2000 Youth Action Guide

The Action Guide is modeled after both the 2000 National Youth Conventions and the National Youth Platform. The 2000 National Youth Conventions were held parallel to both the Republican and the Democratic National Convention to help young people become more involved in the political process and address the needs and concerns of youth and their communities. The National Youth Platform was created from a nationwide survey to identify the top issues facing youth across America, as well as their solutions for those issues.

The process centered on three basic questions asked to these young people:

Through grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts, Carnegie Corporation of New York and Prodigy Internet , this guide is being distributed to thousands of middle and high school classrooms, universities and youth organizations across America as part of the national Youth In Action Campaign.

An overview of the 2000 National Youth Conventions and the National Youth Platform are included as part of this guide to allow students to engage in discussions to compare and contrast national youth issues and solutions with their own. By utilizing this guide, teachers, youth group leaders, and young people are being encouraged to work together, create action plans, initiate and implement solutions for improving their community.

Youth groups who take action on proposed youth solutions or create their own solutions become eligible for a $1,000.00 Youth In Action Award. Youth In Action Awards will be issued to classrooms and affiliated youth organizations that have taken specific actions and created measurable results towards improving their community. A 15 member National Youth Action Council will review youth solutions to determine award grant recipients. Funds will be provided to Youth Action team leaders and can be used to further their project and/or activities (including fun) and/or materials requested by the teams of participating youth. To apply, Youth Project Leaders must submit the included Youth In Action Award Application by March 25, 2001 with their youth activity and project results. All youth solution projects will be posted on the www.YouthLink.org web site (additional copies of the Youth In Action Guide may also be downloaded from the site).

Youth projects and solutions will be integrated into our national database for potential use at the National Youth Convention in the year 2004. Our goal is to have over one million young people online to create a new National Youth Platform for presentation to the presidential candidates.

Youth Action Guidelines

Set the Context

Describe to the group the Mission and History of the National Youth Conventions.

• Ask if anyone has heard about the Youth Conventions or responded to the YouthLink survey.
• If the group has a computer linked to the Internet, pull up the www.YouthLink.org web site to view it.
• Ask a young person to read the 3 key questions from YouthLink (also on page 1 of this guide) that helped build the National Youth Platform.

Building Consensus

Discuss the top issues and concerns the young people have.

• Ask each participant to write down their top 3 concerns (in order of priority) for their community.
• Ask the youth to discuss their issues, concerns and vision for America. To assure maximum participation, you can break the group into small work groups of 4 or 5 (approximately 5 minutes).
• Ask volunteers to write each youth's #1 concern on the board. Put tally marks next to duplicates.
• Through group discussion, determine the top 3 concerns/issues of the group.

Compare Local and National Youth Issues

Review with the group the summary provided of the National Youth Platform.

• Ask individuals to read aloud the Situation Today, Youth Vision, and Perspective from each of the ten issues areas.
• Compare and contrast the national issues with the issues raised by the group.

Focus on Solutions

Facilitate a discussion about solutions.

• Discuss what the young people could do individually or as a group to address one or all of their issues.
• Identify a solution(s) which participants believe they could implement in their community.
• Plan a project(s) to carry out your solutions (use timelines, goal setting and consensus)
• Inform the group that their solution idea, if taken to action, can be highlighted on YouthLink, through local and national media, and will be eligible for an Action Award Grant
• Begin your project! Report your results on the Youth In Action Award Application and mail by March 31, 2001.

Homework

Ask participants to research what has been done in their local community and state to address their top issues or concern. Existing solutions can include programs, laws, or other efforts to address the issue.

Ask young people to answer the following questions:

1. Describe how this approach has/has not worked.
2. What would you propose to address this issue?
3. What will happen if this issue is not addressed?
4. What actions can we take to address this issue?

Youth In Action Award Application (.rtf format)