Members of the Youth Committee visited with Mayor Gordon to discuss important youth issues. From left to right: Guadalupe Leon, Alexis McKenzie, Trevor Cully, Mayor Phil Gordon, Regina Valentin, and Kenneth Brooks.

The Phoenix Youth Committee is a twelve-member committee of the Phoenix Youth and Education Commission. The Youth Committee is comprised of high school students from schools and neighborhoods across the City of Phoenix. Along with their duties as members of the Youth and Education Commission, the Youth Committee works on their own projects throughout the year.

Previously, the Youth Committee was responsible for planning and facilitating the Youth Town Hall. They also wrote the Youth Town Hall Report and helped to review and judge the Focus on Results (FOR) Grants, along with other responsibilities.

For the 2008-2009 school year, the Youth Committee will be working with an entirely new model. The Committee will begin by selecting one to three issues or topics that are important to youth in Phoenix. They will research these issues using their personal experiences, the experiences of their friends and peers, the expertise of city staff, and by conducting interviews and tours with know99. The youth on the committee will focus on collecting data, observing, processing, and reflecting. This activity will culminate in the Fall 2008

After researching and interviewing during the Fall semester, the students will spend the Spring semester developing multiple community service projects to help overcome the problem they researched.