Youth Voice One Vision

Location

Department of Recreation Program Office 400 Dewey Avenue, Rochester NY, 14613

Phone

585 428 7371

Website

http://www.cityofrochester.gov/yvov/

See Also

YouTube.com Clips from YV1V TV show

Youth Voice, One Vision is an active Rochester youth council, coordinated largely out of the Rochester Department of Recreation Program Office, with support from RCTV15 RCTV website, Metro Council for Teen Potential (MCTP), Rochester-Monroe County Youth Bureau, Nazareth College, and Healthy Communities/Healthy Youth.

The youth council began in 1996 as the City/County Youth Council. In 2001, then-Mayor William A. Johnson Jr. created his Renaissance 2010 Plan and the youth council felt the need to re-focus their energy toward accomplishing the Mayor’s Renaissance goals. It was then that City/County Youth Council was re-created and renamed Youth Voice, One Vision. Although no longer tied to the 2010 plan, YVOV has since grown into a very active and involved youth council.

The City/County Youth Council was created by youth to bridge the city with the county and to encourage youth interests in civic planning, developing youth/adult partnerships, building the skills to interact with public officials, and to create activities to educate one another on the importance of civic involvement. Youth Voice, One Vision continues to allow youth to have a voice on issues in the community.

"Youth Voice, One Vision has a board of 9-10 youth officers, elected annually, who coordinate the council's meetings and events. Monthly meetings bring together up to 60+ youth.¹


For 6 years, YVOV members have run a talk show in conjunction with RCTV. Youth write, produce, direct, film, and edit their episodes on a variety of topics relating to adolescent life in Rochester. These episodes air regularly on Rochester Community Television Channel 15.


YVOV runs an ongoing Stop the Violence campaign, distributing and selling youth-designed tshirts and "Please Rochester...Stop Killin'" magnets to raise money for the Stacey Long memorial scholarship fund. Stacy Long was murdered in 2005 at the age of 15.


The council established and facilitates the Steppin' Up to Solutions Conference. At the all-day summit, youth identify an issue of concern, discuss the problem, and develop real and practical solutions.


YVOV sponsors an annual awards ceremony called the Salute to Youth, which recognizes the achievements of young people with awards like the RG&E Electrifying Youth Award and the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence Award for a Nonviolent Youth.


In 2005, YVOV youth raised over $5000 for the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund.


In 2004, YVOV realized an eight-year dream by getting out a positive youth development advertising campaign on two RTS buses. The rolling billboards, which read, "Hey You(th) Get Involved! Make a Difference in Your Community," followed by contact information, can still be seen on buses.


Other YVOV initiatives include drug-free dances, an antiviolence fashion show, antiviolence marches and lock-ins, the annual Salute to Youth awards ceremony, and countless other smaller community service and civic engagement projects."²

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2007-10-02 13:54:03   YV1V Anti-Violence Poem —ChelseaAllinger