The New Millenium Youth Council was founded about a year ago by the Community Partnership for Youth.  At a teen think tank held in Huntsville. Teens were surveyed on a variety of issues facing them. The number one concern of the teenagers was that they wanted a safe place to hangout. Thus, the New Millenium Youth Council was formed and Neverland, a safe hangout for teenagers, was born.

The New Millennium Youth Council (NMYC) is a non-profit group of Huntsville, Madison and Madison County teens who have come together to identify problems, develop solutions and work with community leaders to
effect positive change in our schools and community for the betterment of teens and society as a whole.  We have organized to provide an avenue for all teens to participate in local government and to become a resource to the community by providing our perspective for resolution of issues affecting us.

Besides opening lines of communication between teens and local government, NMYC’s primary focus right now is to establish a teen
center, a safe place for teens, free of drugs, alcohol, and violence. It will provide a daily resource and begin to address many of the major concerns for teens today.  Teenagers will be offered workshops (which they choose) on pressing subjects such as conflict management, personal relationships, finances and career counseling.  This center will be called Neverland, after the Peter Pan concept of never growing old and following your heart.  Neverland will not only provide aid for teens during the weekdays (a place to study, workshops, counseling and activities) but will also be a safe place to hang out, socialize during the evenings and even enjoy live entertainment on the weekends.

NMYC main meetings are held every Monday from 6:30 to about 8:00 at UAH

 
 
 

The purpose for establishing NMYC chapters at the high schools is to allow those teens who would like to but cannot participate in the main NMYC meetings an opportunity to get involved.  Many area teens can’t make the main meetings, either because of transportation difficulties  or because of the extracurricular activities they are already involved in. In addition, NMYC needs more teen participants to be able to make Neverland and other events happen as well as to continue to establish working relationships with local government.  We plan to meet (on at least a semi-regular basis) with the Mayors, the city councils, the county commission, the school boards and the police and sheriff’s departments.  A broader membership base will also give NMYC the diversity we need to make NMYC and it’s activities both available and beneficial for all teens in Madison County.

NMYC High School Chapter Organization and By-Laws:

1. Each high school chapter shall have two student representatives who will coordinate the high school chapter meetings and at least one will attend the main NMYC meetings (preferably both).

Coordinator: the “presidential” position— will be responsible for holding and presiding over the chapter meetings, developing the meeting agenda (in conjunction with NMYC, coordinating with the faculty Sponsor and representing the school chapter at the main NMYC meetings.  The Coordinator will be responsible to the Sponsor and the NMYC President.

Recorder: the “secretarial” position— will be responsible for coordinating with the members of the high school chapter, taking the chapter meeting minutes, maintaining action items, assignees and due dates and reporting the chapter notes during the main NMYC meetings. The Reporter will be responsible to the Coordinator.

2. The chapter will require a school Sponsor, a faculty member who will
attend all of the high school chapter meetings in order to provide meeting discipline, focus, assist the Coordinator in developing the meeting agenda and help the participants establish and meet meeting goals.  The school sponsor may but will certainly not be required to attend the main NMYC meetings.

3. The chapter will hold regular meetings, on the day and time designated by the Sponsor and Coordinator.  NMYC recommends bi-weekly meetings.  The meeting time shall not interfere with official school activities and should be as short as possible and scheduled for maximum participation by the membership.  These meetings will include news and issues from the NMYC main meetings as well as questions and ideas requested by NMYC.  Action items shall be assigned and managed by the Reporter.

4. The members of the high school chapter will be responsible for helping NMYC with survey responses, marketing of NMYC events as well as input of ideas and doing investigative work to assist in making NMYC programs a reality.  High school chapter members may also join the NMYC Community Organization Teams (COTs) to represent NMYC and meet with local government organizations (see mission statement for an  explanation of COT purpose).

5.  NMYC will not require that there be a membership limit.  Members will not be required to pay dues, but will be required to either play a significant role in helping at NMYC events (setup, teardown, cleanup, admissions, etc) or pay admission at these events (if charged).  This  is the same for all NMYC members except officers.  High school chapter members are welcome and encouraged to attend the main NMYC meetings.

*UPDATE:  As of now a high school chapter has already  been established at Huntsville High School and others are on there way.

Sponsered in part by the Community Partnership for Youth & Lockheed Martin

Adult Facilitators:
Dave Cooper
Mary Puent
Vicki NeSmith-cofounder of Community Partnership for Youth
Sandy Ginn-cofounder of Community Partnership for Youth