Program Profiles

	The Youth Empowerment Project is one of the most innovative and constructive programs that our community has implemented for youth in many years. It is a venue for youth to serve, lead, and have involvement in the decision-making of our community that has not been an option in the past. I cannot think of a better way to train our citizens of tomorrow.
	- Bob Miller, President & CEO of HelpSource, one of Washtenaw County’s largest non-profits

The Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) is a nonprofit organization created in 1997 by a small and diverse group of teens to foster youth initiative and increase youth representation in the service and decision-making life of our community. Today, 230 middle and high school age youth participate regularly in ten projects originated and led by young people with adult support. This past year, 2,000 youth were involved in one or more YEP activities. During each of the past two years, we have experienced a 400% increase in youth participation in YEP activities.

	The Youth Empowerment Project has dramatically changed my life. It has shown me that the opinions of youth really do matter. It has given me a voice in my community.
	- Jalle Dafa, Chairwoman of YEP Board of Directors, 2003 Ann Arbor Young Citizen of the Year, Community High School, 2003

YEP programs fill a unique niche for teens who want productive leadership roles in their schools and broader community, and attract many youth who discover their leadership potential through a YEP activity. Teens 16 years and older comprise up to 50% of voting members on the YEP Board of Directors, the maximum allowed by Michigan law. With the input the first YEP Leadership Team gathered through focus groups with 15% of high school students in 1998, and continued peer input and adult partnerships, YEP teens have developed ten exciting programs over the past five years. They include structured (YOB) and less structured (Youth Senate, Leadership Team) leadership and civic action projects; middle school service-learning programs (SHARP Corps, TRUE); peer education exchanges (Fight AIDS in Africa); and a concrete product (Teen Yellow Pages), as described below:

Leadership Team & Leadership Training

The Leadership Team coordinates, promotes and supports YEP programs, advises the Board of Directors, conducts biannual Basic Leadership Training, and plans monthly Advanced Leadership Training for Ann Arbor youth interested or involved in leadership roles. This past school year 80 teens participated in YEP training programs. Visit our Leadership Team page. | Visit our Leader Training page.

	We will not mysteriously learn how to fulfill our civic duties the day we turn 18. This is a great 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, Student Advocacy Center YOB Board Member, Senate Forum Coordinator, Huron High School, 2003

Youth On Board

The Youth on Board (YOB) program places teens ages 16 to 18 in voting seats on nonprofit organization (NPO) boards and advisory committees. YEP conducts orientations for teens who will serve as board members, as well as for adult board members on working with youth on board. Since 1999, YOB has placed over 70 teens on the boards or advisory committees of 16 NPOs and public institutions. Visit our Youth On Board page.

	The whole process of being on an NPO board and of setting up the Senate system is exhilarating. I can see it in other kids and feel it in myself. It gets people excited to make a difference in their community.
	- Harvey Acheson, Senate Member, Student Advocacy Board Member, Pioneer High School, 2003

Ann Arbor Youth Senate

The Ann Arbor Youth Senate represents teens from Forums in four local public high schools. Senate Forum teens identify and address school-based issues, while the citywide Youth Senate works to achieve more of a voice for youth in the decision-making process of the community’s civic and public institutions. Senate teens serve in an advisory capacity on the Ann Arbor Board of Education, and are working to obtain a parallel role with the City Council. Some of the Senate’s 2002-03 activities include: fall and spring high school voter registration drives and ‘get out the vote’ campaigns; in-school recycling programs; presentations to City Council and the School Board that led to the addition of a traffic light at one high school; and student focus groups and surveys reaching 38% (2,000) of the student population to identify their priorities for school improvement, with comprehensive reports of these findings presented to the School Board. For this report, visit our Youth Senate page.

Senate’s March, 2003 Senate Report to the School Board on Student Priorities for School Improvement (17 pages w/color graphs) now available in PDF format on Senate page!

	Youth Empowerment helped me crack my shell of shyness and it has increased my awareness of how my community operates.
	- Leo Volakis, YEP Leadership Team, Huron High School, 2004

SHARP Corps

Students Helping and Reaching People (SHARP) Corps, led by YEP teens and University of Michigan students, involves middle school students in weekly community service projects. Visit our SHARP Corps page.

TRUE

Through Teens Recognizing and Understanding Each Other (TRUE), YEP teens aim to prevent substance abuse by conducting simulation games for peers and younger youth through neighborhood centers. This program is made possible through a partnership with HelpSource and its Spectrum Treatment Prevention program. Visit our TRUE page.

Fight AIDS in Africa

Through the Fight AIDS in Africa, the world has become a smaller place! YEP teens are establishing a communication exchange over the internet with youth in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Linked to an AIDS education program funded by Pfizer Global, the exchange involves YEP and West African teens telling each other about the many sides of their lives in their respective neighborhoods, villages, communities and countries. YEP teens are including information about their peer education and youth leadership models, and Burkina Faso youth are exploring these models for possible adaptation by the AIDS education and prevention program in 30 villages in their country. Visit our Fight AIDS in Africa page.

Ann Arbor Teen Yellow Pages

The Teen Yellow Pages is a guide to youth resources in the community, published and distributed by YEP to over 6,000 Ann Arbor teens. Visit Teen Yellow Pages.

Youth-Adult Partnership Summit

The Youth-Adult Partnership Summit (YAPS) unites adults and teens in efforts to initiate policy change based on teen recommendations. The first Summit was held in 1999, and the next is scheduled for 2004. At the 2/1999 Summit, the first YEP Leadership Team formally presented its Recommendations to the Community, a report that resulted from the focus groups they conducted among 15% of their peers in fall of 1998. To read the 1999 YEP Leadership Team's Recommendations, please visit our Summit page. A professional 15-minute Youth Empowerment Video was also produced about these recommendations. (A video order form will be available soon.) A second YEP video will be produced for this second Summit.