What is the New Mexico Youth Alliance ?
The New Mexico Youth Alliance is a statewide advisory group comprised of youth representatives, up to one from each legislative district. The Alliance , established in 2003 by Youth Council Act,
enables state lawmakers and administrators to create and refine youth policies with the benefit of feedback and recommendations from a statewide cross-section of informed New Mexico youth.
It is also a tool for ensuring that youth have a meaningful voice in the state's political process.
The Roles of Youth Alliance Participants
There are three terms used to describe Youth Alliance participants: representatives, adult partners, and members.
Youth member/representative: Any of the 112 youth
who represent their legislative district on the Youth
Alliance. Representatives can be ages 14-22. (As of November
2004, not all districts had a representative. Please refer
to the youth alliance application for cohort two.)
Adult member/partner: Any of local adults that are teamed in equal partnership with youth representatives to provide mentoring support with problem-solving, reflecting on Youth Alliance experiences, transportation, and community activities.
Member: Age-neutral term identifying any of the youth or adults described above.
Youth Member/Representative Responsibilities
Each Youth Alliance member/representative agrees to meet the following responsibilities:
- Serve up to two years.
- Mobilize a local youth peer group to make positive change in their community and advise local officials and community leaders on youth issues.
- Meet regionally with other youth in cooperation with the New Mexico Forum for Youth and Community.
- Collect information in order to enable to Youth Alliance to develop an annual policy platform of issues to prioritize.
- Meet on a statewide level four times a year to discuss youth issues and present their platform and related recommendations to the Governor, the Lt. Governor, and Children's Cabinet. (Travel cost for statewide meetings paid by the Youth Alliance.)
- Conduct a community impact project that drawn on the lessons and perspectives learned through the statewide Youth Alliance meetings. The projects might include service learning, the arts, youth leadership, education and outreach on a particular issue or policy, or volunteering for other community organizations.
Adult Member/Partner Responsibilities
Each adult partner agrees to meet the following responsibilities:
- Serve as a mentor to one or more youth representatives (but no more than three), enabling them to become strong leaders and policy experts.
- Help representatives reflect on their youth alliance experiences and connect them to community needs.
- Assist, as needed, with the production of materials and other tasks.
- Provide adult perspectives and help to mediate relationships with other adults in the community.
- Attend the four statewide Youth Alliance meetings annually, providing transportation for one or more youth representatives.
- Be role models as life-long learners, recognizing that even adults can learn a lot about youth development and New Mexico public policy from the Youth Alliance experience.
- Provide support within the context of a youth-adults partnership, avoiding the pitfalls of attempting to control youth behavior or opinion, dominating what should be youth-led meetings, or failing to support the youths' development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills by supplying all the solutions.
“The first gathering for the New Mexico Youth Alliance was a very nice gathering for us youth to have to see how people like their community and to see what they would like to change.”
-Jesus Quintereo,
YA Member – House District 32 Deming , New Mexico
“The first Youth Alliance gathering was fun. I was amazed at the amount of passion, experience, and enthusiasm the youth had. I was also impressed by the adults and their commitment to the program and to us, the youth.”
-Sasha Pellegrin,
YA Member – House District 12 Albuquerque , New Mexico
Partners of the Youth Alliance
Download Application
(MS-Word)
Download Application (PDF file)
Youth Alliance Member List
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
Children's Cabinet
Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD)
Forum for Youth Investment (FYI)
For more information, contact
Lauren Arias, Assistant Project Director at 505-821-3574
or
lauren@nmforumforyouth.org.
|
