2008 Youth Leadership Award Winners



From Left to right: Marcus, 21 Toledo; Lavon 18 Dayton;
Gabrielle 12 Columbus; Stephanie 18, Athens
 

Read COHHIO's Newsletters!

Youth Housing Summit a Success!

We would like to thank the 140 participants in our youth housing summit, especially our panelists, youth and afternoon session facilitators. Please CLICK HERE here to download the PowerPoint presentations, handouts and additional resources from the training.

Remember to check back often as we are constantly updating our website with additional resources and information.
 

YEP Takes the Message to Washington

Eleven YEP advocates representing Akron, Washington Court House, Columbus and Toledo, recently spent three days in Washington, D.C. raising awareness and advocating for an increase in healthcare for uninsured children.

On the day before the house was scheduled to vote on SCHIP, YEP met with 10 of Ohio’s 17 Congressional representatives to demonstrate the importance of providing health care for Ohio children. Youth presented each representative with the petition signatures that had been gathered over three weeks. They learned a lot as they went from meeting to meeting, getting a picture of politics at work on Capital Hill. They spoke freely about their experiences and were able to ask questions and get answers first-hand. Loading up the vans at the end of the day, we all knew that we had made an impact. Our optimism was confirmed on Tuesday, September 25th, when 12 of Ohio’s 17 Representatives voted in support of the bill!

Youth had additional valuable experiences. YEP Director Angela Lariviere led the group in a reflection that focused on the youths’ reactions to the Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, and WWII memorials. The consensus was that they felt inspired by the work and sacrifice of others; and that we all have the ability and responsibility to create positive change in our communities. Youth also visited the Holocaust Museum and Arlington National Cemetery. At one point, while walking around D.C., they brought out the YEP SCHIP support banner and symbolically walked it from Congress to the White
House. As they marched many cheered them along.

Thank you to all our supporters who signed petitions, gathered signatures, and helped our youth participate in this important event! While our trip focused on securing votes for SCHIP, it also was about giving youth the important context in which to make their voice heard.

We're here in DC!
 

"Youth Program in Southeast Ohio
seeks to help transitional and homeless youth"
Click HERE to read the article"

CLICK HERE FOR NEWS ABOUT VOTER TURNOUT!

YEP Youth Train the Faithful about Resources
September 25, 2006

When you were a child, did you ever run out of glue when trying to complete a homework assignment? Have you ever been baking cookies and needed to borrow an egg or two from a neighbor? Have you ever been driving to work and needed to call AAA to fix your car in the middle of the interstate? Glue, eggs, AAA are all resources. In America, money is the normal way that we gain resources. We also have resources through our family and friend support networks. It is access to resources that often will determine if we will have housing, food, and education or not.

YEP youth on Sunday September 24th went and talked to Clinton Heights Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio about access to resources. Alfred, 21 and Ciera 17 led a simulation activity that demonstrated inequality in our world. This simulation led the adult and high school Sunday school classes to look into the systemic causes of poverty; especially low wages.

The discussion after the simulation led into a dialogue about the minimum wage that will be on the ballot on November 7th. YEP is hopeful that the minimum wage amendment will pass, because low-wages are a primary cause of family homelessness.

What would happen if you were trying to get to work and you did not have the resource of AAA, or were trying to complete a homework assignment and did not have glue as a resource, or were trying to bake cookies and had no access to eggs? You might be fired or fail the task at hand. In our world today, there are enough resources for everyone to have a just standard of living, and we need your help on November 7th to help provide a just minimum wage for all Ohioans!

If you are interested in participating in training about poverty in your local school, church or agency please contact Nick Bates at nickbates@cohhio.org or Angela Lariviere at angelal@cohhio.org
 

September 5, 2006

The ICC supports (Information Control Corporation) education opportunities for homeless youth

The Information Control Corporation (ICC) continues their commitment to homeless youth and their education. To begin the 2006-2007 school year, ICC employees donated $800 and the company matched this for a total of $1,600. These funds were used to purchase backpacks; school supplies for high school and middle school youth, and included a gift card for the youth to finish getting anything else that they needed. These supplies were given to YEP members.

In addition to their donation of supplies, ICC has donated $2,000 to YEP youth to pay school fees. Public schools that are feeling budget cuts are not only requiring students to pay for extra curricular activities like football or cheerleading, but for basic classes such as math.

One YEP youth is required to pay $79 for their senior level calculus class alone. Art, computer, and music classes are also carrying large fees now that low-income youth have difficulty paying. With the rising trend of students having to pay for public education, we are glad to see responsible members of the corporate community.
 

YEP YOUTH TRAVEL TO DC

10 members of the YEP went to DC to learn about national issues and learn how to organize and create change.  The National People’s Action conference occurred May 6-May 8th and the conference included presentations about issues, agreements from different companies to help low-income people, and direct actions against people who have forgotten that American democracy is about AMERICANS!  This picture is of YEP on an action demanding changes to the banking lobby.

The youth learned a lot and are hyped up to be the change that they want to see in the world, because . . .

YOUTH GOT THE POWER!
 

YEP is forming a workgroup to begin to create viable housing options for older youth. We are looking for youth, service providers, and advocates from around Ohio to work on this committee. If you are interested in getting involved and hearing our current agenda, contact Nick at nickbates@cohhio.org
 

YEP Youth are working with Ohioans for a Fair Wage on a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in Ohio to $6.85

Right now we are working on collecting 322,000 signatures to have it placed on the November ballot. After it makes it on the ballot, we will actively work on getting people to the polls to vote for the increase!
 

• Sponsoring a coalition of youth, service providers of foster care juvenile justice, and adult agencies to discuss and formulate a plan to deal with the issue of older youth (16-21) year old housing. Transitional youth have many difficulties and when they turn 18, they loose all of their benefits as a youth. These 18 year olds are expected to act like 50 year old adults in attempting to access services.
  
  This population results to:
  ** “Couch surfing” (bouncing around from friend to friend)
  ** Living in unsafe situations (such as a young female moving in with much older boyfriends)
  ** Living at adult shelters and being at risk of abuse from older individuals
  
  Our goal with this new project is to make a proposal on how service providers can better meet the needs of this age group to help prevent long term homelessness.

The Award winners are: Detrick from Columbus, Dustin from Southeast Ohio, Michelle from Cincinnati and Jessica from Akron.

Please make a donation to help support next years leadership award opportunities for homeless and transitional youth in Ohio.