How About Just Vote Youth, Vote

           Every 4 years, it seems to be a new voter slogan comes out to entice young voters to vote.  We’ve come from “Rocking the Vote” to “Vote or Die” to “Yes We Can!” to “Shut Up & Vote”.  However with each voter slogan comes opportunist’s willing to gain a profit because of good old capitalism.  Now I’m all for capitalism and for making a profit but what affect if any has any of these movements had on youth voting outside of the Yes We Can! 2008 was a rare occasion not expected to repeat itself this year because many millennium voters have become discouraged over the past 4 years due to what they see as a lack of change or progress.

           Thus the real question is why youth voters just can’t tell each other to vote because elders marched, fought and dead just for us to have a right to vote.  Why can’t youth voters just tell each other to vote because it’s the cool thing to do, it’s the new "it" trend, and it will be all anyway talks about on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and any other social network site on Tuesday, November 6, 2012?  We don't need anyone  to tell us to rock a vote when the vote won’t be rocked in no shape or form unless every single American in this nation actually votes in an election.  Simply having youth vote more won’t rock the vote but it will tip the scale of balance from more attention being paid to the elderly and middle classes to perhaps the millennium voter in future elections.

           When P.Diddy or Diddy, whatever he goes by today launched the whole “Vote or Die” campaign in 2004, it was cool, trendy and thought provoking.  Many youth across America sported the shirts and others who didn’t sport the original sported knockoffs.  Nonetheless, the message on the shirt at the time was never questioned.  However I’m going to question it because actual people actually dead trying to vote when they weren’t allowed to vote but in 2004 was that the case.  Nobody’s life was in danger in 2004 by casting a vote, in fact, no one would die by simply voting at the time of the slogan debut.  Still 8 years later and Diddy still a millionaire with a trademark on “Vote or Die”, has not been actively involved in the political process the last 8 years whatsoever.  In fact, more “Vote or Die” t-shirts are being sold yet alone the slogan is not even been mentioned until I just brought it up.

           We all know what happened in 2008 where there was a spike in the millennium voting with the “Yes We Can!” slogan.  I don’t have the actual statistics but last I checked at The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE)—http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/FactSheets/FS_08_exit_polls.pdf—estimated that youth voter turnout rose to between 52 and 53 percent, an increase of four to five percentage points over CIRCLE’s estimate based on the 2004 exit polls.  However 2004 was considered a large turnout for youth compared to 1996 and 2000.  However the 52-53% is almost identical to that of 1992.  Even further research shows just how much the youth vote changed in 2008:http://www.civicyouth.org/quick-facts/youth-voting/.

           As we approach the 2012 election season and I look on my twitter feed and see Shut Up and Vote, I have to question does that mean if you don’t vote you have to shut up or just vote and shut up.  Either way I have to question, does that mean everyone who was eligible to vote in previous mayoral elections, state elections and so on have to shut up since they didn’t vote in 2011, 2010, or 2009 since they have been eligible to vote.  How does telling someone to shut up and vote encourage anyone to vote when voting is about exercising a right and it is a freedom of expression?  Therefore if we truly believe in the voting process than we couldn’t want to be disrespectful by telling people with different opinions than us to shut up and vote especially if you want that person to vote for the candidate you like. I’m just saying.  Nonetheless while the slogan looks good on a t-shirt, it doesn’t push the needle to get youth to vote.

           If we truly want the youth to vote than why not have a discussion with all your friends and you all encourage each other to not only register to vote but to vote not in just this election but every election.  If people are serious about voting and not just selling slogans on t-shirts what about telling people to vote and they will get a free t-shirt at certain polling stations.  If people are serious about getting the youth vote out than what about have a party on college campuses or at clubs near universities and colleges that offer discounts to those sporting I voted stickers or if you have the sticker stub from your ballot.

           The truth is youth have voted in a decent amount in Presidential elections since 1972 (40% or above) and at almost the same rate of (20% or above) in every midterm election since 1974—http://www.civicyouth.org/youth-turnout-about-20-comparable-to-recent-midterm-years/.  So why do the news media and everyone like to make it seem that we as youth aren’t voting.  While the truth is, those of us between 18-29 years of age, make up one of the largest voting blocs yet we are not one of the most sought after votes because we don’t vote consistently in every election.  If we as youth voted more constantly and could be depended on to vote in every election from mayoral, county, state legislature, U.S. Congressional and Senate races as well as Presidential and ballot proposals than perhaps more ads will be geared toward us similar to how campaigns gear campaign ads toward the elderly in Florida or Hispanics in Texas, Florida, New Mexico, etc.

           So until we as youth reach that point of just vote, we need to stop with the gimmicks on t-shirts as if they are actually going to persuade someone to vote.  Simply having the discussion of voting in one’s vocabulary is the first step to getting the vote out.  Just tell people to vote but not who to vote for.

President Obama: It Gets Better

As part of the It Gets Better Project, President Obama shares his message of hope and support for LGBT youth who are struggling with being bullied.

We must stop the bullying that takes place in school and out of school that leads to so many innocent youthful lives being lost. We must stand up to bullying by any kind because it i not justified.

Presidnet Barack Obama Conference Call with Student-Journalists

President Obama takes questions from college and university student-journalists in a conference call about efforts to make college more affordable, expand financial aid, improve access to health insurance and create jobs for new graduates. September 27, 2010.

This should be an ongoing thing that the President does with student newspapers instead of just doing it close to the midterm elections in order to get votes for Democrats in November.

Education Reform

Education Reform is critical to the future of America and to the future of winning this war on our youth.

The President's Back to School Speech

President Obama gives his second annual back to school speech at the Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia, PA, telling students that while government would do its part to help provide access to a quality education, students still needed to take individual responsibility for their future.

The War on Our Youth: ACT Scores Show Small Progress & Decline

This year's ACT score data shows that the national composite average has dropped from 21.1 in 2009 to 21 in 2010. However the data does show that 24 percent of ACT-tested students met or surpassed all four of the test's benchmarks measuring their preparedness for college English, reading, math and science. That is up from 23 percent last year and 21 percent in 2006. Therefore to a degree, more students are college ready than last year but the numbers are still not enough.


I know some people will say that is that really progress and to a degree I must say it really is not since more than 76 percent of ACT-tested student didn't meet or surpass all four of the test's benchmarks. So America's colleges and universities will see majority of their freshmen classes coming in needing to take one or two remedial classes. Therefore if we as Americans look closer at the data, we find that we have a lot of work to do in regards to preparing our students for college and the ACT test.


That's why as we discuss how we improve our nation's educational institutions, we need to first look at how we are teaching our students and preparing our students to take the ACT because that should be the national standardized test in our nation. The ACT is the only test that should matter because it tells us if our nation's high school graduates are truly prepared for college. So if our nation is to do better in educating our youth than we must start by retaking how our students learn and how we test them when state standardized tests are nothing like the ACT test which they should be.


For now though, we must continue to try to win this major battle on our youth once and for all so we can win the war.

Winning the War on Our Youth!

The War on Our Youth--Education: The Economic Issue of Our Time

President Obama speaks about the link between higher education and economic prosperity and calls on the United States to lead the world in the percentage of college graduates in remarks at the University of Texas. August 9, 2010.

President Obama is right, education is the biggest economic and social issue of our time. If we don't deal with it properly than generations of more Americans will be left behind. That's why I am fighting now to overhaul education and the test base system that was created by "No Child Left Behind." Such a system has caused us to lose yet another generation of youth and we can't continue to go down that path. However we can't simply blame teachers and teachers unions for the way our kids are being educated. The fact of the matter is that there is no one group of people who we can blame as the scapegoats for our failing education system. Parents, teachers, administrators, lawmakers, the community and most importantly students are to blame for the lack of education that our kids has been receiving over the decades. In fact whenever I talk to youth, I tell them that if you don't expect more for your selves than how can you expect someone else to expect more for you. So the real scapegoat to the educational woes we face is no other than us as America.

My Perspective: The War on Our Youth: Rise in Teen Pregnancy

It seems that our youth today have many issues that plague them but certain issues keep rearing its ugly head especially with data showing that the teen pregnancy rate is up after a 10-year decline. The U.S. teen pregnancy rate rose in 2006 for the first time in more than a decade, reversing a long slide, a U.S. think tank reported on Tuesday. The overall teen pregnancy rate was up 3 percent in 2006, with a 4 percent rise in the rate of births and a 1 percent rise in the rate of abortions, according to the report by the Guttmacher Institute.

The United States has higher rates of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion than in other Western industrialized countries. This is truly alarming and something that needs to be deal with. There were 71 pregnancies per 1,000 U.S. girls aged 15-19. In 2006, 7 percent of all teenage girls got pregnant, according to the report. While fewer black teenage girls got pregnant, closing a gap with Hispanic teens. But rates among both groups were still significantly higher than for white teens, the report said, and rates went up for all ethnic groups.

I understand that some people might say this is 2010 and why are we looking at data from 2006 but when it comes to data, it lags behind the years so this data is the latest data to count on until the data of 2007, 2008 and even 2009 becomes available. So it is important to look at this data and understand that perhaps all the talk about teen pregnancy going down is over and we are in a new era of fighting this like never before. I remember in 2008 when my father told me a young at his school had told him that nearly 100 or more girls in the 9th grade class are pregnant and this was before the Fall/Winter semester had ended. Nonetheless this is what we are dealing and this data shows that we must fight against to rise in teen pregnancy.

"We're not quite sure yet whether this is just a blip or whether it's the beginning of a longer upward trend," Larry Finer, Guttmacher's director for domestic research, said in a telephone interview. "It's interesting to note that this flattening out of the rate and the increase in the rate is happening at the same time that we've seen substantial increases in funding for abstinence-only programs," Finer said. "We do know that when we saw the big decline in the '90s, that a lot of that decline was due to improved contraceptive use among teens."

Regardless if the data is isolated or not, the fact that teen pregnancy climbed in 2006 showed be taken serious because the abstinence-only programs, backed by many social conservatives who oppose the teaching of contraception methods to teenagers in U.S. schools, received about $1.3 billion in federal funds since the late 1990s but they are not as effective on its own. As I have stated before, we need to teach real sex education that encourages abstinence as the best result to fight offer HIV, AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) as well as to prevent pregnancy because if you are not having sex than you can’t get pregnant and if you are not indulging in any sexual activities of any kind than you can’t get a disease. However for those who do engage in it need to know that they need to protect themselves with birth control and condoms (men and women).

The Obama administration's 2010 budget eliminated spending for abstinence-only, shifting funds to pregnancy prevention education that include abstinence along with "medically accurate and age-appropriate" information. This is the step in the right direction but it is not enough because it is how we teach, where we teach and how we get personal with it that we will fight the rise in teen pregnancy. Our youth need us to know that we care if they get pregnant and we care if they indulge in sexual activities. So as a collective community we all have a responsibility to raise our youth so that teenage pregnancy doesn’t continue to rise. It is not just up to parents to teach our youth about the dangers and pitfalls of teenage pregnancy and how harder having a child while you are a teen can be than when you wait because it’s not as rosy as some teens think it is. Now is the time to win this battle and both liberals and conservatives should work together on this to win this battle so that we can win the war on our youth once and for all.

SAVE OUR YOUTH!

My Perspective: The War on Our Youth—No Excuses

Many of our youth today don’t know who Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. yet alone anything about the civil rights movement or about the holocaust. In fact many of our youth today, don’t know who their current politicians are yet alone who was the President of the United States of America during World War I or II yet alone who the President was during the Civil War. Therefore some might say it is not our youth fault they don’t know this, it is those who teach this to them that is at fault or it is the parents fault. However in the age of technological advances only dreamed about, it is time to stop making excuses for our youth.

Our youth today have more at their fingers than any other generation in history and the technology to do search will only get better and more advanced each passing day and year. Before there was internet and Google, previous generations had to use library catalogs to research people, places and things. However thanks to the internet, the youth today are capable to use their cell phones if they have the internet on them to research anything they feel like from a song lyric to the latest news topics to who Madam C.J. Walker was or who Princess Diana was.

So it amazes me how with all these technological advances and how our youth have it so easy to research things that people still find a way to make excuse for why our youth today don’t know basic historical facts or figures. Still what amazes me besides the excuses that are given for why our youth today don’t know is the fact that when you ask our youth to rap Lil’ Wayne’s latest rap lyric or sing Beyonce’s latest song, they are able to do it so quickly that you would have thought the song was played.

It is stop for us as a people to stop making excuses for our youth. Our youth today are capable of knowing history and knowing historical figures but they choose to spend their time on Facebook chatting with friends that they just saw earlier in the day or they choose to look up music and song lyrics as well as go to gossip sites to see what is the latest news on their favorite celebrities or celebrities they don’t like. Our youth today can know these things and much more if they would just devote more time to educating themselves on history and historical figures that have shaped history. However our youth today choose not to.

At the same time, perhaps we can blame the parents of the youth or the educators who are responsible for teaching them as well as motivating them to pursue more knowledge but the truth of the matter is that our youth have to want to obtain and seek certain knowledge on their own. Now I understand that our youth perhaps don’t know about these historical things or a historical figure which is why they are not stimulated or motivated enough to pursue to do research on their own unless it is for a grade for class. Even with that logical, we are still accepting mediocrity for our youth and are telling our youth that it is okay for them to not seek knowledge on their own.

I refuse to make that argument and I refuse for anyone to continue to make excuses for our youth not knowing certain facts about not just America’s history but their own cultural and ethnic history. Youth today need to want to obtain knowledge on their own and they need to motivate themselves to want to know more than just present history because those who don’t know their past or where they came from are bound to repeat the past or are in trouble of being lost in the future. Thus if we are to win this war on our youth, we have to win this battle of making excuses for why our youth don’t know. It is 2010, a new year and a new decade, thus it is time for us to stop finding excuses for why our youth don’t know and start figuring our reasons why they should know.

Our youth today should know and must know if they are to lead us to greater heights in the future but they can’t do that if we continue to make excuses for them while not acknowledging that they have it a whole lot easier to research things than any other generation. Just time about it, today youth can read books on the internet or on their phone through a service called e-books. Thus it is inexcusable for why our youth don’t know certain things but know rap lyrics, sports statistics of current athletes, and what their favorite celebrity likes to eat as well as wear but they can’t tell you who Abraham Lincoln is, what the Voting Rights Act was, or what is the Bill of Rights for this nation.

No excuses people, our youth should know and must know their history just as much as they know all this pointless non-sense about quote unquote celebrities. If we win this battle of not making excuses for why our youth can afford to pay for prom but can’t afford to pay a college application fee of $25 than we will win this war on our youth. We can’t continue to make excuses for our youth; the day of excuses is over. Like the students at Morehouse College said after Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States of America, no more excuses. Well I am telling all those who are involved in this war on our youth that there are no more excuses for why our youth can’t succeed or why they don’t know.

No more excuses for why we can’t can this battle and every other battle dealing with our youth so that we can finally win this war. No excuses for why we can’t put this war on our youth to rest this decade. I won’t accept any excuses and I hope all of you will stand with me and help me win this war once and for all so future generations of youth have no reason for why they can’t succeed because the war on our youth will be over this decade once and for all.

Save Our Youth!

The War on Our Youth—Preserving SCHIP in the Healthcare Reform Battle

As the healthcare reform debate continues in Congress, it seems as if the SCHIP program that is aimed at giving healthcare for children is uncertain in the future. Democratic Congressional leaders are working to merge the House and Senate versions of major health care legislation, a big question is what they will do about the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which now provides coverage to more than nine million children and pregnant women and is expected to cover more than 14 million by 2013. The Senate bill would preserve the program, known as CHIP, and would extend federal financing through 2015, two years past its expiration date under current law. Two Democrats, Senators John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, fought hard to protect CHIP in the bill.

The House bill, by contrast, would end CHIP and redirect the millions of children either to Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for the poor, or to new health insurance exchanges where moderate-income Americans would be able to buy private coverage using new federal subsidies to help offset the cost. Unlike many of the issues facing Senate and House negotiators, the question of what to do with CHIP is not just a cerebral policy point. In recent years, states have made huge strides in covering children, particularly those in low- and moderate-income families, and experts say those gains could be put at risk.

“Attention must be paid to the possibility that some children who lose CHIP coverage could fall through the cracks and become uninsured,” Genevieve M. Kenney and Allison Cook wrote last month in a brief prepared for the Urban Institute, the Washington research group. Some House Democrats, including Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and a lead author of the health care legislation, have said it is difficult to defend a stand-alone government insurance program for children once subsidies are available for entire families.

But many children’s health advocates cite numerous risks. Simply shifting children from one program to another could result in some losing coverage, even on a temporary basis. And there is a chance that parents, even with new subsidies, will find coverage unaffordable and choose not to buy it for themselves or their children, despite a new mandate in both bills that nearly everyone obtain coverage. Then there are more complicated situations, like those of children whose parents have mixed immigrant status. Under both the Senate and House bills, illegal immigrants would not be eligible for the insurance subsidies.

Some experts project that as many as 14 percent of children with health care through government programs come from such families. And while the bills would provide for the creation of child-only insurance policies, it is unclear how those policies would work and whether children would face difficulties obtaining coverage that way. The bills also seek to push people with access to employer-sponsored health insurance to buy it, allowing exemptions only for families for whom such coverage would be extremely expensive. Many low-income workers already choose to enroll their children in CHIP because private coverage is too costly.

“The country has made remarkable progress in covering kids in recent years because of the success of CHIP and its companion program, Medicaid,” said Jocelyn A. Guyer, co-executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. “It would be a major problem if health reform undercut these gains by shutting CHIP down too abruptly or by moving kids into coverage that isn’t as affordable and as well-designed to get them the care they need to develop and grow.”

In an effort to tilt the debate in favor of maintaining CHIP as a stand-alone program, Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. Casey prevailed upon the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, to include two more years of federal financing — through 2015 — which would serve as a bridge beyond the creation of insurance exchanges, where people would be able to buy subsidized private coverage. Under the Senate bill, state-based exchanges would begin in 2014. The House bill calls for a national insurance exchange to begin in 2013.

Tied directly to the question of CHIP’s future is the proposed expansion of Medicaid, to include many more low-income Americans, particularly childless adults. Medicaid would grow under both measures, with eligibility expanded to individuals and families earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (currently about $29,327) under the Senate bill, and up to 150 percent of the poverty level ($33,075) under the House bill.

States have generally expressed apprehension about the proposed Medicaid expansion, because they would eventually share in the cost of covering new enrollees. Medicaid generally provides more comprehensive coverage than CHIP, but potentially offers fewer choices of doctors and other health providers because of Medicaid’s low payment rates. States currently must provide Medicaid coverage to all children through age 5, from families earning up to 133 percent of the poverty level, and to children ages 6 to 18 with family income up to 100 percent of the poverty level.

The House bill, in addition to more broadly expanding Medicaid eligibility, would also increase payment rates for primary care physicians — a step that many health advocates say is needed to improve access to providers for children and adults. The Senate bill does not increase Medicaid payment rates. In a statement after the Senate adopted its health care bill on Dec. 24, Dr. Irwin Redlener, president of the Children’s Health Fund, a New York-based advocacy group, praised the keeping of CHIP, but criticized the Senate bill for not lifting Medicaid payment rates. “Unfortunately, the Senate bill fails to improve reimbursement rates for Medicaid providers and omits a provision to automatically enroll otherwise uninsured infants, both of which were in the House bill,” Dr. Redlener said.

Mr. Rockefeller, in an interview just before the Senate adopted its bill, said that he was prepared to battle against his colleagues in the House to preserve CHIP in the final health care legislation. “I am not going to drop kids,” he said. But Mr. Rockefeller also said he was optimistic that House Democratic leaders, however reluctant, would make the adjustments needed to get the final legislation through the Senate, where Democrats cannot afford to lose a single vote. “The House doesn’t like the Senate, anyway,” he said. “I don’t blame them.”

So the war on our youth is in the healthcare reform legislation because there is a possibility that many children who are currently covered by SCHIP could slip through the cracks if SCHIP is taken away as the House bill wants to do. Therefore we must advocate against SCHIP being removed because it is essential to the healthcare battle on our youth and it critical to winning this war on our youth.

The War on Our Youth: Rising Teen HIV rate

A new decade for our youth only means more problems our youth have to face, some known and some unknown. Outside of dealing with education issues and violence, our youth have many health issues to combat that stem from not only from the previous decade but decades prior. Still if we as Americans are going to win this war on our youth once and for all this decade we must all work together like never before. For instance, while the youth in Chicago are continuing to be plagued by violence and the youth in Detroit have educational issues to mainly worry about it, it is clear that health issues throughout this nation will perhaps be one of the major hurdles our youth face this decade.

While reading an article in the Michigan Citizen last week, I saw a headline titled “Rising teen HIV rate prompts concern.” While the article only spoke of the HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, rate amongst black teens in the state of the Michigan. The truth is that this issue is something that all Americans should be concerned about especially since our youth today are having sex like never before in our nation’s history. Still depending on who you are, the major problem isn’t that teens are having unmarital sex but the real issue is that they are having unprotected sex on top of having unmarital sex.

Since I can only speak of my home state of Michigan and the problems we face in terms of dealing with 85% of new cases being among black teens. It is very alarming for the African American community to see that 85% of new cases are black teens but whenever there is a problem in the black community, it seems to hit black males even harder. 62% of new cases are among African American males who had sex with other males accords to the Department of Community Health which released a report for World AIDS Day, saying the rate of new cases among 13-to-19 years old in Michigan more than doubled between 2003 and 2007.

Still Michigan is following the national trend of increasing HIV diagnoses among teens. This is why this type of news is not just a problem or Michigan but it is a problem that all of us in America must deal with this decade once and for all. Since HIV and AIDS were introduced to the world, it seems as if it has been on the increase in American especially amongst the African American community more so than any other community. Now this doesn’t mean there is some conspiracy or something but the truth is that like the unemployment rate disparity in this nation, their also exists a health disparity but better than that, there exists a communication within the African American community.

Just think about when Earvin “Magic” Johnson came out in the early 1990s and said he had the HIV virus, many in the African American community didn’t know how he contracted it yet alone what it actually was. Now nearly 20 years later, when you look at the African American community and the fact that the teen HIV rate has doubled than it is clear that many African Americans are not speaking about the HIV and AIDS issue as they should be. However this doesn’t mean that we as a nation can’t combat this trend because the truth is if our youth is our future than we must deal with the rising teen HIV rate now rather than later.

The abstinence only programs of the Bush administration did not prevent teens from having sex and didn’t put a dent in the teenage pregnancy rate, so learning from that, we as nation must now not only talk about waiting for sex but we must stress the importance protection to our youth who indulge in it. Now more than ever we have to educate our youth about not only HIV and AIDS but all STDs but this must be a community driven effort that starts in the home and school but is talked about in the barbershop, beauty salon grocery store, gas station and the church. Education and community awareness have to be ongoing and renewed with every new generation of youth if we are to decrease the rising teen HIV rate.

So if we are to win this war on our youth, we have deal with not just educational problems and violence but we must deal with health issues such as the rising HIV rate. We must deal with it starting today by talking to our youth about using protection especially if they indulge in sexual activities. While some might say, we should tell our youth not to have sex: point, blank, period. Simply telling them not to have sex is not good enough because our youth today are starting to indulge in sexual activities at a younger age just about every year on average. While 20 years ago, the average age for when a teenager had sex probably was 15 or 16, today it is not even in teen years, the average is more so 11 or 12 according to many surveys.

Thus, if we are to fight the rising teen HIV rate not only in Michigan but as a nation, we must start discussing the dangers of sexual activities and the importance of either waiting to make mature decisions or at least using protection if partaking in the activities. In fact, we should even stress to our youth to consult with their parents before partaking in sexual activities but this line should be coming from parents and guardians. Nonetheless we are all responsible for trying to put a dent in the rising teen HIV rate because it takes a village to raise a child and it is time we all start doing our part to raise our children of the village properly.

The War on Our Youth—Voting

I have spoken about the violence against our youth, the need to reform how we educate our youth and I have even spoken to the fact that parental responsibility needs to be addressed as well as applied properly. However no matter how we deal with those issues, one thing that continues to plague our youth and why so many of these issues are never going to get addressed unless our youth take a more active role in politics especially in the voting aspect if they are eligible to vote.

Last year’s 2008 Presidential election made youth come out in larger numbers than ever before especially during the primary season and even during last November’s General election. However on Tuesday, November 4, 2009, many youth across the nation decided to sit out important elections that will play a critical role in many youth issues. In fact some youth decided not to vote because they didn’t feel connected. It makes me angry to hear some of these lame excuses after seeing so many youth break their necks to argue with friends about last year’s Presidential race but so few of these same youth during an off year election took the time to engage their friends by telling them to go vote this year.

Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something." But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about. "The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said.

Many of the young, first-time voters who propelled Obama to the presidency stayed home this year, a glaring absence that helped Republicans win governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey. More than 3 million voters who cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election — many of them minorities — failed to show up at the polls in either state. Obama carried Virginia with 52 percent of the vote last year, but only 43 percent of voters surveyed in Associated Press exit polls Tuesday said they had voted for him.

So the reality is that, young people are waiting for candidates to appeal to them but we as young people are more of an unreliable vote than a reliable vote. If we as young people want to feel welcomed or want candidates to reach out to us than we have to appeal to candidates. No matter what race is on the ballot, each election is about the past, present and future and if young people would show up to vote than more elections will be about the future than the past. One of the major reasons why President Obama was so successful in winning the Presidential election last November is because his election made a calculated decision way back in 2007 to go after the youth vote because the traditional Democratic vote was leaning toward Hillary but the youth vote was up for grabs.

That calculated decision paid off but during off year elections such as 2009 and 2010, such calculated decisions have not shown to pay off and time is everything, which is why if youth are waiting for candidates to come after them so aggressively than they can keep waiting. The reality is youth need to find their own sense of belonging in political races. Youth need to figure out where candidates who are running for school board, city council, county commissioners, Mayor, State Senate, State Representative, Governor, U.S. Senate or U.S. Congress stand on youth issues such as education, public safety, after school programs, healthcare, etc. There are so many things that youth need to be concerned about and need to find out when making a vote such taxes especially property taxes since many youth plan to buy homes eventually. It is time for us as youth to stop making excuses for why we didn’t vote and start voting because if we don’t vote than we could continue to see many of the issues that directly as well as indirectly affect us to not get addressed.

Youth know that people dead just so they can have the right to vote, however so few of us take advantage of it. Still youth are not eligible to vote can still play a major role in the political process by encouraging their parents, relatives, and friends who are old enough to vote to vote or to vote for the candidate that appeals to them. It is time for youth to be consistent in how we vote but this starts with us showing up in the 2010 midterm election primaries and general election. No longer can we think that we as youth have did something by just voting in President elections just because that’s when it seems as if the media and other organizations try to appeal to our vote. Imagine how if we as youth voted in large numbers in non-Presidential elections and how we could impact the outcome those elections more so than senior citizens who right now decided non-Presidential elections than any other age group but not more than independent voters.

The youth vote today is more valuable than ever and if we as youth don’t wake up and realize just how important our vote is then no matter what happens in D.C. or in the White House, we as youth can continue to see many problems plaguing us as we do now because we failed to change the policies of local and state politics that plague this war on our youth. All politics are local and that is why until we as youth actively engage our local politics as we did with the national political scene than we will forever see many of the problems affecting us to continue.

It is when the people lead that our leaders will follow but right now, no political leaders on the local or state level in many instances are following us as youth because we are too busy either following them or we are too busy ignoring local elections while paying too much attention to the nation scene. We as young people know we can multi-task because for too many of us, we text on our phone, drive, and eat all at the same time. Then for some of us, we are on our computer, our phone and we are in class trying to pay attention all at the same time. Time and time again, we have multi-tasked on various things but when it comes to multi-tasking on politics by paying attention to local, state and national politics all at the same time, we act as if it is so hard. However we as young people multi-task sports games by watching basketball—NBA and college at the same time as well as football—NFL and college along with other sports. Then for female youth, you all keep up with the latest fashions, your soaps, and all the reality T.V. shows as well as shows like American Idol, America’s Top Model and Dancing with the Stars.

Thus it is clear that until us as youth vote and vote consistently than we will continue to see youth violence to increase, how to educate our youth to be a problem, and a host of other youth issues put on the backburner. Or at worse, bad political policies implemented i.e. “No Child Left Behind” which in turn created a system of teaching our youth to take tests rather than a system that educates them. If we are youth vote than we can control what type of political policies are being implemented on behalf of future generations of youth. When we as youth vote and vote consistently than we can control not only local or state politics but national politics as well. Now is the time for us to win this war on our youth but we can’t do it from those who are 18-24 or even those 18-35 don’t get out and vote for candidates and for issues that are will improve the future rather than allowing the status quo to continue to hold power year in and year out. It is time that we as youth start showing how powerful we are not by simply marching, protesting and complaining but by voting every year than marching, protesting and offering solutions to the problems that exist. This is our time to finally do that and I believe that what happened last Tuesday was simply a matter of us as youth not realizing why local elections are just as important as Presidential elections.

Voting is yet another key to winning this war on our youth and I believe that we can win a few battles that can lead to winning the war by voting for candidates that will address many of the issues that plague our youth. Still voting is just one component but politics alone will not address or solve all the problems plaguing our youth but creating policies aimed at addressing some of the issues plaguing our youth can help in winning this war. So vote must vote no matter what.

SAVE OUR YOUTH!

The War on Our Youth: More Youth are Going to College

As I continue to highlight the issues both good and bad about our youth, it seems as if college enrollment is up mostly at 2 year schools. This is a good sign for our youth, I would say, wouldn’t you. Some are there because of the recession, and others despite it. Regardless, more young Americans than ever are in college — especially community college, according to a new report. A record high of about 11.5 million Americans age 18 to 24, or nearly 40 percent, attended college in October 2008, according to a study of Census data released last week by the Pew Research Center. Virtually all the increase of 300,000 students over the previous year came at two-year schools, while attendance at four-year schools remained flat.

Community colleges almost certainly saw attendance go up at least that much again this year, though final figures are not yet available. The American Association of Community Colleges reports growth rates of 10 percent and higher have been common this fall on many campuses. Overall college attendance has been going up for about 30 years; what's new is the sharp uptick at community colleges, driven in large part by recessionary bargain hunting and closer ties between two- and four-year colleges that give students more confidence they'll be able to transfer. "It's not just middle-aged people coming back to school and very poor people any more," said Mike Grace, 24, a student at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, N.C., who plans to transfer to nearby North Carolina State next spring. "I'm seeing what I would consider to be relatively rich kids coming to school."

As a broader range of traditional-age college students choose a community college, "it doesn't have the stigma it once did," Grace said. Last year, nearly 12 percent of all 18- to 24-year-olds, or 3.4 million, were enrolled in community colleges, up from 10.9 percent the year before. The relative economic advantages of at least starting a degree at a community college have widened as prices at four-year colleges have shot up much faster. Average tuition and fees at public two-year colleges ran just $2,372 this year, according to a study released last week by the College Board, compared to $7,020 at public four-year colleges and more than $26,000 at private ones. Once government grants and other aid are factored in, community colleges are essentially tuition-free to the average student, though living expenses and books remain.

"People have less money," said Hope Davis, a spokeswoman for the Community College of Baltimore County in Maryland, where enrollment is up about 14 percent this year. "If you can go to community college and pay $2,500 instead of $25,000 and get your general education credits out of the way and then transfer, it makes more sense.” For Grace, Wake Tech is about one-third the price of a public four-year college. By saving money up front, he hopes to stretch out his Montgomery GI Bill benefits long enough to cover a master's degree, too. Wake's enrollment is up 11 percent this year, on top of a 14 percent increase in 2008. Classes are crowded, but rigorous. Grace thinks some are harder than at N.C. State because the community college is determined that its graduates succeed after they transfer. Grace's sister tried to persuade him he'd be missing out on dorm life and other experiences at a commuter college, but he disagreed. "I've lived in barracks before," said the Afghanistan veteran. "I don't want to party my way through school. I just want to go through school and get my degree.”

Richard Fry, the report's author, said another factor behind community college growth is the steadily increasing proportion of young adults who have completed high school, which hit a record high of nearly 85 percent last October. That means more students are eligible to pursue higher education, but most of the growth is coming from students whose academic qualifications make them more likely to start at two-year school. While it's good news more students are enrolled in college, the Census figures say nothing about whether overcrowded two-year institutions will succeed in getting students the credentials they seek or helping them transfer to bachelor's degree programs.

Many are bursting at the seams, cutting some courses to meet budgets and holding others late at night. It's impossible to say how many have been turned away for lack of space (California estimates about 200,000 in that state alone). Baltimore County colleges have turned student lounges into classrooms and asked students to take classes during more unpopular time slots — early mornings and Friday nights, for instance. At least one college, Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, is holding some classes between midnight and 2:30 a.m.

President Barack Obama has made community colleges the centerpiece of his goal for every American to have at least some higher education credential by 2020, and earlier this year proposed spending $12 billion over the next decade to help community colleges graduate an additional 5 million people. The House responded last month by passing a student aid bill that included about $10 billion in initiatives directly focused on community colleges. The Senate has not yet taken up the proposal.

Still some question if President Obama’s proposal for community colleges is enough. Arthur Call commutes three hours roundtrip to his anatomy class at community college because similar courses on campuses closer to his Indianapolis home are packed this semester. “Classes around the state were just full,” says Call, a full-time student who takes the rest of his classes in Indianapolis. “Thank God it’s only Tuesdays. I just have to drive there once a week.” President Barack Obama wants to invest some $12 billion in community colleges with the aim of seeing an additional 5 million students graduate by 2020. This goal comes while many schools are already bursting at the seams with droves of displaced workers hit by the recession competing with traditional students seeking an education bargain.

“All community colleges are not prepared to take on those potentially large numbers of students,” said Debra Bragg, a professor and director of the Forum on the Future of Public Education at the University of Illinois. The Obama administration notes that 5 million more community college graduates doesn’t necessarily mean there will be that many more students — schools could increase graduation rates to reach the goal. And the administration says money from the 10-year initiative to rebuild aging facilities and establish online classes would help schools handle the extra students.

Bragg says the schools’ ability to deal with more students largely comes down to cash. Much of the money for the nation’s 1,200 community colleges comes from local and state sources. That funding has been hard to come by during the economic downturn, even as enrollment booms. In California, community colleges are struggling to cope with $840 million in budget cuts while enrollment is expected to climb. Obama’s 10-year initiative would provide a welcome infusion of cash, but some fear it would not sustain community college programs. “They will be constrained by funding,” says Bragg. “It could be potentially extremely challenging if there’s not increased funding at the federal, state and local level to make that happen.”

The conundrum comes at a time of intense growth for the more than century-old community college system, which already educates more than half the nation’s undergraduates. And more young Americans than ever are going to college, particularly community college. A record high of about 11.5 million Americans age 18 to 24, or nearly 40%, attended college in October 2008, according to a study of Census data recently released by the Pew Research Center. Almost all of the increase of 300,000 students over the previous year came at two-year schools.
About 12% of 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in community colleges last year, up from 10.9% in 2007. Enrollment numbers are not yet available for the fall 2009 semester, but the American Association of Community Colleges estimates enrollment is up at least 10% over 2008. Some schools have reported increases of 25% to 30%.

Michael Hansen, president of the Michigan Community College Association, says classes in popular fields such as nursing require low student-to-faculty ratios and expensive equipment. He is concerned it will be difficult to meet new demand without yet more funding. “It’s a little bit of a bittersweet pill,” Hansen said. “It’s great that people are coming back to community colleges to get trained, but a student only brings about a third of the cost of their tuition.” Ivy Tech Community College President Thomas Snyder says his school can handle more growth in part by finding savings internally and relying on philanthropic and community donations. The school will not expand too much and find itself with empty classrooms if an economic turnaround slows future enrollment. “We’re cautious in making sure that we don’t make expenditures on staffing, for example, or other critical areas that we can’t sustain,” Snyder says.

While officials wait to see whether Obama’s plan will become reality, community colleges are turning to creative — though not always convenient — ways to cope with already large crowds. Bunker Hill Community College in Massachusetts holds graveyard shift classes that end at 2:30 a.m., while the Community College of Baltimore County in Maryland has converted a student lounge and locker room space into classrooms. Parking shuttles and weekend classes are popping up across the country. Call, the commuter, could not squeeze into the anatomy class in Indianapolis but was happy to get in at Peru, about 70 miles north of the city. The Army veteran is trying to get his grades up before deciding whether to switch to a pricier four-year school or stay at Ivy Tech. “I have to take that class,” says Call, who passes the time on the road listening to music. “It’s definitely worth it.”

Thus with more youth going to college, now is the time to look to prepare our youth for the future by making sure they have the skills that our future will need. This is one key to winning this war on our youth and the other key to winning the battle on higher education is to find the funds and resources for our youth to continue to further their education beyond just two year institutions.

The War On Our Youth: College Grads and High-Tech Cities

According to some early U.S. Census data projections, it seems as if there have been some brain gain for high-tech cities. Many college graduates are passing up industrial centers and former hotspots in the Southwest, which have been hit hard by the recession, in favor of life in urban, high-tech meccas. Their moves are fueling a resurgence of brainiacs in parts of California, North Carolina and Texas. Census data released Tuesday offer the first detailed look at U.S. migration data, broken down by education and income, since the recession began in late 2007.

The data covering 2006-2008 show that Austin, Texas, Portland, Ore., Charlotte and Raleigh, both in North Carolina, and Seattle saw large jumps in residents with at least a college degree. Each offers the promise of specialized tech jobs and hip lifestyles. San Francisco, with its burgeoning biotech industry, saw significant increases in residents with advanced-level graduate degrees. Houston, home to NASA and several medical centers, saw gains in more educated residents but also those with only a high-school degree.

In contrast, metropolitan areas with high rates of foreclosures, less tech-based economies or increasing unemployment saw declines or slower rates of growth in residents with a college degree or higher. They included Los Angeles, Atlanta, Orlando, Fla., as well as New Orleans, Detroit and Cleveland. "During this economic downturn, young, educated professionals are heading for the high-tech 'cool' metros rather than the fast growing upstarts of the mid-decade," said William Frey, a demographer at Brookings Institution, who analyzed the data. "The investment in knowledge industries and young professional amenities in places like Austin, Raleigh and Seattle is now paying off."

The United States is becoming increasingly educated. More than one in four U.S. residents now has a college degree, with many recent graduates looking for jobs in a depressed economy. States and cities are also striving to boost their tax bases and stay competitive by attracting highly educated and higher income residents. According to the data, cities with higher levels of education did not always translate to the highest incomes.

Austin, Seattle and Charlotte all saw large gains in the number of residents who earned an income of $65,000 a year or more. But they were outpaced by places such as Bakersfield, Calif., and Sun Belt regions such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, which had larger jumps in richer residents. Frey attributed the differences to younger college graduates in the high-tech areas who are moving up the career ladder and have not yet reached their peak levels of income.

Among other findings: The top five metro areas with the largest gains in residents earning $65,000 and more were Phoenix, Riverside, Calif., Dallas, Las Vegas and Houston. Median home values ranged from $68,200 in Odessa, Texas, to $739,700 in San Jose, Calif., the only metro area with a median home value above $700,000. Six other areas, all in California, have median home values in excess of $600,000: Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Salinas, Napa, Santa Barbara and Oxnard. The percent of foreign-born residents ranged from 0.9 percent in Altoona, Pa., to 36.9 percent in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area. The data comes from the American Community Survey. The information was collected over three years, from 2006 through 2008, providing a snapshot of every U.S. community with at least 20,000 residents.

So it is clear that in some ways, the war on our youth is making many of our youth more aware of just where the jobs are and what industry they should be looking into for future employment opportunities. Thus this is a snapshot but one that should be encouraging to youth with high-tech majors.

The War on Our Youth—The American Dream Gets More Costly Each Year

If a key component to the American Dream is education than it seems as if the dream is getting more costly each especially with college tuition costs rising again this fall. The average tuition prices rose sharply again this fall as colleges passed much of the burden of their own financial problems on to recession-battered students and parents. Average tuition at four-year public colleges rose 6.5 percent, or $429, to $7,020 this fall, according to the College Board's annual "Trends in College Pricing" report, released Tuesday. At private colleges, the average list price for a year of coursework rose 4.4 percent to $26,273.

Those figures hide wide variations — public college students in California, Florida, New York and Washington have seen double-digit percentage increases, while the University of Maryland used federal stimulus funds to freeze tuition this year. More importantly, the estimated net price — what the average student actually pays after accounting for financial aid — was much lower, at about $1,620 at public four-year colleges, and under $12,000 at private ones. Both figures are higher than last year but still lower than five years ago, thanks to recent increases in financial aid both from the government and from colleges themselves. The figures do not include room, board and other living expenses.

Still, this year's increases were bad news for students who pay full price, and confirm that despite cost-cutting on everything from faculty to cafeterias and sports travel, higher education once again failed to keep its own price increases anywhere near the overall inflation rate. In fact, during the period covered by the College Board report, consumer prices declined by 2.1 percent. So accounting for inflation, the latest increase at public colleges felt closer to a 9-percent jump. "Every sector of the American economy is under stress and higher education is no exception," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. "It's regrettable, and it's yet another piece of disappointing economic news that affects families."

Hartle said the report showed some good news: a companion report on financial aid documented substantial increases in aid, especially from the government, that ease the price increases for low-income students. And community colleges, home to about 40 percent of college students, remain essentially free to the average student after factoring in financial aid. The reports come as many colleges face their most challenging economic climate in memory. On the public side, state appropriations to public colleges declined nearly $4 billion in 2008-2009 from the previous year, even as enrollment grew, and state dollars are falling further this year. Private colleges had fewer students who could afford to pay full freight, forcing schools to offer more financial aid even as their endowments fell by record amounts in the stock market crash.

Worst hit is California, whose giant public university and community college systems educate about one in six American college students. Facing unprecedented state funding cuts, public colleges have boosted fees, raised class sizes, furloughed faculty and turned away students. On top of the current year's 9-percent fee increase, the University of California system is considering increases of more than 30 percent by next year.

The reports also offer a glimpse of what has become a significant expansion of the federal government's role in trying to help students pay for college. In 2008-2009, 65 percent of the $180 billion spent on higher education expenses came via the federal government in the form of grants, loans and work-study programs, up from 58 percent the year before. Overall, the report estimated federal grant aid rose almost 11 percent last year. That trend will likely continue because the maximum Pell Grant — the government's main college aid program for low-income students — rose by over $600 this year to $5,350.

Students also borrowed more to pay for college — but much more from the government and much less from nonfederal lenders such as banks. Estimated private borrowing collapsed from around $24 billion in 2007-2008 to under $12 billion last year, the aid report estimates. That sharp decrease came after years of rapid expansion in student borrowing from the private sector — a trend that worried some experts because private loans generally have higher interest rates and fewer borrower protections than federal ones.

But a range of factors have quickly turned the tide: students can get larger Pell Grants and borrow more from the government, and private lenders have become much more selective in making student loans. On average, about two-thirds of bachelor's degree recipients borrow money, and their median debt is about $20,000 by graduation. Therefore it is clear that if education is the key to the future and higher education is a part of the American Dream than the dream is getting more costly each year resulting in more and more students not being able to afford it to some degree.

Something has to be done about this problem but for now it is yet another battle that we have to monitor in this war on our youth if we are to save our youth so they can have a better future than their present. We must give our youth a quality education and we must make education more affordable than currently is, otherwise the American Dream will slowly but surely be just that a dream that is unattainable for so many because the cost of a higher education yet alone a post-bachelor degree is getting higher and higher each and every year. So something needs to be done because we need to make higher education more affordable to more of our nation’s youth because a high school diploma just won’t cut it anymore.

SAVE THE AMERICAN DREAM!
MAKE THE AMERICAN DREAM MORE AFFORDABLE & ACCESSIBLE!

SAVE OUR YOUTH!

The War on Our Youth: Forgiveness

As we continue to fight this war on our youth, it is clear that one thing our youth need to understand in order to move forward is forgiving. I bring this up because a couple of weeks ago some Columbine parents praised the essay by a mom of a shooter of the Columbine incident. Parents and survivors of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School said good things about an essay released by the mother of shooter Dylan Klebold. Susan Klebold made the most detailed public remarks by any parent of the two Columbine killers in an essay published in O, The Oprah Magazine. She said in the essay she had "no inkling" her son was suicidal or depressed.

The essay sparked strong emotions for Connie Michalik, whose son, Richard Castaldo, was shot and partially paralyzed in the rampage. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 others before killing themselves. The shooters' parents have said little in public since the massacre. They gave depositions in a lawsuit filed by victims' families, but a judge in 2007 ordered those depositions sealed for 20 years after the case was settled out of court.

Survivors and their families have been left wondering about the boys' parents in the decade since the shootings. "You know, I always wondered how she felt and what she went through. 'Cause I know I went through a living hell, and I was always sure she did, too," Michalik told The Associated Press. Michalik, who has never met Susan Klebold, said reading the essay answered some of her questions about the Klebold family. "I applaud her for the courage to talk about this," Michalik said Tuesday.

In the essay, Susan Klebold described the day of the shooting. She at first feared Dylan had been shot at school, not that he was one of the perpetrators. Susan Klebold said the family was evacuated from their home the afternoon of the massacre because authorities feared even Dylan's residence may have been rigged to explode. Still, she said, it took months for relatives to accept that the quiet boy who loved origami and Legos was to blame for the violence. "We didn't know that he and Eric had assembled an arsenal of explosives and guns," Susan Klebold wrote. "We believed his participation in the massacre was accidental or that he had been coerced. We believed that he did not intend to hurt anyone."

A magazine spokeswoman said Susan Klebold has turned down several interview requests over the years but agreed several months ago to share an essay. There were no plans for her to appear on the show. In an introduction to the essay, Oprah Winfrey told readers, "Since the day her son participated in the most devastating high school shooting America has ever seen, I have wanted to sit down with Susan Klebold to ask her the questions we've all wanted to ask — starting with, 'How did you not see it coming?' and ending with 'How did you survive?'"

A spokeswoman for Susan Klebold has said there would be no further comment. One of the shooting's survivors, Krystal Miller, said she has long had questions for the Klebolds but understood their silence. "Over the years I would've loved to hear something," said Miller, whose maiden name was Krystal Woodman. "But it sounds like she is still just reeling from it and processing it. So how is someone supposed to come out and give answers when they're still trying to figure it out themselves?"

Therefore, in the wake of the Columbine incident and the essay that was recently written, it made me realize that many people but particularly our youth don’t understand the meaning of forgiveness. Our youth today need to understand that is comes a point in their lives when they have to forgive those who have mistreated them, abused them and lied to them. I know sometimes it is hard but the word forgiveness is a word that many of our youth today don’t understand yet alone want to recognize which is why so many of them are bitter, angry and mad at life. Also the fact that many of our youth don’t understand forgiveness leads to many of our youth having truth issues with the rest of society because of the way others in their past treated them yet alone lied to them.

So when reading the essay written by one of the parent’s of the shooters and as I read about the responses from parents of victims and survivors as well as survivors, it seemed as if many of those people were forgiving of the Columbine parents shooters. In fact it seemed as if many of the victims’ parents and the survivors were concerned and worried about how the Columbine shooters parents were dealing with the aftermath all these years later. So it is clear that if even in some of the hardest situations imaginable that people find a way to forgive which is why I feel that our youth need to forgive others now more than ever.

Our youth need to learn what forgiveness means and how they can forgive in order to move forward in life to achieve success. Holding on to angry, being mad at the world and hating others will only continue to create a culture of youth who rebel against society and those are the youth who usually end up hurting the innocent. Therefore we have to understand that our youth today need forgiveness in their life like never before. Our youth can’t forgive until they understand what forgiveness means and how when you forgive you are able to move forward in life to achieve success.

Think about it, our youth don’t understand that while they are going around being angry at the world, being bitter toward others and mad at everyone, those who hurt them, abused them, mistreated them or lied to them are going forward with their lives, living their lives happy and with no remorse or afterthought for the hurt they caused that youth. So why should our youth walk around angry, bitter and mad when those who created that angry, bitterness and madness don’t even care if our youth are mad. Therefore our youth need to be taught this so that they can move forward in life not being bitter, angry and mad when those who mistreated them, abused them and lied to them are not angry, bitter and mad so why should our youth. Therefore it is time we taught our youth to forgive.

It is time we teach our youth forgiveness so they can move forward and be prosperous in life. Our youth need to realize that forgiving others is the only way for them to move forward without thinking back. Our youth need to direct their angry and bitterness in way that motivates them to achieve success by using those who said they can’t do something or those who hurt them, abused them, mistreated them or lied to them as motivation to overcome their bearers. It is time for our youth to move forward and realize that they must forgive in order to do that. Teaching forgiveness is the only way we can change a part of our youth culture that allows angry to fester. Our youth need to realize that forgiveness is the key to changing their life and moving forward with a positive outlook on things rather than the bitter, angry and mad mentality that our youth today takes out on the rest of the world and even those that truly want to help them overcome what they are dealing with.

So if we are to win this war on our youth than one thing our youth need to learn is forgiveness. Learning forgiveness can help change the type of culture that creates the violence that plagues many of our communities through youth who rebel against society because they are angry, mad and bitter. We must save our youth by teaching them forgiveness so they can save themselves from being bitter toward the world and becoming part of a society that is cruel and mean more than kind and warm. This is just one component that can help us change the type of culture that is festering in our communities in regards to youth but make no mistake about it, the war on our youth won’t be won on forgiveness alone but it is a start in the right direction.

SAVE OUR YOUTH!

The War on Our Youth: Youth Spotlight on Entrepreneurs Who Started Young

As I continue to highlight the good about our youth in America, I want to stay on this theme of young entrepreneurs. In this global economy and global world of ours, it is time that our youth looked up to and sought to emulate young entrepreneurs who are well on their well to creating future Fortune 500 companies. So Business Week did an article on Entrepreneurs Who Started Young and it looked at some of their previous standout entrepreneurs under 25. So I want to take this time to share that article with you that shows sometimes many of us don’t understand just how the ideas of our youth can grow into things that we all partake in. Nonetheless this is why we can’t continue to demonize our youth but instead we must embrace them and encourage them to pursue their goals and dreams because they can soon be as successful as these youth have been. So here’s the article:

In Fall 2005, we held our first annual contest to find the country's most promising young entrepreneurs. Over the past five years our readers have searched the country and, through our Web site, made thousands of nominations. You can learn about—and vote for—this year's finalists by following the link below. Here are some standouts from the first four years.

2008 NATHANIEL STEVENS, YODLE
In 2005, Stevens took a leave of absence from Wharton to create a venture that would simplify online ads for local businesses. Now, after building Yodle into a $20 million, 306-employee lead-generation dynamo, and landing more than $25 million in venture capital, Stevens, 26, is stepping down as Yodle's president to complete his degree. He continues to be a shareholder and board member of the Manhattan-based company.

2007 SARAH SCHUPP, UNIVERSITY PARENT MEDIA
University Parent Media, in Boulder, Colo., has become a profitable 12-person, $1 million company. It produces print and online guides for parents visiting their kids at college and now has more than 100 schools under contract. About 80% of sales come from local advertising; colleges can also pay to customize the guides. A consortium of colleges recently tapped Schupp, 27, to help set up a professional development association for parent relations directors. She plans to expand her company overseas next year.

2006 NOAH GLASS, GOMOBOHungry diners no longer have to wait in line: Manhattan-based GoMobo lets registered users preorder and prepay for take-out food online or via text message at nearly 5,000 restaurants. Noah Glass, 28, the 10-person company's founder and CEO, raised $7 million in venture capital last fall. GoMobo offers apps for the iPhone (AAPL) and BlackBerry, (RIMM) and has adapted its system for chains such as Subway, Dunkin' Donuts, and Burger King (BKC).

2005 MARK ZUCKERBERG, FACEBOOK
When we first profiled the co-founder and CEO of what is now the world's largest social networking site, he advised other young entrepreneurs: "Do what you think is right, not what other people tell you is right. People have strong opinions about the way to do stuff. It's really good to listen and learn from the world, but when you're making something, it's coming from you." At the time of the interview, the site had 6 million registered users. It now has more than 300 million. In a Sept. 15 blog post, Zuckerberg, 25, wrote that Facebook had become cash-flow-positive in the most recent quarter.

SPECIAL REPORT
America's Young Entrepreneurs
America's Best Young Entrepreneurs 2009
Slide Show: America's Best Young Entrepreneurs
Slide Show: Best Young Entrepreneurs, Class of 2008
College Students, Sell to Your Schools
Video: Interview with Yodle's Young Founder
Entrepreneurs Who Started Young
Why Less Is More for Startups
Archive: Last Year's Special Report


Source:
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/oct2009/sb2009106_239727.htm?campaign_id=yahoo

The War on Our Youth: Youth Spotlight on America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs 2009

With all the bad publicity many of our youth today, it is hard to sometimes find good press or media coverage about the good things our youth in America are doing. Therefore I am continuing to spotlight youth who are doing the right thing and are making a difference in our communities all across America. So when Business Week completed their annual 2009 Entrepreneurs contest and complied their list of America’s 25 Best Young Entrepreneurs, I had to let everyone know. So here is an article about it and I hope every passes it on as indication that some of our youth are putting their talents to work and are making the best of this capitalist society we live.

For our fifth annual roundup, BusinessWeek readers nominated a record number of young entrepreneurs. Meet the 25 most impressive

Welcome to our fifth annual roundup of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs. Before we get started examining the new batch, consider this question: Who is more likely to start a business: A college student or a worker with a few decades of experience?
Yep, you guessed it: the experienced worker.

It turns out it's boomers, not twentysomethings, who start the most businesses in the U.S. Over the past decade or so, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity belongs to the 55-64 age group. The 20-34 age bracket, by contrast, had the lowest rate. That's according to a recent report by Dane Stangler, a senior analyst with the Kauffman Foundation, based on data collected from 1996 to 2007. It echoes research by entrepreneur-turned-academic Vivek Wadhwa, who found that twice as many tech entrepreneurs create ventures in their 50s as do those in their early 20s.

So not only are these entrepreneurs navigating the toughest economy many of us have ever lived through, they're also vastly outnumbered by older, more experienced competitors, who usually have more contacts and capital. That's even more reason to continue to give young entrepreneurs the encouragement, respect, and awe that they've received since becoming cultural icons during the dot-com boom.

Stangler says he's not suggesting young people aren't entrepreneurial or won't be. "The cachet of large, established companies has taken a hit. Job tenure has been falling for a long time. Employment is not going to recover in the very near future. People across all age groups are going to take the future into their own hands."

Dorm Room Beginnings
Brian Ruby, 25, is just one entrepreneur who is following through on Stangler's prediction. He founded molecular imaging equipment maker Carbon Nanoprobes in 2003 in his Columbia University dorm room and has since raised about $4 million from institutional and private investors. After six years doing research, Carbon Nanoprobes is now transitioning to equipment sales, and Ruby expects about $1 million in revenue in 2010. The nine-person company based in Pike Malvern, Pa., sells its equipment to universities, semiconductor firms, and material sciences companies.

Husband-and-wife team Eric Koger, 25, and Susan Koger, 24, launched indie clothing e-tailer ModCloth in 2002, near the end of their freshman year at Carnegie Mellon University. They've managed to raise a little over $3 million from angels such as StubHub co-founder Jeff Fluhr and venture capital firms First Round Capital and Maples Investments. Eric says the 104-employee, Pittsburgh-based company is profitable, with around $1 million in monthly sales, and forecasts more than $15 million total in 2009.

Logan Green, 25, and John Zimmer, 25, started Zimride in 2007 to allow carpoolers to connect online. Its 35 clients are mostly colleges but include corporate customers such as Cigna (CI) and Wal-Mart (WMT). Universities pay about $10,000 per year to use the platform, although pricing varies. Zimmer says the Palo Alto (Calif.) firm, with six employees, expects revenue of $400,000 this year and is now profitable.

Record Numbers
These are just a few of our finalists defying the odds. To assemble the group, as in previous years, we asked BusinessWeek readers to nominate candidates aged 25 and under who were running their own companies that showed potential for growth. Given the severity of the recession, we were pleased to receive a record number of nominations this year -- more than 600. After the call for nominations ended in mid-August, our staff sifted through the nominees looking for the most impressive.

Not surprisingly, the majority were Web-based businesses, where barriers to entry continue to fall. There were a smattering of more traditional companies, including an aircraft seller, a specialty mushroom grower, and a machinery lubricant vendor. Compared with last year, more women were nominated, more businesses were profitable, and more had secured equity capital.

You can flip through this slide show for profiles of each of the 25 finalists, then vote for the business you feel holds the most promise. We'll announce the top vote-getters on Nov. 9. Then check out our slide show on where last year's finalists are now. For more elements of the special report, including a feature on selling to universities and a video interview with a standout alum, visit the related items box at upper right side of this overview.


U.S. Entrepreneurs Ages 25 and Under
This summer, BusinessWeek set out on its fifth annual search to find the country's most promising young entrepreneurs. As in previous years, we asked readers to nominate candidates ages 25 and under running their own companies. After the call for nominations ended in August, our staff whittled the batch down to 25 impressive businesses. To read profiles of the finalists and vote for the business you feel holds the most promise, click on. We'll announce the top vote-getters on Nov. 9.
Note: Revenues and traffic numbers are self-reported. To be considered, founders had to be 25 or under when the nomination form was posted in late June.
1. Ascension Aircraft
What It Does: Aircraft sales and leasing
Founder: Jamail Larkins, 25
Web Site: http://www.ascensionaircraft.com/
Based: Augusta, Ga.
Jamail Larkins has been hooked on flying ever since he took his first flying lesson at age 12. The Augusta (Ga.) native completed his first solo flight at 14, performed in an aerobatic air show four years later, and earned a bachelor's degree in aviation business administration from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. But instead of following a traditional career path and going to work for Boeing (BA) or Lockheed Martin (LMT), Larkins decided to channel his passion into his own business. It came naturally. At 15, he had started Larkins Enterprises, selling flight training books and videos to local pilots, to pay for his flying lessons. "I promise you we started off selling a lot less than we do today," he says. Though he continues to run Larkins to do marketing and consulting for clients that include his alma mater, the National Business Aviation Assn., and Michelin Aircraft Tires, he says 90% of his revenue comes from his aircraft sales and leasing company, Ascension Aircraft, which he started in 2006. Larkins says four-employee Ascension is profitable and had a little over $7 million in revenue in 2008, despite the downturn. He expects revenue to increase slightly this year. He continues to fly for fun every chance he gets and is planning to get back into aerobatics in 2010.


2. Box.net
What It Does: Online collaboration tool
Founders: Aaron Levie, 24, and Dylan Smith, 24
Web Site: box.net
Based: Palo Alto, Calif.
Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith started Box.net in 2005, when they were both college sophomores, as a tool to collaborate on projects with fellow students. The pair -- childhood friends from Seattle -- soon saw business potential in an online platform to let companies share information securely. Nine months after launching, they both left school (they were at University of Southern California and Duke, respectively) and moved to the Bay Area to work on the company full time, with an initial $350,000 investment from Mark Cuban. (His stake has since been bought out.) The service, targeted toward companies with fewer than 100 employees, has 3 million users representing 50,000 businesses. Individuals can try a limited version for free, but businesses pay $15 per user per month for the premium version. The company, now based in Palo Alto, has 50 employees and has raised $14.5 million in venture capital from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and U.S. Venture Partners. The firm is not yet profitable, though Levie says revenue is in the "mid-to-high single millions," and he expects it to turn a profit soon.


3. Click To Client
What It Does: Online marketing agency
Founder: Shama Kabani, 24
Web Site: http://clicktoclient.com/
Based: Dallas
While completing her master's degree in organizational communication at the University of Texas at Austin, Shama Kabani wrote her thesis on why people use Twitter and other social networking sites. She became convinced businesses could use the tools to market their products and services. But when Kabani made that pitch as she applied for jobs at big management consulting firms such as McKinsey and Bain & Co. in 2006, she was rejected. "At that point, nobody really cared for social media knowhow. They were just thinking, 'This is a fad. Our clients don't really need it.' " Undeterred, Kabani, whose parents are both entrepreneurs, founded her own full-service online marketing firm in March 2008, to build Web sites, handle SEO, and create and manage social media campaigns. The six-employee business now takes on about 25 one-off projects a month and also acts as an online marketing department for six regular clients on a retainer basis. Fees range from a few hundred dollars for a newsletter design to $2,500 for a Web site project; monthly retainer fees start around $2,500. Kabani says Click To Client had about $120,000 in revenue in 2008, expects $280,000 for 2009, and is shooting for $1 million in 2010. Her first book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing, is due out in April.


4. Emergent
What It Does: Renewable energy consulting
Founders: Jesse Gossett, 23 (left); Jayson Uppal, 23 (center); and Chris Jacobs, 21 (right)
Web Site: http://www.emergentgroup.com/
Based: Boston
Two years ago, three Tufts University students and one Babson College student attended the Energy Security Initiative at Tufts (now the Tufts Energy Forum), a group whose mission is "to spread and enhance the discussion surrounding all aspects of the transforming, global energy industry." It was there that Jesse Gossett, Jared Rodriguez, Jayson Uppal, and Chris Jacobs decided there was a need in the consulting sphere to help guide municipalities and private businesses toward using renewable energies and setting up sustainability practices. The quartet spent their final year in college researching and readying a business to do just that. Before they graduated, they landed their first consulting contract. Emergent now has about 30 clients, mostly municipalities, including the towns of Yates, Shelby, and Orleans County in western New York. The firm had $108,000 in revenue last year, and estimates it will reach $250,000 in 2009 and become profitable by 2011.


5. I Bec Creative
What It Does: Web development and graphic design
Founder: Becky Stockbridge, 25
Web Site: http://www.ibeccreative.com/
Based: Portland, Me.
While a senior at the University of Southern Maine, Becky Stockbridge wrote a business plan to start a Web and graphic design business for medical professionals, a group she found was in need of logos, brochures, and informative Web sites -- and who also had the money to pay for them. She got started in 2006 with a $4,200 grant from the Libra Future Funds, a Maine-based group that helps entrepreneurs under 25. The Maine Center for Enterprise Development awarded her free office space for one year. However, Stockbridge says she found it difficult to get through to the decision-makers in medical practices. While she struggled to make contact, Stockbridge began designing Web sites and logos for other small businesses. By 2007, she had more business clients than doctor clients and shifted her focus. Last year the five-person company had about $225,000 in revenue and Stockbridge expects $350,000 in 2009.


6. Intern Queen
What It Does: Internship placement consultancy
Founder: Lauren Berger, 25
Web Site: http://www.internqueen.com/
Based: Los Angeles
While earning her degree at the University of Central Florida, Lauren Berger says she completed 15 internships in four years. After graduating in 2006 she began helping the children of her parents' friends land internships. Soon, the idea to start a consulting business was born. But first Berger had to pay the bills, so she moved to Los Angeles and worked as an assistant at top talent agency Creative Artists Agency. While there, Berger met movie producer and director Marshall Herscovitz (Thirtysomething, The Last Samurai), who liked her concept and backed her financially for one year.

Last September, Berger launched her company -- Herscovitz has a 12% stake -- offering to vet potential applicants and match them with more than 500 companies from across the country that pay to list on her Web site. Berger says what sets her service apart is the personal attention -- she and her small band of interns review every application and Berger calls each company to make an introduction. Potential interns can apply for one slot gratis to get a feel for the service. They pay $3 for every subsequent application; employers pay an annual fee of $50 for unlimited listings. In the four months the firm was running last year, Berger says she had about $100,000 in revenue and expects to double that to $200,000 next year. A regular on the college speaking circuit, she is also planning to expand into Canada and is exploring endorsement deals with Microsoft (MSFT) and Payless Shoes.


7. ModCloth
What It Does: Online marketplace for indie designer fashion and décor
Founders: Eric Koger, 25, and Susan Koger, 24
Web Site: http://www.modcloth.com/
Based: Pittsburgh
You might not expect an indie clothing e-tailer to get the attention of equity investors. But Eric and Susan Koger, the husband-and-wife team that launched ModCloth in 2002, near the end of their freshman year at Carnegie Mellon University, have managed to raise a little over $3 million from angels like StubHub co-founder Jeff Fluhr and venture capital firms First Round Capital and Maples Investments. ModCloth's inventory strategy helps explain its success. Eric says Susan and her buyers build rapport with independent designers, try to get payment terms of net 30, and normally sell 70% to 90% of the goods within the net-30 period. "We can turn our inventory faster than we have to pay for it. That's enabled us to scale as fast as we have." Being online only and located in Pittsburgh keeps operating costs low, too. ModCloth employs 104 people -- mostly young women who, Eric says, "come at it from a perspective that's truly aligned with the customer, because they are our customers" -- up from 22 people a year ago. The company became profitable in 2007 but wasn't in 2008, largely because it spent a lot of money to redesign its Web site -- which now gets more than 1.25 million unique visitors a month. Eric says ModCloth has around $1 million a month in sales and forecasts more than $15 million total in 2009.


8. NoteHall
What It Does: Online marketplace for class notes
Founders: Sean Conway, 25 (right); Justin Miller, 21(far right); B.J. Stephan, 24 (left); Fadi Chalfoon, 23 (second from left)
Web Site: http://www.notehall.com/
Based: Tucson, Ariz.
Launched in 2008, NoteHall is an online marketplace for college students who want to buy and sell class notes. Sean Conway, who has ADHD and finds it difficult to comprehend a lecture and take notes simultaneously, says the impetus to start the company came when he noticed fellow students shared his frustration. For initial funding, the founders used $70,000 they put together from Conway's inheritance and Miller's bar mitzvah money. To access documents, users purchase credits via the site's virtual currency system ($3 buys 100 credits; notes from one lecture cost 25 credits; a study guide costs 100 credits). When a student purchases credits and redeems them, NoteHall receives a commission that varies based on the product. According to Conway, 20 colleges and universities are participating now, including Drexel University and the University of Arizona, and an additional 30 will be by December. Last year, NoteHall had $40,000 in revenue, will be profitable this year, and expects to reach $900,000 in revenue in 2010.


9. Trunk Club
What It Does: Online clothes shopping service for men
Founder: Joanna Van Vleck, 26
Web Site: http://www.trunkclub.com/
Based: Bend, Ore.
When Joanna Van Vleck graduated from the University of Oregon in 2005 with degrees in psychology and business, she worked as a style consultant, taking men and women clothes shopping. No surprise here -- most men disliked shopping but enjoyed the new duds. So Van Vleck decided the shopping process should be turned on its head. Instead of accompanying men to the shops, she would take the shopping to them. In January 2008, she opened a location she describes as a "swanky man hang-out spot," where hesitant shoppers were sized up and regaled with advice and brand-name picks. Within a month of opening, an angel investor approached her and offered to commit $500,000 to expanding the concept to other locations. But after Bear Stearns failed that March, he changed his mind.

Convinced her idea had potential, Van Vleck searched for another source of funding. During a meeting via Webcam with a new would-be investor, Van Vleck decided to shift gears. Instead of opening physical locations, she would operate the business virtually, using Webcams to meet with clients, assess their needs, and then ship a box of clothing to them. Clients would only pay for items they liked. With zero retail experience, she launched the site in November 2008, buying marked brands wholesale from suppliers and selling them retail. Trunk Club now has six employees, 36 independent contractors who work as fashion consultants remotely, and around 2,000 members. Van Vleck says the company is close to breaking even and is on track for $2.3 million to $2.5 million in revenue in 2009. She expects to close her first venture capital round with a Bay Area firm within a month.


10. Tumblr
What It Does: Microblogging platform
Founder: David Karp, 23
Web Site: http://www.tumblr.com/
Based: New York
In 2005, David Karp was running his software consulting business, developing new media for big media companies. He got the idea for Tumblr after becoming captivated by a new form of blogging known as "tumblelogging" that presented material of various formats (such as text, photo, and video) in a stream. While building a tumblelog for himself, the programmer realized other fans of the form would want to use a simple tool that would allow them to create their own. So during a two-week window between consulting jobs, Karp, who first started coding when he was 11, created the first iteration of such a tool designed with speed, ease of use, and customization in mind. Launched in 2007 for general consumption, the Tumblr platform now has 1.8 million users and has landed $5.5 million in venture capital from two rounds of funding with Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital. Karp, 23, says the 10-person company is not making money yet but will be experimenting with revenue-generating features this quarter. "Goal No. 1 is growth. We're aiming this thing for a mainstream audience."

See the full slide show of 25 U.S. Entrepreneurs Ages 25 and Under


Source:
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/107946/americas-best-young-entrepreneurs-2009?mod=career-leadership