The Mayors Youth Leadership Council - A Partnership between Coro and the Mayor's Office

This October Coro launched it's newest Program, The Mayors Youth Leadership Council (MYLC). 20 young people nominated by their school principal from across New York City were selected for this competitive program both for their successful school accomplishments as well as their desire to improve the city through solving problems faced by the youth population of New York.

MYLC aims to prepare a diverse group of young people to serve as a critical advisory team to City Hall while developing their own leadership skills. The MYLC offers an a chance for youth input into city policymaking and creates a body of youth ambassadors to serve as liaisons to their peers and their communities.  In the words of Mayor Bloomberg, "The Mayor's Youth Leadership Council will help bring a critical voice to our Administration's policy making process – the next generation. Talented, committed, and passionate young people have an important role to play in shaping New York City's future." 

The program is part of the recently announced Young Men's Initiative and the participants will be exploring the guiding question, "How can disconnected youth, stay connected?"  Alan Farrell, Fatherhood Services Coordinator for the Mayor's Office said:  "We are very excited about the youth selected for this program, these are young people that are from the neighborhoods they will be impacting. hearing what they had to say , seeing them in person, hearing them articulate their visions and talk about their involvement in the city was great.

 The Mayor's Youth Leadership Council is a 2-year program with two main components: the program year and the alumni year. During the program year, participants will build their knowledge about current youth policy issues facing the city and develop leadership, personal and group skills and policy understanding to help city officials develop solutions. The cohort will conduct field research and will develop policy recommendations as well as implement a group service project around this topic .During the alumni year, participants graduate to serve as a formal advisory council to the Mayor's Office. The council will work with City Hall advisors and their Coro program director to periodically convene as an advisory body to inform policy makers on the needs of New York City youth.

One of the students Denise Vivar, a junior at Sunset Park High School reflected on being chosen to be in the Mayors Youth Leadership Council: "The chance for teenagers to join a program like this is special, not a lot of people get a opportunity like this."

The Mayor's Youth Leadership Council is supported by the Mayor's Office and the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.