The St. Croix Foundation Youth Advisory Council (YAC) has announced the soft launch of their new project entitled the Global Youth Network (GYN). Using a social media format, the GYN Web site (www.yacstx.org) catalogs interviews with local professionals, and showcases local and international youth leadership groups that are positively impacting their communities.
The initiative addresses concerns brought up by students as a part of the council’s 2012 Answers for Change Survey. The survey revealed that many youth identified an absence of meaningful adult mentors in their lives as well as a lack of exposure to post-secondary high school options.
The Career Catalyst Portal on the Web site consists of videos of recorded interviews, which include prominent local professionals such as psychologists, lawyers, a pilot and a chiropractor. The online career-catalyst segment showcases successful professionals in the territory and affords viewers an opportunity to learn more about the profession and gain access to those professionals in real time through e-mail. It also highlights their path and the motivation that led them to their respective field of studies.
Visitors to the site can view interviews already posted and are invited to leave a comment about other professions they would like to see added to the library. Iris Battiste, a member of YAC for two years, said, “The GYN will ignite a fire of hope in youths throughout the territory while ensuring that they are aware of the endless opportunities available to them with respect to their choice of study.”
The GYN also incorporates a leadership portal, featuring local and international youth-based organizations. These youth-oriented and led organizations make a monumental impact in their communities.
Visitors to YAC’s Web site can learn more about how youth groups around the globe are creating the change they want to see in their communities and how St. Croix’s youth can work for positive change in the Virgin Islands.
Shideya Parilla, a first-year YAC member, is enthusiastic about the opportunities the leadership portal can provide her peers. “It is important that we take these tools given to us through YAC and share them with others. Progress is not achieved through the success of one person but rather through that of many.”
To support the efforts of their peers in creating positive change, YAC will also be launching the second grant cycle for youth-based and youth-led organizations on the island. The maximum grant award is $500, and grant applications can be downloaded from the Youth Advisory Council Web Site. Eligible organizations must be based on St. Croix; grant applications must be submitted by May 31.
YAC members publicly thank those career catalysts who have volunteered their time to be interviewed. The YAC members could not have done this project without their support. Professionals in the community who are interested in becoming a career catalyst are invited to contact YAC at [email protected] or visit the Web site at www.yacstx.org.