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Tight budgets are forcing many youth-focused groups across the state make difficult decisions about funding programs that benefit youth in their communities. Mini-grants available from the Youth Advocacy & Involvement Office could be the key to helping these organizations continue to serve local youth through qualified community projects.

Applications, which are available online, will be accepted through 5 p.m. October 9. Up to $6,292 is available to North Carolina organizations composed of young people, ages 13 to 18, which implement programs to benefit their peers. The mini-grants will range from $100 to $500 each.

Examples of projects that have received funding since the program started in 1977 include after-school tutorial programs, purchases of recreational equipment and orchestral music, an alcohol-free graduation celebration and publication of a newsletter.  Requests for cost of food, entertainment, travel and salaries will not qualify for funding.

The State Youth Council and the Youth Advisory Council will meet in November to review applications for awards and will announce recipients in December.

For regulations or to download an application, visit www.ncyaio.com or contact Cynthia Giles of the Youth Advocacy and Involvement Office at 919-807-4400. 

The staff of the Youth Advocacy and Involvement Office is accustomed to collaborating with other agencies equally committed to helping youth succeed. But last week, we exchanged ideas and outreach with a surprise ally: a group of 10 educators and school administrators from Russia.

We were connected to this group through the International House of Charlotte, a sponsor of the Community Connections Program of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The delegation wanted to learn about our programs for youth, such as SADD and Youth Legislative Assembly, both of which actively engage teens in leadership roles. And they wanted to hear about our case advocacy efforts and relationships with non-profits.

They also were interested in our State Government Internship Program. There is very high unemployment in their area and they’re trying to better educate kids for the job world. They could see that what we do is a step beyond most internships. It’s real, practical, hands-on education.

To talk with people who speak a different language, but ultimately do the same thing to focus on helping youth, is a very positive thing.  It was an honor to serve as a sort of ambassador for state government’s creativity and energy in helping our youth. The fact that visitors will come so far to talk to us about our programs is exciting and, I hope, evidence that we are doing things that truly make a difference.

Steve Streater, who died on June 19 at the age of 50, had the all-American smile and energy that made him a hero in the sports world. It was his strength of spirit, his conviction to help others, that made him a hero to me.

I met Steve a few years after the tragedy that changed his life. A two-sport standout in his hometown of Sylva, and a record-breaker at UNC, Steve had just returned home from a 1981 tryout with the Washington Redskins when his vehicle crashed on rain-slick roads near the airport. He was left paralyzed from the waist down.

After intensive rehabilitation, Steve joined us in 1983 as the state’s first Students Against Drunk Driving (now, Students Against Destructive Decisions) director. Traveling in a wheelchair-equipped vehicle, he went across the state to meet with high school students and talk about the impact of making dangerous life choices, such as abusing alcohol and drugs or unsafe driving. His message about buckling up was especially compelling, since he was not using a seat belt at the time of his crash.

After reading about his death online, I was struck by how many people wrote in blogs about remembering him coming to their school, and how his words encouraged them to strive to be their best.

Congressman Walter B. Jones – who, as a state legislator, first recommended Steve to us – praised Streater as a “role model” while honoring him on the floor of U.S. House of Representatives this week.

“Steve touched many of us young and old in such a positive way that his life will never be forgotten by those who had the privilege to know him,” Jones said. “Steve Streater was an outstanding individual and he will be dearly missed.”

Most are too young to vote on Election Day, but that’s no impediment to the eager student delegates to Youth Legislative Assembly (YLA). As they debate and negotiate with their peers, using the same rules and propriety employed by members of the General Assembly, they remind us of the essentials of public service: to make our state a more effective and engaging place to live, work and prosper.

Organized by the Youth Advocacy & Involvement Office, this year’s 39th annual YLA will convene today, March 13 in Raleigh with 266 students from 43 North Carolina counties and 92 different schools. While some of their classmates may consider a full weekend of serious debate dull, the mock bills these leaders have drafted cover a compelling range of real-world topics.

Through committee meetings and General Sessions, participants will attempt to convince other delegates of the merits of requiring every North Carolina public school system to offer a foreign language program in primary schools; reforming the gun show loophole; requiring a minimum refundable deposit on recyclables; instituting a syringe exchange program, and other important issues.

I always look forward to seeing these diverse teens assume the responsibility of their new roles when they are sworn in as official YLA delegates, a ceremony that will again by conducted this year by Judge Vince Rozier, one of many distinguished YLA alumni. I wish this year’s group success as they use scholarship and powers of persuasion to pass their legislation, and I remind them that – whether as a future legislator, educator, professional or parent – the skills they hone today will help to shape a brighter future for us all.