Written by Sharnice Neale-Ottley, Associate Director of Communications @ GC
At Union Square Academy for Health Sciences, a student-led campaign is transforming the way civic engagement shows up in schools — and in the bathrooms.
Sumaiya, a student and self-described youth advocate, launched the “Girls for Girls” project after noticing the poor quality of menstrual products in her school’s restrooms. What started as a personal observation turned into a months-long campaign that ultimately secured $150,000 in city funding through New York City’s participatory budgeting process.
“I remember going to the bathrooms last year, and it was the same exact issue,” Sumaiya said. “I thought this would be a really great idea to focus on, especially because a large population of students in our school are young women. Sometimes it can be hard to talk to people about issues like that, so I just wanted to make sure that people’s voices were being heard.”
The project didn’t stop at menstrual product access. Sumaiya and her team expanded their efforts to address broader infrastructure issues like upgrading bathrooms shared by multiple schools on campus. Their school library, for instance, has just one bathroom used by hundreds of students. “If you go in there, it’s actually pretty disgusting to be honest,” she said. “We wanted everything to improve overall.”
Through research and determination, the group realized they could place their proposal on the city’s participatory budgeting ballot. After just a couple of months, their project made the list. Sumaiya mobilized the student government and the school’s civics team, gathering more than 1,500 votes in just two days.
The success wasn’t instant. In fact, the project had previously been entered in the school’s internal participatory budgeting election, where it lost by a single vote. But according to David Edelman, a social studies teacher and advisor to the school’s civics club, that loss became a lesson in perseverance.
“This was not the first election cycle to try to obtain money for our bathrooms,” said Edelman. “It came in second place — one vote behind the winning proposal. That didn’t deter Sumaiya and her peers. They just thought of what other avenues they had.” The team pursued the citywide ballot and ended up receiving a funding commitment from Councilmember Carlina Rivera’s office.
Now that the funding has been secured, Sumaiya is turning her attention to implementation. “First, I want to check in with students to see what they want,” she said. “Then we’ll be reaching out to community leaders and our principal to make sure we actually implement everything we hoped to.”
For Edelman, watching his students push a long-standing issue forward has been a full-circle moment. “This project extends back to the first project I ever had students present at Civics Day in 2018. It might take more than a semester or a year, but it’s amazing to think that a project first launched years ago is still being worked on and there’s been real progress.”
Beyond the funding and improved facilities, the experience has shaped how Sumaiya sees herself. “One thing I’ve realized about myself is I like to take the lead on a lot of things,” she said. “You can accomplish a lot on your own, but you can accomplish a lot with a team as well. For me, everything depends on you and whether or not you want to do something. So, honestly, just stop thinking, ‘I’m gonna do something’ — just go and do it.”
Edelman sees this as a powerful example of what civic learning can and should be. “This is the kind of work that renews my joy as an educator,” he said. “It helps me be the teacher I always wanted to be — one who extends learning outside the classroom. And if you treat students like professionals, they’ll act like professionals.”
As Sumaiya and her classmates move forward with the next phase of their project, they’re not just improving restrooms. They’re reshaping what leadership looks like in their school and showing that young people don’t have to wait to make change.