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About Us:
The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) defends the civil and human rights of young people in the United States through educating people about youth rights, empowering young people to work on their own behalf in defense of their rights, and taking positive steps to lessen the burden of ageism. We believe certain basic rights are intrinsic parts of American citizenship and transcend age or status limits.
NYRA is a national youth-led organization with nearly 10,000 members and chapters in a dozen states. We support lowering the voting age, lowering the drinking age, repealing government curfews, protecting student rights and fighting age discrimination.
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| NYRA News
September 2, 2010
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Schwarzenegger v. Gamers
Recently, a law was passed in California that banned the sale of all “violent” video games to individuals younger than 18. Now, the case of whether or not this law is constitutional is going before the United States Supreme Court. This is an important case, for it could end up setting the stage for alterations in how games look, how they are produced and who can play them. This law could be a catalyst that sparks stricter standards across the industry and could alter the First Amendment rights of young people in matters entirely unrelated to violent video games for decades to come.
NYRA is doing all we can to make sure the free speech of youth is protected. We are working with the ACLU and the National Coalition Against Censorship to write an Amicus brief to be submitted to the Supreme Court regarding this issue. Unlike the nine justices hearing this case and most lawyers on either side of the issue, NYRA staff and NYRA members have actually played video games. We are working to channel our combined expertise to help win this case, you can help!
NYRA is seeking testimonies from people who are familiar with video games and can explain their artistic, social and especially political assets. If we can prove that video games contain political speech, we very well may win this case. Please visit our blog and leave a comment about the political value of video games. The Internet is buzzing about NYRA's campaign, and we've already received 95 comments about this. This overwhelming response represents a total of one-third of all comments the NYRA blog has ever received. But we're not done yet! The more information we have, the better. Let your gamer friends know about us, too! We need to hear your thoughts as well as examples of specific games that are both political and violent. The more you have to say, the better!
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Annual Meeting a Great Success
On the weekend of August 7th and 8th, NYRA members convened in the nation’s capital of Washington D.C. to attend the 2010 Annual Meeting, which was characterized by numerous presentations from movement activists both in and outside of NYRA, as well as strategic planning among members in attendance, and election of a new Board of Directors.
Attendees participated in high quality workshops by Students for Liberty, Flex Your Rights, Search for Common Ground, American Association of University Professors, Student Press Law Center and many tremendous presenters from NYRA. Plus plenty of opportunities to meet fellow NYRA members and do some strategic planning for the year to come. In addition to these great events, NYRA presented our 2009-2010 Annual Report and conducted the final voting in the 2010 board election.
Nearly 100 ballots were cast in this year's election. NYRA members selected the following nine candidates to serve on our 2010-2011 board of directors: Jackie Ferro, Jenny Harkin, Nigel Jones, Alex Koroknay-Palicz, Hal Levy, Keith Mandell, Katrina Moncure, Jeffrey Nadel and Usiel Phoenix.
The audience of the annual meeting was expanded thanks to the blessings of Internet broadcast technology. After years of failed attempts, highly skilled NYRA technical staff (the web savvy folks down in Southeast Florida), were able to set up a live video feed of the proceedings for online viewers, who were also able to instantly post their thoughts in a live chat. The live stream and recorded content were invaluable in expanding the audience beyond the 40 people in Washington, DC to 233 total views online, watch here.
Thank you to all who attended or viewed the annual meeting, which can only be topped by an even bigger and better event next year. For those of you who missed it, you can still watch the entire meeting online. Also check out pictures of the event on Facebook.
A New Year and a New Look
for NYRA's Annual Report
This year has been a been one of much progress and growth for NYRA. Our greatest on record. NYRA’s Annual Report was released recently and NYRA members around the country are getting an update on last year's unprecedented progress. The Report covers all of last year's campaigns and projects as well as outreach efforts, an operations update and a financial report. Highlighted in the report is NYRA-SEFL's work against the West Palm Beach curfew law as well as the Zionsville Student Rights Union’s Sleep to Succeed program’s success in starting school later to benefit students.
 New developments like National Youth Rights Day, our active opposition this year to attempts to increase restrictions on teen drivers and our record breaking fundraising totals are also featured. In addition to other successes related to the voting age, drinking age, curfews and other issues, the report also mentions some of the organization’s setbacks and other unfortunate events this year. Despite these disadvantages, though, 2009-2010 was the most explosive, high energy and accomplished year this organization has ever experienced.
There are many things that set us apart as an organization: we are one of the youngest non-profits in the country, we are pound-for-pound one of the most effective organizations in the country and we are also one of the most open and transparent non-profits in the country. Our annual report has detailed program and finance information you won't find in any other organization's annual report. It is definitely worth reading. Download the annual report here.
NYRA Announces First Ever
NYRA Award Recipients
NYRA is pleased to announce the winners of our first annual NYRA Awards. This year we gave three separate awards: The Youth Rights Progress Award, The NYRA Achievement Award, and the Ageist of the Year Award. To learn about all the nominees go here.
The Youth Rights Progress Award was given to Congressman George Miller, for sponsoring and passing H.R. 911 to curb the use of torture in "behavior modification" schools, and H.R. 4247 to prevent harmful restraint and seclusion in schools. These two bills will save thousands of children from abuse each year by protecting their fundamental rights. NYRA has been in touch with the Congressman's Office who were pleased to learn of the victory. We hope to formally present the award soon. The NYRA Achievement Award was given to NYRA-Southeast Florida, for suing the city of West Palm Beach to overturn an unconstitutional curfew law. NYRA-SEFL, led by chapter president and NYRA's national president Jeffrey Nadel, effectively organized opposition to the curfew law and filed suit only when all amicable options were exhausted.
Finally, the Ageist of the Year Award was given to Pennsylvania's Lower Merion School District, for using tracking software and built-in webcams to spy on students using school-issued laptops. Hundreds of students were clandestinely recorded or photographed by the school while at home and in private. The Lower Merion School District lied to students and families about this capability while distributing over 2,000 laptops, initially even after being caught. Only when pictures of students' homes and stories about amused school administrators began to surface was the school district sued for unprecedented violations of wiretapping and computer fraud laws. Officials from the district declined to speak with us. NYRA was disturbed to learn, after awarding this award that federal prosecutors have refused to bring charges fearing a disruption to the school year. For more on that check out the news section below.
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Quote of the Month
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Parents can only give good advice or put (children) on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.
- Anne Frank
Suggest a quote
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NYRA
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1101 15th Street, NW
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Suite 200
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Washington, DC
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20005
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