Youth Voice & Leadership subcommittee

Date:	April 7, 2005, 3-5pm
Meeting location:	Conference Call
Notes compiled by:	Kerry Salvo
Chair(s) / Facilitator(s):	Kerry Salvo
Members present:	Kerry Salvo, Erica Famous, Cara Anderman, Jennifer Thompson, Cory True, Noah Keteyian (part), Dara Kidder (part)

Agenda Item(s):	Major Points of Discussion:
1. Update on youth recruitment	§ Recruitment is in process. An email will go to Task Force members by the end of the week. Subcommittees have brought up the issue at their respective meetings. We will check back in with these groups in the next two weeks.
2. Update on March 25 LYAC hearing in Caribou	§ Jenn was there. It went very well. There were 12-15 people that testified at this hearing on a variety of topics. Of particular interest to us were two young men generally interested in the learning results—Jenn got their names and emails and we will contact the Learning Results subcommittee to see if their interest can be tapped into by this subcommittee. This launched into a more general discussion of how to involve youth who are at a distance from Augusta—and the idea of using videoconferencing was raised (to be discussed more below).
3. Other updates	§ KIDS Consortium is having a conference June 27-28 focused on citizenship and civic engagement. Many Task Force members will be there and will be giving workshops. Kerry and Deb will be leading a workshop on youth-adult collaborations. Offer is out there to anyone else on the YVL subcommittee to participate in this workshop. And, everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend the conference. § Steering Committee asked us what other types of focus groups involving youth could work for gathering feedback on the Task Force’s work. It was suggested that we look into using videoconferencing (ATM) as a way of connecting many diverse youth from around the state. We know there is equipment in Augusta, at Maranacook and in high schools in Washington County (thanks to Erica, Jenn, and Cory). We would like to look into the cost of doing this. § Deb and Riah want to send a thank-you to Task Force members for participating in the youth-adult collaboration discussion. The best way to do this will be via an electronic thank-you letter to be forwarded to the Task Force members by Dara.
4. Website development and our role	§ Website-We have selected a web-designer, InforME. Tamara and Kerry are both on the website subcommittee. A meeting will be set up to meet with the designer, hopefully next week. Following this meeting, we will get a better idea of what role the YVL subcommittee can play in web development. We are looking at a 3-month timeframe for getting something up and running. § We should think about other websites that have content or design elements that we like to use as examples for what we’d like incorporated in our own website. § We decided we want links to: o Preexisting sites, such as KIDS consortium, NH Institute of Politics, etc. o Other youth groups like MYAN, Realize!Maine, and A Rising Tide. § We need to include resources and links for students interested in participating in LYAC hearings, such as: testimony preparation, Learning Result topics, explanations and other resources (especially if the fall hearing is on the topic of the Learning Results). o LYAC holds a seminar in August where they can assign tasks based upon what we decide we want/need, so we should keep this in mind.
5. Role of getting 17 year-olds to vote	§ We are charged with getting eligible 17 year-olds to vote in the 2006 primary. We should begin thinking about how to do this. § At Jenn’s school in Maranacook they attached a voter registration drive to their Mock Elections to get eligible students to register to vote and to educate them about being eligible. § Many people (including adults and 17 year-olds) do not know that they are eligible to vote, so a big piece is education. o We need to find out what the law actually says. § There are many people and programs that work on election and other political issues already, so let’s use the existing avenues to get out our message. o See if we can tap into the Secretary of State’s Office and their Mock Election Program to run our campaign through them. o Outreach to political parties. o Cory Hascell of A Rising Tide which trains youth to be involved in political organizations and campaigns. o Networks of guidance counselors who can post information in schools. § We should develop colorful and catchy posters as one of our ways to spread information.
6. Survey v. public forum for gathering youth perspective	§ Both elements are important and should be on our website. § A survey may not be a truly representative sample if we don’t control who takes it. § Survey is a quick way to gather quantitative information and students who respond can immediately see the percentages of votes for each option. § A forum or online dialogue is a way to gather more qualitative information and can go into more detail. § We should wait until we talk to the web designers before we come to any decision of exactly how to present this information or how to set it up.
7. How we would like to be used by the Task Force and other subcommittees	§ Provide a check and a filter for the material that is produced by the other subcommittees and/or appears on the website. o We would like to read over things and make changes to the language/ write certain pieces in our own language so they are accessible to young people. § Helping with recruitment. § Providing lots of feedback on the website. § Providing photographs of young people in action for the website.
8. Timeline	Postponed until next meeting when we have more information about the website.

Next Steps:
Contact Learning Results Subcommittee about youth interest	Kerry
Contact Secretary of State’s Office about 17 year-old vote issue	Dara
Write thank-you for Task Force members who participated in youth-adult collaboration discussion	Deb and Riah
Think about websites that have elements we’d like to incorporate into ours	All
Follow up with recruitment with Task Force and subcommittees	Kerry and Tamara

Next Meeting Date/Time:	Wednesday, May 4, 3-5pm
Location:	TBD
Items for Next Meeting Agenda:	Timeline, website, 17 year-old vote action plan