For Kids

	Frequently, adult politicians ask about what is best for youth. Why not consult the youth people -- who eagerly wish to be asked themselves?
	- Colin Tucker, Community H.S., 2003; University of Michigan, 2007

"I want to do something -- make a difference in the world. How can I do that?"

• Join the Youth Senate! We are a student body meant to create change among our schools and in the city and county. We provide a channel for student voice and opportunities for meaningful social change efforts.
• If you like being the leader or the star of a group, join our Lead Team, where kids from all over the city sit down together and bring together all the good ideas of Ann Arbor youth, helping to turn them to action.
• If you'd rather jump into an established organization, try Youth On Board, where we place teens on nonprofit boards as real, voting members.

"I want to meet new people, go new places, feel the exotic! Can that happen?"

• Of course! With programs like SHARP Corps, teens from all over town go to middle schools and help younger kids with volunteer projects, learning about themselves in the process.
• The Fight AIDS in Africa project also is an opportunity to exchange and communicate with kids in Burkina Faso over the Internet. They teach us about their culture and we teach them about our daily lives and AIDS prevention in the US. Over the summer, the project has been happening with kids at Bryant Community Center, to integrate and dispel those invisible boundaries that divide us even within Ann Arbor.

"Okay, but how does YEP! help me?"

The Youth Empowerment Project offers Basic and Advanced Leadership Training. These not only prepare you for positions on boards and other school and community leadership roles, but along with the field experience YEP projects offer you they also prep you for life, with real-life management and citizenship skills. You also learn valuable resume-writing skills for that extra edge in your future life, and grant-writing skills too. Also, and perhaps the most important, you learn how to work as part of a productive team and meet a diverse group of people, whom you may not otherwise get to know.

"So why should I do this?"

"Teens offer a perspective that is often lost in the adult world" says Raphaelle Monty, 2003 graduating senior from Huron High School. We are an asset to adults when we are in leadership form, when we voice our opinions, show them what we really think, and who we really are. We are the future. What better way to have fun preparing for it than this?

Click here to view our Programs page where you will see an overview of all the programs that YEP has to offer. From there, you can link to individual program pages to see more details.

	We will not mysteriously learn how to fulfill our civic duties the day we turn eighteen. This is a great learning opportunity for both the adults with whom we work and for us. We are a large presence in our community and accordingly, we should have a voice in its decision-making.
	- Raphaëlle Monty, Huron H.S. 2003, Bryn Mawr College, 2007