despair is feeling like “the future does not exist.” How does one regain hope? Through visualization and movement, said Frieda Edgette, the founder of a new San Mateo County initiative dedicated to exactly that.
The Futures Commission, an organization centered on creative and systemic problem-solving through youth leadership, celebrated its hard launch Friday night at the Center for Creativity in Redwood City.
“Nations around the world are kind of having an aha moment,” Edgette said, who is also an executive on the county’s Behavioral Health Commission and the chair of the commission’s Youth Committee, which drafts policy based on the mental and behavioral health of young residents. Edgette also co-founded the Youth Action Board in 2021.
The Futures Commission officially launched in January and is based on the United Nations Declaration on Future Generations, a global initiative focused on the well-being of people and the planet that recognizes how today’s decisions disproportionately affect future generations, according to Edgette.
A new model rooted in long-term thinking
Among the 60-plus organizations already partnered with the Futures Commission was the Empathy Wall Project, a nonprofit founded by Erin Mak, a 16-year-old student at Crystal Springs Uplands School. Interactive “empathy walls” are composed of thoughtfully arranged Post-it notes, where passersby are encouraged to jot down kind words and uplifting thoughts. Mak installed a wall at the Center for Creativity to encourage attendees to share their hopes for the future.
Camille Chu, 16, is a student at Nueva School who’s most inspired by the Futures Commission’s commitment to intergenerational dialogue. While she believes diverse perspectives are fundamental to good decision-making, she finds that inclusivity boosts accountability by empowering “everyone” to contribute to building the world they’ve envisioned together.
As multiple crises converge – including climate change, gun violence, social media and advances in artificial intelligence – organizers behind the Futures Commission said existing systems are not designed to account for how those forces will shape young people’s lives decades from now.
Why organizers say prevention matters now
The declaration has already helped to reshape governance abroad. In Wales, for example, beginning in 2015, lawmakers reorganized their government structure around the well-being and mental health of future generations, said Edgette.
Similar movements abroad inspired her to pursue such policies at the local level, particularly following the recent passage of Prop 1, which diverts funding from mental health prevention and redirects it to higher-needs crisis response for those with severe co-occurring conditions. For San Mateo County, the shift will occur in July 2026, with about 75% of the county’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services prevention dollars expected to be redirected.
Organizers believe the Futures Commission can help fill that gap by focusing on prevention, youth participation, and early intervention, rather than emergency response.
In rallying members of the Youth Action Board this fall, Edgette and her team pushed the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors to adopt the U.N. declaration, making San Mateo County the first jurisdiction in the United States to do so.
The latest data on depression in San Mateo County reveals rates have nearly doubled in a decade, from 2013 to 2022. Hospitalization rates for adolescent suicide and intentional self-inflicted injury also increased by over 100% from 2017 to 2022, the more recent county data shows.
aAt the launch party, Ariya Kaushek, a Menlo School senior and co-chair of the Youth Action Board, said she feels young people “are most affected, yet least represented in decision-making.”
Youth voices at the center
Kaushek has contributed to the development of mental health panels, mobile crisis campaigns and the Pathways Program to reduce incarceration for seriously mentally ill individuals. She’s now helping to spearhead the Futures Commission.
“Policies are made for future generations without future generations actually at the table,” the 18-year-old said.
Kaushek was inspired to get involved in youth representation and action toward youth mental health, given her own lived experiences, and the stigmatization of mental health in the community, despite high rates of depression, anxiety and suicide in the Bay Area.
The new initiative aims to address this, with several defined goals for 2026, including to collect 10,000 “visions of the future” from youth under 25 by May 1.
Turning vision into policy
“In a time where people feel so powerless,” Edgette said, this activity is intended to help youth “connect within themselves” and leverage that as “a source of power that can be shared, imagined and then activated.”
Come May, these findings will be aggregated and analyzed to inform the drafting of an inclusive policy for Mental Health Awareness Month.
Over time, the initiative hopes to see youth seats established on governmental boards and commissions, and to embed foresight into decision-making across sectors. Replicability is also a priority for the Futures Commission to ensure it preserves knowledge and supports other jurisdictions in implementing similar initiatives.
Judy Serebrin, 62, an ambassador for the California Native Plant Society, said she hopes to partner with the Futures Commission to voice the vision she holds for the future that protecting native plants is a priority.
“I think it’s really powerful to support young people to think about their future,” Serebrin said, “and kind of not leave them hanging on the mess we older folks have made.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify that prevention dollars will be redirected to crisis response, the spelling of a student’s name, and the status of the Futures Commission as an initiative.
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