The Pike County Youth Coalition will be convening a meeting on June 9 to discuss a national service initiative and how our community can be a part of it. The letter below is being sent to various service organizations and community leaders.

Pike County Summer Service Initiative

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently had the honor of joining the First Lady in Washington, DC for a meeting to discuss a new service initiative that will be launched next month by the Corporation for National and Community Service. I am excited to share what I have learned with you and to gather your feedback. Hopefully, you and/or your organization will be interested in becoming involved.

The Summer Service Initiative is designed to engage citizens across the country in high-impact, community-based service projects. It will be announced with a call to service by the President in early June and take place between June 22 and September 11. The focus will be on economic recovery, particularly around education, energy/environment, healthcare and community renewal. Its purpose is to bolster civic engagement and to establish public/private partnerships to develop sustainable service opportunities for all Americans.

At a time when we face tremendous challenges, Americans have demonstrated a desire to give back at levels unprecedented in decades. The initiative aims to funnel this energy into meeting growing social needs, town-by-town and city-by-city. The White House and federal agencies will be generating excitement about this national initiative and providing resources through www.serve.gov; it will be our task to locally develop one or more ways to engage the many citizens that are expected to become interested and look to contribute in their own backyard.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for community leaders, volunteers and organizations in Pike County to come together to work on a project this summer that focuses on specific issues within our own community, while engaging and expanding our local volunteer base. The recently completed Wayne/Pike Needs Assessment provides a great place to start in identifying one or more areas of focus for such a project.

You or a representative from your organization are cordially invited to attend a meeting on Tuesday, June 9 at the County Administration Building’s basement conference room to brainstorm and plan a project for the summer service initiative. The meeting will either be held at 9:00 AM or 7:00 PM, depending on when more people are able to attend. Please RSVP at your earliest convenience, indicating if either or both times are preferable. The invitation is open, so please feel free to forward this to any person or organization you believe might be interested.

It is my hope that we can create a consensus at this meeting about what kind of project we can jointly launch on June 22 and how we each can contribute to its success. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

Nick Troiano

Executive Director, PCYC

James Montemarano is 12 years-old and is in 6th grade. He told us about a project he is working on for class:

"I am writing about how kids should have a say in the school board because they are going to school not the parents. I asked a couple of the school board runners about their opinion and I think that students should have a say in their school. Having the kids do this is an experience and good help for the future."

James thinks students should have the right to vote in school board elections since they are directly affected by board policy (as he says, not their parents). He says that only students in 6th grade and up should be allowed to do so because "most younger kids do what their parents think."

Kudos, James! What an intriguing proposal. We'll keep you updated on the candidates' responses.

Visit our YouTube Channel to see the latest video from the Meet the Candidates night: www.youtube.com/pikeyouth.

The Pike County Youth Coalition will hold its annual public meeting on May 30, from 11am to 2pm at Matamoras Borough Hall. Lunch will be served.

We will be recapping our first year, setting goals for our second, and taking care of a few administrative tasks, including electing a new Board of Directors. If you meet PCYC membership criteria and are over 18, you are eligible to run for a spot on the board. Please email Nick Troiano (director@pikeyouth.org) to add your name to the ballot.

Several members from the Pike County Library Board of Directors will be making a presentation to members and soliciting feedback on the library system and the proposed new branch in Milford. Other guests have been invited, so please check back for updates.

If you would like to add any issue or idea to the agenda, please free to email.

If you are a current member, you will have an opportunity to pay dues for 2009-2010, and if you are looking to become involved, you can sign up. For those who cannot attend, minutes will be sent out shortly after the meeting along with a link to pay dues online.

We will be sending out more details closer to the meeting, but please RSVP at your earliest convenience through Facebook or email.

Update: The PCYC will be uploading full video coverage of last week's Meet the Candidates for DV School Board event by Thursday of this week. This has been delayed due to some technical difficulties. Please check back then, thank you.