A Guide for Creating a City Youth Council: How-To
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Now what?
What should the youth council do?
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VIII. Now what?
First Meeting – Orientation
Once youth council members have been selected, the first order of business should be to hold an “orientation meeting,” to establish the youth council as a safe, fun forum that members will look forward to attending. The initial meeting should essentially be a “get to know you session” where youth council members have an opportunity to learn more about each other and the youth council liaison. In order to do so, students can participate in an “ice-breaker” activity and a variety of team-building exercises.
The orientation meeting also should have an informational component where members learn more about the specific purpose and mission of the youth council, and discuss some of the member/meeting requirements. Of course, youth council members should be able to contribute their own ideas regarding the purpose, mission and requirements of the youth council and its members. The first meeting should last about two hours, setting the standard for time requirement for future meetings.
Second Meeting – Swearing In of Council Members
After the orientation meeting, youth council members should be required to attend the next scheduled city council/commission meeting. At the meeting, the youth council should be welcomed as an official advisory board and youth council members should be sworn in by the local government officials (youth council facilitators will need to get this on the meeting agenda in advance).
**See Appendix 4 for an example of a youth council oath of office
Third Meeting – Team Building and Bylaws
The next youth council meeting should begin with some additional ice-breaker and team-building exercises, followed by member creation of their own “youth council bylaws.” Have members consider the following topics when discussing and codifying the bylaws:
Purpose/Mission/Goals
Membership and membership requirements
Member at large requirements
Meetings (structure, length, frequency)
Attendance requirements
Officers/Roles (members are likely to need to be placed in additional representative capacities such as voting seats on advisory boards)
Parliamentary Authority (the procedural rules for the conduct of meetings)
You may want to ask a member of your locality’s governing body to attend this meeting and present a workshop regarding parliamentary authority as it pertains to meetings in your local government. Students can use what they learn to establish their own procedures based on the actual city council procedures
Quorum (the number of members that must be present in order to conduct the business of a meeting)
Subcommittees
Programs and activities
**See Appendix 5 for example of youth council bylaws and procedural guidelines.
**See Appendix 6 for example of a mission statement.
Additional note: The bylaws members create may require amendments to the city’s resolution/ordinance.
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Fourth Meeting – Additional Team Building and Action Plan
Begin the fourth meeting with a team-building activity. Next, discuss with council members issues they want to address and goals they wish to accomplish as a council throughout the year. Use the information to create an “action plan,” which will help in planning “topics” for future meetings. You will then be able to coordinate activities and guest speakers accordingly. For example, if students are interested in discussing the issues of teen drug and alcohol use or gang violence in schools, you can schedule a law enforcement officer specializing in one of these areas as a guest speaker during the appropriate meeting. Or, if students express interest in the locality funding the development of a new park, you can schedule a parks and recreation employee and/or a local developer to discuss implications and costs to the locality.
IX. What should the youth council do?
Aside from advising local government officials, youth councils can implement and participate in a variety of activities. Some of these activities may include:
Conduct a youth forum for all local high school students on topics of concern for youths
Raising Student Voice & Participation (RSVP), a student engagement program sponsored by the National Association of Student Councils and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, provides a format for student lead youth forums; information is available at http://www.nasc.us/s_nasc/sec.asp?CID=1266&DID=55678
The North Carolina Civic Education Consortium has a Community Forum Toolkit that can be tailored for youth council use. It is available at http://www.civics.unc.edu/civicindex/aboutforums.htm
Create a youth council publication to be distributed at local middle and high schools or as a leaflet in local newspaper
Organize community service projects such as:
Stream and/or highway cleanups
Senior center volunteering
Tutoring or mentoring youths (e.g. “Big Brother/Big Sister programs”)
Organizing drives (e.g. for food, clothes, school supplies, holiday gifts, etc.)
Adopt-a-pet
Volunteering at a food bank or shelter
Lead a citywide educational or advocacy campaign addressing a youth identified issue of concern (i.e. water conservation; global warming; school bullying/violence; reduce, reuse, recycling (RRR), etc.)
Conduct interviews of local government officials and city staff to be aired on local public access channel
Advocate for particular development projects on behalf of local youth (for example, building a skate park or athletic field)
Plan and organize fundraising events for youth-related development projects and/or charitable causes
Job shadowing day with city elected officials and department heads
Organize a “Careers in City Government” career day at local schools
Act as liaisons between city council and local youth through school announcements
Promote civic involvement of other local youth by spearheading civic-minded clubs/organizations in schools
Attend city council/commission meetings (perhaps one member should be present at each meeting and report back to the youth council on topics covered)
Maintain a local youth council Web site that provides relevant information to local youth
Attend professional development workshops on leadership, goal setting, public speaking, etc.
Attending or hosting city forums, conferences and events in order to represent youth perspective
For additional ideas, go to http://www.nasc.us/s_nasc/sec.asp?CID=164&DID=5356. While these ideas are tailored to school’s student governments, many ideas can be replicated at the communitywide level with your youth council.
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