      The following is a list of our Resolutions and Mandates that have been passed. To make it easier to read, we first have the official language used in the resolutions followed by a breakdown of what the resolution would mean for NYC Youth.
From the 1st Annual NYC Youth Congress on May 10th, 2003 Resolution 1 (School Issues Committee): Have Oversight for Discretionary Funds! Official: To form an oversight committee (to consist of a parent, a teacher, a student, and the principal in a school) that will oversee the line item of discretionary funds in each school's budget. Breakdown: In 2003, schools had budgets that gave the principals an extra amount of money that they could use how they wanted. This bit of funding was labeled ‘Discretionary Funds'. The students in the Congress decided that this extra bit of money should be spent in a democratic way, so they proposed the idea that a committee of four people would decide how the money should be spent. The four people would be a parent, a student, a teacher and the principal in the school. Progression: The Board of Education changed dramatically after this resolution passed. It disappeared and became the Department of Education. Schools no longer got discretionary funds, rather, the majority of a school's budget became ‘Limited Discretionary Funds' because principals were allowed to spend the money on their school as they wanted, but had to follow certain guidelines set down by the new Department of Education. The resolution had to be amended in a later Congress to fit the times. Resolution 2 (School Issues Committee): Move Sex Ed to 9th Grade! Official: To mandate that health/hygiene/sex education classes be taught in 9th grade AND to provide a pamphlet of resources on sexual and health matters that has been evaluated by teens themselves. Breakdown: Sex Education is usually taught in 11th or 12th grade; the delegates decided it would be better if New York City taught its residents about sex in 9th grade. The second part of the resolution was to create a health resources pamphlet so that high school students had a central place to look up information about things such as Planned Parenthood and different forms of birth control. Each object in the pamphlet was to be evaluated by student leaders in FVA. Progression: This bill changed tremendously over the course of two years. The first part was pursued for two years, as we were sent to speak with elected officials on the city level, then on the state level, then again on the city level. We are discussing this issue with elected officials in the context of other resolutions. The pamphlet has morphed, as you will read below, into an online newsletter to be linked to our website and updated monthly. The newsletter will be written by young high school students volunteering their time with Future Voters. Mandate 1 (Youth Politics Committee): Make Future Voters Larger! Official: To increase the interest in and membership of Future Voters of America AND to expand the movement of youth politics in New York City and across the country. Breakdown: We want to enlarge! To expand! Progression: We have been enormously successful! We have greatly expanded our membership over the past several years in New York City. We hope to train young leaders from acroos the country through our pending Summer Institute at Pace University, a ten-day intensive "boot camp" for future leaders. From the 2nd Annual Youth Congress on May 21st, 2004 Resolution 3 (School Issues Committee): Improve Teacher Hiring Standards! Official: To re-evaluate teacher hiring standards in New York City AND to install an evaluation committee to uphold any new standards that arise from this resolution. Breakdown: The delegates were unsatisfied with the quality of some of their teachers. While there are many factors that affect the quality of teaching in New York City public high schools, they agreed that stricter hiring standards would be a workable solution. The suggested committee would uphold these new, stricter standards by supporting teachers who were unable to meet the standards by organizing skill-training courses and workshops. Progression: As before, the Board of Education became the Department of Education. The hiring standards shifted, and it is unclear how we can pursue this resolution. For now, this resolution is on the ‘backburner' until we can get more information about how to enact it. Resolution 4 (Youth Politics Committee): Lower the Voting Age in NYC! Official: To lower the voting age for citizens of New York City in municipal elections and reduce the quantitative value of votes by sixteen year olds by three quarters and votes by seventeen year olds by one half. Breakdown: To lower the voting age! So you can vote for the Mayor, for City Council Members and for Borough Presidents at sixteen! The details: people age sixteen or seventeen would have a vote albeit a vote not equal in weight to that of someone over age eighteen. Sixteen and seventeen year olds would NOT be able to vote for State Senators, U.S. Senators, members of Congress, or President. This is the resolution that put us at the forefront of youth politics. Progression: The resolution was changed so that the vote of someone aged sixteen and seventeen would be equal to anyone else's vote. Councilwoman Gale E. Brewer introduced this revised resolution as a bill into the New York City Council, and it will be voted on by February 2006. Mandate 2 (Youth Politics): Bring Future Voters Clubs to Every High School! Official: To enlarge the organizational capacity of Future Voters of America by creating clubs run by youth in New York City high schools. Breakdown: This is our plan to get into high schools – Future Voters Clubs would run weekly in high schools and report to our main office. Progression: We have about a dozen clubs right now! We hope to have twenty by the summer of 2006. Amendment 1 (To Resolution 1 of NYCYC 2003 – School Issues): More Civic Engagement in Schools! Official: To extend the power of the oversight committee for budgetary allocation to include the responsibility to strengthen civic engagement within schools. Breakdown: Basically, this change to the first resolution hoped to give the proposed committee (of a parent, a teacher, a student and principal in a school) the power to do more in the schools. Progression: As noted above, the Board of Education changed. The Department of Education actually created a similar committee to the one we proposed! However, this advisory committee has minimal student input and does not decide on budgetary issues. Since the original spirit of the resolution was to have more democratic involvement in school budgeting, FVA is currently negotiating (with our Steering Committee) how to carry out this resolution with all of the structural changes made to New York City high schools. Amendment 2 (To Resolution 2 of NYCYC 2003 – Teen Issues): Student Rights Handbook! Official: To have the youth pamphlet currently under production enlarged to a more comprehensive 'Student Rights Handbook'. Breakdown: FVA worked with the Steering Committee on the health resources manual suggested in Resolution 2, when the idea came to expand it into a more general and more entertaining handbook. Progression: We planned the handbook, but in the next Congress, this amendment got…amended. It turned out that the more the student leaders planned the handbook, the more convinced they were that it had to be a constantly updated source of information. This resolution from 2003 had its final formulation as an amendment in 2005. From the 3rd Annual Youth Congress on April 8th, 2005: Resolution 4 (School Issues): Level the College Playing Field for Public Schools! Official: To increase the ratio of college counselors per student population in high schools, to allow public high schools greater access to college fairs and to college recruiters. Breakdown: This resolution is directed to help level the higher academic playing field within public schools. More guidance counselors would mean more individual attention and more professional guidance for the potentially confusing college application process. Also, public schools don't get as much attention from colleges as private schools – so this resolution was passed in the hopes of fixing that inequality. Progression: The NYC Department of Education has agreed to allow Future Voters of America to approach high school principals with a pilot program for District 3 in Queens. This District encompasses 10 high schools in the mid-Queens area. Once successful, this pilot program will be extended to other New York City high schools. We have materials and support from Ember Media and United States Senator Hilary R. Clinton. Resolution 5 (Teen Issues): More Afterschool Activities! Official: To improve and expand after school activities. Breakdown: The delegates at the Congress decided that they would benefit from having more after school activities available to them in New York City. Progression: Future Voters is fulfilling this open-ended resolution to the best of our ability. The Future Voters Clubs and Peer Courts that we have in the works: these are examples of how we hope to enact this resolution, by creating more opportunities for youth through our organization. As funding for after school activities is being cut, we have had to come up with creative and cost-effective ways to enact this resolution. Mandate 3 (Youth Politics): More Peer Courts! Official: To increase the number of Peer Courts in each borough. Breakdown: Peer Courts serve two purposes: to teach youth about the justice system and to keep youth out of both juvenile and adult prisons. The delegates at the Congress believed more of them would greatly benefit New York City. Progression: We are progressing extremely quickly with this Mandate! The Police Athletic League (PAL), Pace University and the NYC Department of Education are collaborating with Future Voters of America to create a new Peer Court in South Jamaica, Queens in the High School for Law Enforcement and Public Safety. Once complete and evaluated, the Peer Court model will be replicated in other boroughs. Amendment 3 (To Resolution 2 of NYCYC 2003 – School Issues): Move Sex Ed to 8th Grade! Official: To mandate sex education classes in 8th Grade. Breakdown: Instead of having Sex Ed taught in 9th Grade, the delegates decided it would be best if it were to be taught even earlier. Progression: This resolution lies within the State’s jurisdiction. At this time State officials have rejected this request. We will resubmit the request following the 2006 elections. Amendment 4 (To Amendment 2 of NYCYC 2004 – Teen Issues): Future Voters Monthly! Official: To distribute a monthly or weekly newsletter to high school students with features on school issues, environmental issues, youth politics and teen issues. Breakdown: In the hopes of bringing New York City youth into the same news feed, we would produce a one-page newsletter to go out to high school students through an existing media outlet. The delegates at the Congress thought that this would unify young people throughout the City by giving them a common source of unbiased information on the growing youth politics movement along with other teen news. Progression: In summer of 2005, the newsletter editorial board, made up of interested high school students, will be working on the format of the newsletter and the first issue for 2006. We are currently in negotiations with AM New York and Metro to place the Newsletter as a monthly insert. A downloadable version will also be made available from our website. |