How did the youth council spend its year? What are their recommendations for community leaders? See their presentation, read the report, and watch the video!
3. Goals
Learn about local government, civic issues
Meaningfully engage in policy & decision-making
Highlight civic issues important to youth
Create a communitywide network of informed,
engaged youth leaders
Serve as a resource for community leaders.
4. Why does it matter?
We’re stakeholders
– 25% of the population is under 18
– We are the community’s present & future
– We need to be at the table
A resource for you
– Make better policies and decisions on issues
impacting kids
5. Who we are
100+ teens participated in 2013-14
– 28 CMS and non-CMS schools
Diverse group, representative of community
– Race, ethnicity, religion
– Income and family background
– LGBTQ status
– Political and career interests
– Everything!
6. What we did this year
Met with city, county, and CMS officials &
attended government meetings
Created city, town, and school board
government and candidate guide
Represented Charlotte-Mecklenburg youth at
2 conferences and several community events
Explored community history and growth
Hosted a youth-led summit with officials
7. Youth council activities
Over 1,340 hours of service
Group activities offered
– 80 hours interacting
• City, county, CMS, and NC officials
– 150 hours exploring
• Community issues and different perspectives
– 95 hours learning
• Local government, business, history, careers
8. Issues
Education, youth programs
Jobs and workforce development
State-local issues, teacher pay, CLT airport,
Community growth, planning, and land
How Charlotte-Mecklenburg works
Prioritizing, funding, and budgeting for
services, needs, and wants
Public service and careers
9. New experiences
100% of youth
• Interacted with an official
• Learned about local government
• Engaged on a local issue
Public service
• Students also explored the interesting and diverse
career and public service opportunities, seeing beyond
their own comfort zones and involving themselves in
new experiences.
10. Working together
A little more than half of youth surveyed
• Believe that local officials understand the needs of
young people, or
• Involve youth when making decisions impacting kids
We look forward to working with you to make
Charlotte-Mecklenburg great!
11. Our Recommendations
Collaboration and bipartisanship
• We want leaders and governments to work together.
Make children and youth a priority
• Prioritize and fund services impacting kids; include
youth in planning and budgeting.
Access to youth programs and services
• Make it easier for us to find programs and support.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s future
• We want to be here to work, live, play, and lead.
16. Learn more
Visit www.GenerationNation.org/youth to
– Watch our video
• Or see it at http://bit.ly/youthvideo13_14
– Read the youth council’s report
– Get more information about the youth council