For years, NYRA has worked to find one state or one community that would finally allow people younger than 18 to vote. On May 13, 2013 we achieved a breakthrough: Takoma Park, Maryland voted to be the first US city with a voting age of 16. “Other nations, from Argentina to Austria, have allowed 16-year-olds…
*** Update 5/13/13: We did it! *** Takoma Park, MD is poised to become the first city in America to let 16-year-olds vote. To make such a change, the city council must go through three public ceremonies. First, a public hearing where members of the public give their views on the proposal. Second, a vote…
*** Update: We’re winning. *** NYRA has long fought for a lower voting age, and we may soon have a breakthrough right on Washington, DC’s border. Takoma Park, Maryland is now considering a proposal to let 16-year-olds vote in local elections. If this succeeds, we may soon see other cites lose their fear of enfranchising…
Update: winner chosen! On social media, people love to share pictures that are interesting, funny, or make a good point quickly. An image that says something about youth rights could make a real impact if it goes viral. So NYRA is inviting youth rights activists to submit images for our meme contest. Make a graphic…
A group of youth rights activists offered NYRA a matching grant, matching dollar-for-dollar individual donations that reached NYRA in December. They set a cap of $1,300, never imagining that NYRA’s members, most of them students, would be able to raise that much in just a few weeks. Well, guess what. NYRA’s membership maxed that mother…
Senator Al Franken has introduced the Location Privacy Protection Act (S. 1223), which would ban spyware that sneaks onto your cell phone and tells someone else your GPS location or other sensitive information. Such apps are being marketed to employers who want to spy on their employees, to people who want to spy on their…
In these tough times, NYRA, like many non-profits, faces economic challenges. We are tightening our belts, but with your help, we can keep fighting effectively for youth rights. To ensure that NYRA as you know it keeps running in 2013, we need you to step up and donate before December ends. You won’t be alone….
The Minneapolis Television Network recently held a live, one-hour special entitled “Youth & Politics,” and included among their guests Maxwell Hall (President, NYRA – Washington County) and Amy O’Connell (President, NYRA – Twin Cities). Here’s the first half: And here’s the second:
In the 1970’s, feminist Gloria Steinem wrote a famous essay considering ways the world might be different if men menstruated and women did not. Among other things, Steinem suggested sexist men would use women’s lack of menstruation to argue women are unsuited for the medical profession (“Women might faint at the sight of blood!”) or…
In our nation’s capital, youth rights activists came from as far away as Long Island to speak out for a lower voting age and an end to voter ID laws. “America was founded on the idea that those who must obey the laws are entitled to a say in what the laws are,” declared NYRA…
