Headshot Photo of Britton Masback
2019 Award Recipient

BrittonMasback

Project Youth Educating Police

Location Portland, OR

Issue Area Civic Engagement | Education

Following a number of officer-involved shootings and the inappropriate use of force by police with young people, Britton founded Youth Educating Police (YEP), a nonprofit that bridges the gap between teens and police. Britton and YEP created the PolicePeacePDX forum, which facilitates cooperation among police officers, teens, local activists, and lawmakers to reduce tension and develop consensus around key policies.

YEP has also created training modules for police officers to help deepen understanding and improve communication with younger members of society. YEP’s goal is to introduce aspects of its training module to all 1,000 Portland police officers by the end of this year. Britton created a digital version of the training modules to scale the program across the entire country. YEP’s forum is already available to students around the country.

I am a strong believer in my generation, Generation Z, as a positive engine for change in society. Because we are digital natives, we are the first generation with both the heightened awareness of key societal problems and the means to address them.

Britton Masback
Britton standing with 2 adults from the police department with their arms around each other and smiling.

Youth Educating Police

Youth Educating Police is an organization designed to stem the widening gap between police and youth and to combat inequitable policing by facilitating dialogue and designing training modules.
The logo is a dark blue shield outlined in gold. In the center is 2 hands shaking with the letter Y E P above it. Around the center part are the words Youth Educating Police Start Conversations Impact Communities.