I am a long time NYRA member and thanks to my petitioning efforts, next month in Amherst Massachusetts voters will be able to vote on whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to 19 for beer & wine. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 was passed on July 17, 1984. It…
Hello, my name is Amy O’Connell, I am the chapter leader of NYRA Twin Cities. I started NYRA Twin Cities when I was in middle school. I got involved in NYRA in 2011 after a teacher at my middle school was complicit in a bullying problem and I searched for “youth rights” to see if…
When you say discrimination, people know what you’re talking about. There’s racial discrimination, religious discrimination, sex discrimination, and many others. But when you say age discrimination, people respond with a “Huh?”. Being an adult means that you were once a child. As children, we shared similar experiences such as curfews and being grounded. Did you…
NYRA-Broward County has been active for several years now, mostly thanks to their President Elijah. Elijah has been interested in youth rights from a very young age. He worked with NYRA for a years on the voting age through social media, as well as his activities at school. After building experience after experience, the chapter…
NYRA-Twin Cities has been in operation for several years now. Amy O’Connell, President, has been leading the group for almost half a decade. Amy’s passion for youth rights came from her own experience dealing with adults. She was largely bullied in middle school and found that adults made the problem worse. She became involved in…
History was made yesterday when 17-year-old Elijah D. Manley gave a speech at the Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention on Saturday, August 6, 2016, in Houston, Texas. Elijah is the first “underaged” presidential nominee to make it to a state ballot – two states, in his case – of one of the two largest third…
Bryce Hall is the current President of the 16toVote Texas chapter located in North Richland Hills. Read more about what his group is doing here. One afternoon I was sitting on my couch watching an innocent teenager being detained on the news. His mom and step-dad were extremely abusive and he didn’t want to leave…
I recently got into an argument with a stranger who was trying to cut through my bike lock with a torch. This was in the middle of a crowd, and I knew he would be long gone if I waited for the police to show up. When I saw him at work, I figured that…
I became interested in the National Youth Rights Association through a passion in education reform. America’s education system is falling behind. A shocking amount of schooling is about organizing and controlling students – telling kids where to line up, keeping them still while they sit through a lecture they aren’t listening too, or making them…
NYRA’s newest chapter operates out of North Richland Hills, a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. The chapter was started by a group of 16 year olds, most of them attending the same high school. Texas Vote16 was established on March 16, 2016. The President, Bryce Hall, had the idea for many years and found supporting…
