Starting a Teen Council

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Starting a Teen Council

• Presented by the Sahuarita Teen Advisory Council

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Why start a youth council?

• Creates an easy and effective way to communicate
  with youth in your community.
• Provides a new perspective that most town and
  city councils do not have access to.
• Establishes a leadership-building program for
  teenagers.
• Exposes teens to the inner workings of city and
  town government.
• Encourages youth to have an interest in their
  community.
• Creates peer mentors, leaders, and role models
  for other youth in the community.

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Keys to a Successful Council

• Let the YOUTH create their own council. Teens are
  far more likely to be active and willing if it is
  their own idea, rather than assignments.
• Treat the council as just that a council. Have
  bylaws, applications, etc.
• Play an active role in the councils activities
  and development, and encourage all departments to
  get involved.

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Our Story

• The Sahuarita Teen Advisory Council (much better
  known as STAC) was first presented to a group of
  high schoolers in April, 2007. Interested teens
  attended the Youth Day at the Capitol in May,
  2007 to learn more about teen councils and how to
  start one. Initial applications were turned in,
  and after an interview process, the original 18
  members were selected.

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• Most of the first year was spent finding the
  answer to the question what do we want to DO?
• After many months of long discussion and debate,
  we established our first bylaws. In them we
  stated
• The purpose of STAC shall be to be a voice of
  youth in the community by offering opinions,
  bringing youth issues to the Town Councils
  attention, to aid the Council in understanding
  youths concerns, and to become leaders in the
  community.

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• Our council functions under the following basic
  terms
• Officers of President, Vice President, Secretary,
  Treasurer, and Historian.
• No more than 16 members selected through an
  application and interview process.
• Twice monthly mandatory meetings.
• Strict attendance policies.
• A report detailing our goals for the year
  presented to Council at the beginning of our
  term, and a report on how these goals were
  accomplished at the end of the term.

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Events and Volunteering!

• What we didnt account for was the amount of
  volunteering and
• event-holding we would be doing!
• One of our main functions today is assissting
  with Town events as well as holding our own
  events for teens.
• Last term, as a whole we contributed over 1,000
  hours of community service to the Town of
  Sahuarita.

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Some of our events for this term

• BATTLE OF THE BANDS
• Held once annually, it features local high
  school bands.
• TOGA PARTY
• A back to school celebration.
• SKATE COMPETITION
• For all local skaters.
• open mic nights, Guitar Hero competitions,
  blanket drives, anti-valentines day haunted
  mazesand the list goes on!

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In Hindsight(the things we wish we had done
from Term 1!)
STAC Boot Camp This was an all-night planning
event we held at the beginning of this term. At
our local recreation center, we locked the entire
council in at 7 PM and spent the night generating
ideas and goals from the council. We also
incooperated several activities to help the
council get to know each other and become closer
as a group. By 7 AM, we had created a Vision
Statement including three major goals for the
year, established a rough calendar of events, and
the council was most certainly much closer.
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In Hindsight(the things we wish we had done
from Term 1!)
Attendance!! Arguably our biggest obstacle over
the years has been attendance. Usually the teens
that apply to this kind of council are very
involved in other activities as well, and getting
everyone to be there can sometimes be an
issue. Create a strict attendance policy and
stick to it.
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In Hindsight(the things we wish we had done
from Term 1!)
Communication Truly the most important key to a
well developed youth council is communication
with Town Council and Staff. The reports at the
beginning and end of our terms help enormously to
keep the Town Council (and the public) involved
with what we are doing. Many of our Council
members also attend meetings frequently, and we
often invite staff from different departments to
come and offer advice and input on questions we
may have.
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A Basic Blueprint

• Advertise to teens
• Hold an informational meeting
• Collect applications
• Hold interviews
• Select and notify your new members
• Create a bonding/planning activity
• Set a vision/mission statement
• Form and approve bylaws
• Keep up the communication!

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In the end

• Our members often cite STAC as being one of
  their favorite activities, and one of the most
  influential in their lives.
• A youth council brings so many wonderful
  opportunities to both teens and adults in a
  community.
• When it comes to engaging youth in your
  community, and bettering the community as a whole
  in the process, what drawback can there be?