Several hundred young people jammed into the City Council chambers on the third floor of City Hall Wednesday night to take part in Mayor Bob Duffy’s “Voice of the Youth Forum.” They sat in chairs, on each other’s laps, on the floor, and even spilled out into the hallway.

“You have the chance to recreate this city,” Duffy said. “You have the power to influence policy.”

Then he turned the microphone over to teens who told personal stories of hardship, slammed poetry, and made insightful observations of city government — at its best and worst.

Nineteen year-old Eileen Santiago, said her life and her family nearly dissolved after a loss due to street violence.

“In 2001, my brother was murdered on Avenue A,” she said. “My family began to self-destruct. I began to self-destruct.”

Santiago managed to get help and considers herself lucky. She is entering St. John Fisher College in the fall.

“I never thought I could do it,” she said. “When I think back on the time of my brother’s murder, I would never have believed this was possible for me.” She encouraged the teens to use their voices to make a difference.

Brandon Daniels spent two-and-a-half years in prison. He’s not even 20, and he has two children he is trying to support. But he can’t get a job because of his criminal record.

“Before I got locked up, I felt lost, and when I got out, I felt even more lost,” he said.

Zero Tolerance has its good points, Tajh Ryland-Iverson said. But when police approach him and his friends, ask them for ID, and check them for drugs, it humiliates them. Now the boys in his Dewey Avenue neighborhood have turned it into a little game.

“We watch the police and take bets on who they are going to stop,” he said.

But the star of the evening was Shanterra Randle.

Her poem “Dear Society” brought everyone to their feet.

Dear Society

What do I look like

Because I can’t see

According to TV

I am supposed to be in poverty

There were two consistent themes among the teens that spoke last night.

Adults have failed them. Parents, teachers, government officials — have failed a generation of inner city youth.

The other was the teens' need for help. Support is not a handout. They shouldn’t be made to feel shame because they were not born into a life of privilege.

Invest in us, they said. We are worth it.

Invest in us.