Members of last year's Youth Philanthropy Council facilitated by The Place. This year The Place is starting up a Youth Advisory Council, where Chenango County teens can share their thoughts on county youth programs and services, and help to improve them. Applications can be found on ThePlaceNorwich.com and on The Place Facebook page. (Photo from The Place Facebook page)

CHENANGO COUNTY — The Place, an organization focused on providing programs and services for Chenango County youth, is starting up their own Youth Advisory Council and is looking for applicants.

Youth advisory councils can be found across the country, including organization-specific councils as well as councils that apply to a broader area, such as The Place's county-wide Youth Advisory Council.

The council is open to teens aged 12 through 17 who want to help improve their community by discussing current programs and services, looking for ways they can improve, and what services and programs are lacking in the community.

"A youth advisory council is a council made up of youth and young adults so that way they can have a relationship with the adults within the system. In this case, this is a county-wide advisory council to help support the youth-serving programs within the county," explained The Place Teen Program Coordinator Julie Dealing. "I worked for an organization in the past where we had a youth advisory council, and basically their job was to make sure that me and my coworkers were working toward the goals that youth today thought were important."

"We were really hoping by initiating this youth advisory council that we would get more insight of what youth wanted county-wide, and also it’s changing from a top-down approach to a bottom up. So really what we think may be a great activity or program, kids may not think that. So it’s really about empowering youth to voice what their vision is, and getting them to engage in programs and activities," added The Place Executive Director Sharon Vesely.

Applications are available by using a QR code on The Place Facebook page and on their website, ThePlaceNorwich.com. The application consists of a questionnaire for demographic information, such as name and age, as well as a short answer section to answer questions such as, "What is one thing you would like to see improved in your community?"

"Just little things like that, like the things we’re going to be talking about once we get together as a group, to kind of give us an idea of where your thought process is. And also their seriousness in wanting to be involved, because I’d rather somebody who is going to be committed, and wants to be involved, and wants their voice heard," said Dealing. "That helps us move forward not just with the council, but with our own programming and things of that nature."

Applicants will also need a letter of recommendation from a teacher, mentor, family member, or other adult in their life. Applications can be submitted via email to teenprogram@theplacenorwich.com, or by dropping them off in person at The Place, located at 22 East Main Street in Norwich. Applications completed through the QR code are Google Doc forms that can be submitted through the Google Docs platform.

Dealing said they're hoping for a maximum of 15 council members, with at least one student from each school district in Chenango County. Terms on the council last for one calendar year, and meetings will be held monthly.

"It would definitely be kind of an open discussion, and then the people on the council would tell us, 'this is the thing that I’m seeing going well in the community, these are the things that could be better,'" Dealing explained. "Now we have this list of what’s going well, why is it going well? And then we have this list of what’s not going great, but what can we do to make it better? And then that’s the part we’re going to look at, what can we do to make it better? And then make a plan from there."

Vesely said to remove transportation barriers, students who are unable to make the meetings in person can attend virtually using a video call service such as Zoom or Go To Meetings.

The Place is looking for students from all demographics to join the Youth Advisory Council, and Vesely stressed that participation in other extracurricular activities is not necessary to be accepted onto the council. In fact, she said they are specifically seeking out students who may not be in clubs or otherwise involved in the community.

"In kind of developing this, Julie [Dealing] and I both felt that it was important to get youth involved who may not have a voice in other school activities or other programs," she explained. "So for instance, while we would welcome honor society students and students that are involved in everything under the sun that the school has to offer, we’re really hoping that students and youth that don’t typically have a voice, or don’t feel heard, would participate in this."

In addition to having their voices and thoughts be heard, members of the Youth Advisory Council will also be compensated for their time spent on the council with gift cards. Plus, Dealing said participation on a council like this is a great addition to college and job applications.

"For a lot of kids, they're looking at college applications and things like that. So this is something that potentially we could give letters of recommendations to colleges," said Dealing. "They could put this on their resumes, if they’re not going to college and they’re going into the workforce. That could be the difference between them and somebody else, because this is a unique opportunity, especially for youth in this area."

The Place Youth Advisory Council was made possible by funding provided by the R.C. Smith Foundation and the American Baptist Home Mission Society.

In addition to the Youth Advisory Council, The Place also regularly offers various teen programs. Their teen group will meet on April 17 at 6 p.m., where Brad Morrison of Chenango Health Network's Reality Check will be giving a presentation on tobacco-free communities and living a tobacco-free life.

On Earth Day, April 22, The Place Teen Program will be hosting a city cleanup with the City of Norwich Youth Bureau beginning at 10 a.m. in East Park. Teenagers and adult members of the community are welcome to attend and help clean up downtown Norwich and Kurt Beyer Park. A Google Docs form to pre-register is available on The Place Facebook page, but Dealing said they are also accepting volunteers the day of who haven't pre-registered.

At 6 p.m. on April 28, The Place will hold their monthly teen movie night. This month's movie is "Champions," an inspirational story about an NBA coach who, after having some trouble with the law, is required to coach a team of individuals with developmental disabilities.

For more information on The Place and their available programs, visit ThePlaceNorwich.com or The Place Facebook page.