Youth Forum started in Niagara Falls, New York in 1991. Niagara PAL Director,
Art Eberhart, began contacting local junior and senior high schools about a new
concept. Each school, public and private, would send two or three representatives
to be part of a distinguished group of
young people who could discuss the issues
that concerned them. Most of the schools cooperated, and in May 1991, the
vision began to take shape when a group of nearly thirty young people got together
over pizza to talk about what this type of organization could do.
What followed was pure magic. They named themselves the Niagara
PAL Youth Forum, envisioning their organization as an outlet for open communication
among the young people of the Niagara Falls area. They surveyed their peers
about their concerns. They became increasingly involved with the civic organizations
and functions. They spoke to the Board of Education at a public session, and
they have undertaken cleanup projects, food drives, nursing home visits, and a peer
tutoring program that was so successful that teachers began to recommed it to at-risk
students. And the magic continues today. Now the schools don't even
have to get involved, because Youth Forum members bring their peers to get them
to join. They love the feeling of accomplishment when they know they have
done something helpful.
If you live in the Niagara Falls area and would like to participate
in Youth Forum, please fill out the Membership Form
and mail to to the PAL office.
Timeline For Formation Of A Local Youth Forum
Week 1: Invite the principal of each junior and senior high school, plus
any community leaders deemed necessary in your targeted area to attend a luncheon
meeting about the Youth Forum concept. Request that each principal who cannot
attend send a staff representative.
Week 3: Hold the luncheon meeting
and discuss the Youth Forum concept. Ask each school's representative for
help and support in identifying students to join. If you have a contact person
in each school, it gives you added credibility and help in your initial search for
student members. Once you have established a contact person in each school,
write a follow-up letter. As each one to join 3 or 4 student representatives
at another, soon-to-be-held, luncheon meeting.
Week 5: Have the meeting and discuss
the Youth Forum idea with the students. Ask them for opinions and ideas about
starting one. Be sure to have sign-up forms at each table; don't let anyone
leave without providing a name, address, phone number, school, and grade level.
This information can be made into a database for future use.
Week 6: Decide on a planning meeting
date for about two weeks after the student luncheon. Write a letter to each
person who attended the student luncheon, expressing your satisfaction with the
meeting and announcing the date, time, and place of the next scheduled meeting.
Invite each student to bring a friend or two along.
Week 7: Follow up with a letter
to your in-school contacts, asking them to remind students about the next meeting.
Week 8: Hold the planning meeting.
Topics needing to be addressed include: how often they want to meet; what the structure
will be like; a mission statement; and what types of projects should be undertaken.
You will probably need to facilitate the discussion, but in all likelihood, three
or four strong voices will emerge. These people are likely to become leaders
in the group. Have the group set its next meeting date.
Additional Suggestions: Meeting
dates and times should be regular if possible, so that members know when they will
be expected to attend. As the meetings progress, officers should be elected,
the mission statement should be finalized, and a couple of service projects should
be selected. Ultimately, the emphasis should be on action, not on discussion.
Within a few months, a constitution should be written so that the group's procedures
can be laid out for future members. Always remember that the organization
should, and must, belong to the young people. Give them guidance and share
your knowledge and resources, but do not make the decisions for them. As the
group advances, the members should be more and more capable of running things for
themselves.
If you need help with any of this setup work, please feel free to
contact someone from the Niagara PAL for more information. We believe in the
Youth Forum concept because it helps young people and communities. This is
what our Police Athletic League has always been about. By forming local Youth
Forums across the country, and by uniting them into a youth network, we can prove
once again that we are the leaders in youth empowerment.
