Mayor Henry launches Mayor's Youth Engagement Council
Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry today announced the formation of the Mayor’s Youth Engagement Council, which will be a group of up to 25 high school students focusing on service learning.
The council members will identify ways they can address some of the community’s most urgent issues through connections with stakeholders in non-profit organizations, business corridors and youth agencies.
“The Mayor’s Youth Engagement Council will have more than two dozen talented, energized youth get involved in making a difference in Fort Wayne by taking ownership of their projects,” Mayor Henry said. “I think the participation of these students in their hometown could encourage them to stay in Fort Wayne after graduation from high school or college and continue with community involvement for decades to come.”
With written applications due April 5, the students must be sophomores, juniors or seniors for the 2010-2011 school year. Students selected for in-person interviews will be contacted by May 5 with final selections to be made this summer.
The council members will have a 12-month commitment. Meetings, which will be 60 to 90 minutes long, start in August at 5:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month. All council members must live within the city and attend public, private or home schools. Mayor Henry wants the council to reflect the diversity of Fort Wayne.
“The youth of our community are the future of our city,” Henry said. “We must not only provide them with an education and caring environment, but a way to create an atmosphere in which they would like to live.”
The application – which requires student information, short answer, two adult references and parent/guardian permission – is available at www.cityoffortwayne.org/myec.