2014-15 MYC Highlights
During the 2014-15 MYC year, we took our work beyond City Hall and Gresham Schools Building to the youth in our communities. We held several community events including a Youth Call to Action around police violence; the youth Transit Justice Day of Action in partnership with OPAL and other local organizations; and helped develop and facilitate focus groups on chronic absenteeism and youth engagement in school and after school programs. The MYC continues to build relationships with youth to hear their perspectives on community issues. Committees are evaluated and realigned at the annual mid-year retreat in February based on feedback provided by the community, MYC sponsors, and youth commissioners.
The MYC does most of its community work in three designated committees: Education/Youth Voice, Sustainability, and Youth Against Violence. The most notable achievements of these committees during the 2014-2015 program year include:
Education/Youth Voice Committee
- Efforts to identify root causes of chronic absenteeism, and creation of a report and presentation containing the committee's findings, which were presented to the Communities Supporting Youth Collaborative of Cradle to Career.
- Presentations given at the SPCC International Kids' Day Conference, and the Alliance 4 Kids Conference.
- Facilitation of a training for the World Affairs Council's Young Leaders in Action program.
- Assistance provided to Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) and Centennial High School.
Sustainability Committee
- Facilitation of two workshops at the National Youth Bike Summit in Seattle, WA.
- Creation of a Youth Transit Justice Day of Action (TJDOA), in partnership with OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon and APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon).
- Focus groups held with youth from El Programa Hispano, MEChA at Roosevelt High School, Portland State University, Outside In, Benson Reconnection Center, and Franklin High School.
Youth Against Violence Committee
- In partnership with the Portland Police Bureau, creation of three workshops for Portland youth, which were piloted at Roosevelt High School in May.
- Eight mini-grants to local schools and organizations to fund their own summits, as well as their efforts to bring awareness to violence and find solutions in their own communities.
- The Sexual and Dating Violence subcommittee's work, assisted by Erin Fairchild of Multnomah County's Defending Childhood Initiative, to create training tools showing police officers how to best work with youth victims of sexual assault.
2014-2015 Commission Members
BAKER CHARTER WEB SCHOOL • Avery Carr
BENSON HIGH SCHOOL • Yessica Mulet
CATLIN GABEL SCHOOL • Violeta Alvarez • Ben Kitoko
CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL • Nancy Barrera • Blanca Farfan Gaytan • Grace Ramstad •
CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL• Lucy Young•
CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL •Leja Biberic • Anna Del Savio • Hannah Kelley • Elexis Moyer •
DAVID DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL • Fatuma Gedi • Madina Gedi •
DE LA SALLE NORTH CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL • Delaney McEvoy • Adriana Rangel-Ponce •
FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL • Quince Assenberg• Charity Dunlevy-Todd • Jia Wu •
GRANT HIGH SCHOOL • Kaz Leffel •
GRESHAM HIGH SCHOOL • Victor Castellanos-Welsh • Jesus Perez Romero• Juanguillermo Perez-Torres
LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL • Alex Zhang • Amy Qiu
MILWAUKIE ACADEMY OF THE ARTS • Lashawn McCarthy
MT. HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE• Henry Nguyen• Samantha Young
OUT OF SCHOOL • Ana Meza • Julian Rist • Christopher Luchini
REYNOLDS HIGH SCHOOL • Fernanda Otero Gonzalez
REYNOLDS LEARNING ACADEMY • Antonio Servin
SELLWOOD MIDDLE SCHOOL• Nicolas Avendano
SUNSET HIGH SCHOOL • Kendall Fleshman