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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 02061996 - D12 -D T0: -,,BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ��........:.....o Contra A° ' N,:ark DeSaulnier Costa February 6, 1996 I �r County DATE: rTq couK� SUBJECT: Endorsement of Youth Vote '96 SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)3 BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION: Endorse Youth Vote '96, a project of the Contra Costa Countywide Youth Commission. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Funding will be sought from private sources and in-kind donations'. BACKGROUND: Youth Vote was started five years ago in San Francisco by Coleman Advocates' Youth Making A Change (YMAC) to give youth the opportunity to learn about the voting process and to give elected officials direct access to the opinions of youth. It is a ballot prepared by young people for young people. In 1995, Marin Youth Commission, in conjunction with YMAC, held its own Youth Vote and had tremendous results with 77% of all juniors and seniors from eight high schools around the county participating. It is through the Marin Youth Commission that our own Countywide Youth Commission (CYC) heard about Youth Vote and then decided to implement it in Contra Costa. Partnerships have been formed with the Contra Costa Teen Initiatives Project, Friday Night Live, the Youth Educator Program, Battered Women's Alternatives YESS!, the County Registrar of Voters, the County Substance Abuse Division, and the County Prevention Program. Each of these programs have joined the effort to give the youth of our county this wonderful opportunity, and partnerships with CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON February 6. 096 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ROrie AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: 11 ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: ATTESTED- February 6, ;1996 PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF ii SUPERVISORS A D COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR LLA M382 (10/88) BY DEPUTY \' ) 2 Youth Vote '96 February 6, 1996 Page Two other organizations who wish to either participate or endorse the project are being sought. This in direct correlation with Part Three of CYC's mission statement: "to form partnerships with schools, community-based organizations, focal governments, and businesses to cooperatively address the concerns of young people countywide." Friday Night Live, YESS!, and the Youth Educator Program already have access to teachers and students in high schools all over the county which gives the Youth Vote Planning Committee a head start with gaining access in the schools. The Planning Committee will use these established contacts to hold focus groups with youth in each region of the county to find out what are the concerns of young people and what issues they would like to see on the ballot. The results will be sent on to the Planning Group to decide on 15 to 20 issues from which pro and con arguments will be written and printed in a voter handbook. Youth Vote handbooks, along with Teachers' Guides, will then be distributed to high schools who wish to participate. It is hoped that teachers will plan lessons around the event to really get students involved in the voting process. This will also prepare them to become responsible voters when they become 18 years old. Election day will be very realistic. With the assistance of the Registrar of Voters, students will be using the same equipment as voting adults. The Registar has also offered to provide procedural and technical direction to the Planning Committee. Volunteers will be present at each school to run the voting sites, and students who participate will receive a button claiming that "I Voted in Youth Vote '96!" After the votes have been tallied, the results will be distributed to city, county, state, and federal elected officials, as well as school boards, community organizations, and funders. Youth Vote results will give policy makers and citizens the opportunity to know how the young people of Contra Costa really feel about the issues that affect them. Also in the works is an effort to coordinate with Marin, Alameda, and San Francisco counties (who are all holding a Youth Vote '96) to have' the vote on the same day and to have several of the same questions on each county's ballot. This will allow everyone to know how youth feel on a regional basis, which could produce some very exciting results. Election day is set for October 15, 1996; and it is imperative for all elected officials to get behind our youth and to support this terrific project. Not only will it give us the youth perspective, it will prepare the next generation of voters to actually want to vote!