NYRA Freedom

ISSN 1933-5229

Volume 4, Issue 8

August 8, 2004

Contents:

Introduction
NYRA Election
Warped Tour Tabling Underway
Durham Youth Council
NYRA in the News
General Meeting Announcement
Conclusion

Introduction

With the election season soon over, and a new term about to begin, we all have reasons to be optimistic. I feel that the new board will be even more effective than the current one. NYRA members continue to do important work recruiting and getting the words out. It has been another great month, expect many more like it in the coming year.

NYRA Election

We are now well into the 2004 NYRA Board election, and despite some problems it is looking like another good election season. The ballot was scheduled to be released on July 15, but due to some problems finishing the online election site, it was not released until early on the 17th. Eleven qualified individuals are competing for nine seats on the NYRA Board of Directors. The candidates are Scott Davidson, Jackie Fuller, Rich Jahn, Kevin Keenan, Alex Koroknay-Palicz, Keith Mandell, Charles Mangiardi, Johnathan McClure, Arpan Patel, Robert Reynolds, and Scarlett Swerdlow. Davidson, Jahn, Koroknay-Palicz, and McClure are running for reelection. All dues paying members are eligible to vote in this election. Subscribers who haven’t yet paid member dues are encouraged to do so. Dues are just $10 annually. A comprehensive election site has been created that has many good utilities. You can read the candidate’s statements, see the attendance record of the incumbents, read through the changes to the bylaws, and talk with the candidates online in our online forum. The election will continue until August 14. All members are strongly encouraged to VOTE!

Warped Tour Tabling Underway

Thanks to the great work and connections of NYRA member Rio Samsie, NYRA has been invited to table at the summer punk concert tour, the Warped Tour. So far the Warped Tour events have been a mixed success for NYRA.

NYRA’s first three stops on the tour were in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Chicago. Many thanks to volunteers Svend la Rose, Brendan Perez, Timothy Taycher, and Brad White. While the events fell short of expectations for recruiting and selling merchandise, all succeeded in introducing people to youth rights and passing out literature.

Perhaps the greatest successes came in Salt Lake City and Washington DC. In Salt Lake City, NYRA members Daniel McGuire and Chris Eaton volunteered. They made a whopping seventy nine dollars in button, t-shirt, and book sales. No doubt a lot of people became NYRA supporters in Salt Lake City as a result of Daniel and Chris’s hard work.

NYRA had a similarly good day in Washington. Around 190 members were recruited and $85 was raised. All thanks to the hard work of Dave Varney, Alexis Grant, Rio Samsie, and Alex Koroknay-Palicz.

A lot of work also went in to making flyers, T-shirts, and buttons for these events. Special thanks to SSDP and YSA for letting us use their copiers.

Durham Youth Council

Youth Rights activist DeWarren Langley has been making great strides toward setting up a youth council in the city of Durham, North Carolina. Recently the city of Durham has pledged to fund the project, but the county has been more reluctant. The Youth Council is closer than ever to securing significant funding and becoming a way for Durham’s youth to have a real say in the political process.

Recently, DeWarren has been meeting with local politicians to advocate the youth council. He met with Mayor Pro-Temp Councilwoman Cora Cole-McFadden to talk about the project. Cole-McFadden, an outspoken supporter of the youth council, appealed to DeWarren to ensure that the youth council becomes all that it should be.

Other officials later informed DeWarren that the city government allocated over $40,000 to the youth council. However, this allocation of funds was not approved by the county authorities. It was decided that the matter should be reviewed further.

DeWarren is delighted at the way this is progressing, but feels that there should be more youth input in the planning process. He also feels that the local schools should play a more significant role in the project.

DeWarren has said that “despite the hardship, I pledge to support a meaningful venture for youth to be influential contributors in local policies.” NYRA is glad that people like DeWarren Langley are working to give young people more of a voice and greater influence in politics.

For more information, contact Langley at politicallyactive@….

NYRA in the News

One of NYRA’s main goals is to attract attention from the media. In order to achieve success, people must know who you are, and appearances in the media are a great way to gain recognition. Most recently NYRA appeared in an article about curfew laws. The article,”Time is up for Curfews”, by high school student Mari Zimmermann appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentential. The article is fair and it presents both sides of the debate. While NYRA is only mentioned in passing, we are referred to as a “major group” along with the American Civil Liberties Union.

In the coming weeks NYRA will be in even more newspapers. An article in the Baltimore Sun should be coming out shortly. Perhaps most importantly, there will be an article in Parade featuring NYRA Director Laura Finstad. Parade is an insert in many Sunday newspapers and will be read by lots of people. A few days ago yours truly was contacted by the Detroit Free Press, and there is a good chance I will be quoted in a piece they are doing on the voting age.

General Meeting Announcement

Every year NYRA holds a general meeting. People attending the meeting get to hear the annual report, and are the first to hear the results of the board election. The meeting is also a great opportunity to meet face-to-face some of the NYRA activists you may have worked with in the past. This year, there is some trouble finding a space for the meeting. Arrangements were made to meet at the office of the American Civil Liberties Union, but have unfortunately fallen through. The meeting will take place on August 14th, from three to six PM, stay tuned to youthrights.org for the location. You are all invited to attend, however you must RSVP as soon as possible. If you wish to come, please email VoteNYRA@… and let us know.

Conclusion

For the past couple years, NYRA has made media attention its number one priority. I’ve been astonished at the great success we have had in that area, and I am pleased to see it continuing I think that over the next few months NYRA will enter a new and exciting phase. NYRA will shift its main emphasis to fundraising. Every board candidate is competent, and capable of running the organization. Since a few of them are experienced fundraisers, I would not be entirely surprised if we had a NYRA office and full time NYRA activists by this time next year.