YOUTH POLICY
COMMITTEE
COMMITTEES
- Agriculture
- Business, Finance, and Insurance
- Emergency Preparedness / Homeland Security
- Education
- Energy, Transportation, and Environment
- Gaming, Sports, and Entertainment
- Health and Human Services
- Housing
- International Affairs
- Labor, Military, and Veterans' Affairs
- Law, Justice, and Ethics
- Telecommunications, Science, and Technology
- Youth
MISSION STATEMENT
This committee focuses on the development of policies and programs that address issues affecting the well-being and future of African American youth. It promotes programs to help young people better understand the legislative process and directs attention to the mentoring and development of African American youth.
NBCSL Supports Mentoring Programs
The National Black Caucus of State Legislators is committed to investing
in the life and future of today’s youth which are our future. NBCSL’s
Committee on Youth strongly encourages legislators throughout the United
States to develop and mandate African-American mentoring programs to inspire
youth participation in the political process. Read
Resolution 04-61 supporting mentoring programs.
Youth Service America
(YSA) is a resource center that partners with thousands of organizations
committed to increasing the quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities
for young people, ages 5-25, to serve locally, nationally, and globally.
Founded in 1986, YSA’s mission is to expand the impact of the youth
service movement with communities, schools, corporations, and governments.
For more information visit http://www.stepitup.org
YOUTH NEWS
YOUTH MOVEMENT TO STEP IT UP AND END GLOBAL WARMING
More than a thousand D.C. residents stood in front of the nation's capitol calling on Congress to Step It Up! They had a diversity of speakers including leaders in the student climate movement and the broader environmental movement. They also had renowned aerial photographer John Quigley there to take a photo of the crowd--who were organized to give Congress the message of "80% by 2050"!
If Step It Up succeeds in drawing together climate activists on campuses across the U.S., it could help catalyze the first mass student movement since the days of the Vietnam War.
For more information visit http://www.stepitup.org
PUPIL POWER
Student movements over the decades have a mixed track record in reshaping
social and business practices
1955-1968
Civil Rights
Students help propel this movement with voter registration drives, participation
in large-scale demonstration, and boycotts that put pressure on local
businesses.
1965-1970
Vietnam War
War galvanizes the biggest youth uprising of the 20th century. Teach-ins
on campuses target corporations, including GE and Dow Chemical, for their
role in the war effort.
1977-1989
Apartheid
Two separate wave of student protests force about 150 colleges to divest
billions in endowment funds from companies doing business in South Africa.
1995-Present
Sweatshops
Students focus on college labor conditions and Asian sweatshops, demanding
fair wages and improved work conditions at colleges and companies. But
sweatshops are still with us today.
1995-Present
Globalization
Protesters decry the power of multinationals, accusing them of operating
against the interests of Third World nations. But protests have not slowed
the trend.
2004-Present
Darfur Genocide
Mimicking the tactics of the anti-apartheid activists, students pressure
schools to pull endowment fund investments out of companies doing business
in Sudan. Results are unclear.
Resources and Links
The National Center on Education, Youth and Juvenile
Justice
EDJJ examines the overrepresentation of youth with disabilities at-risk
for contact with the courts or already involved in the juvenile delinquency
system. We provide professional development and technical assistance,
conduct research and disseminate resources in three areas of national
significance: prevention of school failure and delinquency, education
and special education for detained and committed youth, and transition
services for youth returning to schools and communities.
Black Youth Project
This project will examine the attitudes, resources, and culture of African
American youth ages 15 to 25, exploring how these factors and others influence
their decision-making, norms, and behavior in critical domains such as
sex, health, and politics. Arguably more than any other subgroup of Americans,
African American youth reflect the challenges of inclusion and empowerment
in the post–civil rights period.
The Center of Alcohol Marketing and Youth
The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University monitors
the marketing practices of the alcohol industry to focus attention and
action on industry practices that jeopardize the health and safety of
America's youth. Reducing high rates of underage alcohol consumption and
the suffering caused by alcohol-related injuries and deaths among young
people requires using the public health strategies of limiting the access
to and the appeal of alcohol to underage persons.
The Center is supported by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts and The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Georgetown University.
CITY LEADERS SEEK $50 MILLION FOR GANG PREVENTION AS ATTACKS ON BLACKS CONTINUE
The City Council Tuesday directed the city attorney’s office to draft a ballot measure seeking voter approval for a parcel tax to raise $50 million for gang prevention and intervention programs.
The proposed tax for property owners would be $5 per month, according to City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who introduced the plan Jan. 16.
Despite a push to place the measure on the May ballot, Hahn agreed with council colleagues to hold off until the start of 2008 in asking voters to approve the proposed tax.
“I think the public will be willing to spend $5 a month to raise $50 million,” Hahn said. “Los Angeles is now becoming the gang capital in America. Every day … we’re hearing about violence.”
Several council members supported the plan, but expressed reservations about placing the measure on the ballot in May, when voter turnout is expected to be low.
For more information visit: http://www.wavenewspapers.com/
RESEARCH LOOKS AT HOW KIDS GET INTO - OR ARE EXCLUDED FROM - GROUPS
New research at the University of Maryland looks at why kids decide to include - and exclude - other kids from their group of friends. It turns out the decision making process is much more complex than previously believed, and could even provide insights into how to intervene when children are rejected by their peers.
Human Development Professor Melanie Killen (College of Education) led the 4-year project, which was recently published in the February, 2007 edition of Current Directions in Psychological Science (Association for Psychological Science).
Killen, who is the associate director of the Center for Children, Relationships, and Culture at Maryland says the decision making process includes a number of factors. "They take into account group information, ranging from cliques and networks, when deciding what makes a group work well. Sometimes kids are excluded because they lack social skills, but a lot of time it has nothing to do with that. Instead it has to do with what we refer to as 'group membership' such as gender, race, ethnicity, and culture."
For more information visit http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/527466/
DATING VIOLENCE AND CHILD YOUTH
Many Americans feel concern about domestic violence. However, relatively
few know about relatively widespread dating violence among young people.
Dating violence includes physical violence, such as hitting or punching,
as well as nonconsensual sexual activity and forcible rape. Female or
male teenagers may be the victims and/or perpetrators of dating violence,
and research indicates the existence of many mutually violent relationships.
While both females and males may suffer dating violence, female teens
in heterosexual relationships are more likely to be injured and to suffer
emotionally than are their male peers. Little research exists on dating
violence among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth; but research on
same-gender violence among LGB adults shows violence patterns similar
to those among heterosexual youth.
For more information visit http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/violenceabuse.htm.