For Parents
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What is the
Youth Empowerment Project?
The Youth Empowerment
Project (YEP) is an innovative youth-led project whose goal
is to increase teen participation in the service and decision-making
life of our community. This means that we want your support
and your teen’s involvement to help shape a better community
for our future.
What can my
son/daughter do in YEP?
YEP programs fill
a unique niche for teens who want productive leadership roles
in their schools and broader community and attracts many youth
who discover their leadership potential through a YEP activity.
No matter what your teen's interests are, YEP has a program
for him/her!
- Working with influential adults:
Through Youth on Board (YOB), teens
can serve on the Board of Directors of local non-profit
organizations (NPOs). Youth can become involved with the
smallest and more informal to the largest more business-like
non-profits in Ann Arbor, work with adults in their field
of interest, and help shape the NPO world of our community.
Along with this YOB field experience, YEP’s biannual
Basic Leadership Training (BLT)
and monthly Advanced Leadership Training
(ALT) offer comprehensive leadership training resources,
not only showing teens ways to successfully maximize their
NPO experience, but also teaching them lifelong skills and
values for effective citizenry.
- Working with their peers:
The Ann Arbor Youth Senate is a
citywide representational body of youth engaging youth in
school and community change and increasing youth voice in
civic institutions in our community, such as the School
Board and City Council. Weekly Senate Forums meet at Community,
Roberto Clemente, Huron and Pioneer High schools and are
open to all interested. Elected leaders from each Forum
attend city-wide meetings where each school reports its
goals and accomplishments.
- Working as a global citizen:
The Fight AIDS in Africa
project is involved in a community exchange through the
internet with youth in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The teens
from both continents exchange photo journals and information
about their daily lives. YEP teens share their experience
with leadership as the African youth would like to extend
these peer education methods to the AIDS prevention education
in their villages and cities.
- Working as a mentor:
SHARP Corps (Students Helping And
Reaching People) teens lead Middle School students in community
volunteer activities once a week after school. This is the
perfect way to mentor future youth leaders!
In TRUE (Teens Recognizing and Understand
Each other), YEP teens work with Help Source and Spectrum
to prevent substance abuse by conducting simulation games
with peers as well as younger students.
What time commitments
are there?
On average, most
projects require a monthly commitment of four to seven hours.
Locations can range from the Youth Empowerment Project’s
office downtown to schools, NPOs and community centers around
town. Each group works weekly or monthly, but your teen may
do more, committing his or her time to various small projects
and tasks.
What are the benefits
of my teen joining a YEP program?
In joining YEP,
teens will learn how to be an effective citizen and become
an involved, committed member of their community. YEP teens
learn new personal and teamwork skills such as: time management
and communication skills; resume-writing; reading NPO financial
statements; how to work with a very diverse group of peers,
both in age and background; and make new friends among a diverse
group of teens united by a thirst for leadership and knowledge;
and change the world for the better!
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.
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