Youth and Family Engagement

The Hampton Youth Commission is a city funded Commission composed of 24 high school aged youth from all four of the public high schools in Hampton as well as Peninsula Catholic and Hampton Roads Academy. The Hampton Youth Commission represents the ideas and opinions of young people in the city, in order for the youth to have a more formal role in the city's planning and decision making.

The Youth Advisory Board serves the Des Moines City Council, providing a voice for youth in city government. The Mission of the City of Des Moines Youth Advisory Board is to improve community through youth involvement.

The Mayor's Youth Council provides Boston's young people with an active role in addressing youth issues. High school juniors and seniors are selected to serve as volunteer representatives of every neighborhood in the city.

The Governor’s Youth Commission (GYC) is intended to be a diverse and representative body of the high school population within the state of Arizona. The GYC consists of forty members composed of sophomores, juniors and seniors from across the state.

The Ready by 21 Change Maker award is the highest honor presented by the Forum for Youth Investment. The award recognizes long-term achievement and impact in improving youth outcomes. Award recipients demonstrate a commitment to increasing the quality and quantity of youth investment and youth involvement in their community, state or at the national level.

By Karen Pittman, December 2002

October marked Al and Tipper Gore's 11th Annual Family Reunion in Nashville. The theme of this year's gathering, which drew more than 1,000 people, was Families and Youth — debunking the myth that teens hate their parents and parents merely tolerate their teens.

By Karen Pittman, February 2003

"Third time's a charm." One of those family sayings I have found to be not only colorful, but equally applicable in child rearing, home repair and public policy analysis. If, in the course of a month or two, the same challenge pops up in three different situations, I take note. In the public policy arena at large, the challenge is how to link ever-growing interest in out-of-school time programs with building interest in youth civic engagement.

By Karen Pittman, June 2003

Twenty years ago in April, the National Commission on Excellence in Education gave the country a wake-up call with the release of A Nation at Risk, the report whose warnings about the prevalence of low expectations and low performance in American schools set the stage for today's educational standards movement.