Alliance Members Gather to Deliver New Approaches to Youth-Focused Civic Engagement for a New Millenium

An exciting meeting took place at the Shinnyo-en Foundation in late January.

A new and innovative alliance to explore new approaches to youth-focused civic engagement came to the table for its first discussion.

Key national civic service agencies came together and created a new partnership built on the ‘Heart of Service.’

The historic agencies that took the lead in the discussions included: UNITY (United National Indian Tribal Youth) Pride, Youth to Youth International, the Benevolent Order of the Elks, and the Points of Light Institute.

This new alliance is a national partnership built around:

-          Lowering neighborhood drug and substance abuse, create healthy environments and decrease negative behaviors among youth

-          Implement service programs at national scale for young people and challenge them to include community action as an integral part of their lives

-          And  re-invigorate those historic agencies in order to provide sustained opportunities, because they remain the unrivaled vehicles that deliver civic engagement in grassroots neighborhoods across the country.

The group agreed that it was time to turn a page and fully review civic service for the nation’s youth.  To do this it was equally important to reinvigorate the very agencies that have for so long provided these sustained opportunities, so that they may ready for a new millennium of American service.

After a fruitful discussion all in attendance felt that it was vital to provide a comprehensive set of service opportunities for every American under 20 create a plan to be a fully national, measurable, fundable program that can deliver a completely new way to see civic engagement in America.