NYRA is pleased to welcome our newest chapter, NYRA-Austin: Peeps 4 Change. Based in Texas, this chapter is NYRA’s first chapter led by a mother-son team. Co-founders Shanda & Dalton Scott intend for the chapter to work to ensure students get fair treatment and a free and appropriate public education in Williamson County, Texas. One…
We are pleased to have received a number of sponsoring member organizations for our first celebration of National Youth Rights Day, as well as future annual events to come, 16 groups altogether. The most successful and prominent live event occurred at our headquarters in Washington D.C. The local celebration featured a Prohibition Party, held at…
I can’t believe that my time as an intern at NYRA is already over. For more than three months now, the office of NYRA has not only been my internship, but to some extent my window into the everyday life of the United States. As a European, I admit that I entered this country with…
The third #16tovote on the 16th has now gone by! Just like in February and March, we all got on Twitter and tweeted reasons, anecdotes, links, and whatever else supporting lowering the voting age, with the #16tovote hashtag. While not quite as many people participated this time, we still got a whole lot of great…
Katrina raised a very interesting question on the NYRA forum. One that everyone should consider and helps deepen our understanding of youth rights and the fight against ageism. Her question: When I think back about ten years or so, I can’t help thinking that, of course, I have had more experiences, learned so much more,…
There’s a lot that could be said about what happened to poor Phoebe Prince that has all been said before, but it bears repeating, as these bully victim suicides have got to stop. Phoebe Prince, a new arrival at South Hadley High School from a tiny seaside hamlet in County Clare, was mercilessly tormented by…
NYRA is deeply invested in addressing real-life instances of discrimination. For more than a year, NYRA staff has been involved in pursuing a discrimination complaint against Crazy Ray’s Autoparts, a small chain of autosalvage yards located in Maryland. The complaint stems from a policy that prohibits the entry of persons under 18 into the yards….
NYRA is competing in the Razoo NIT. A March Madness themed online fundraising contest for small nonprofits. In order to compete, charities must have an operating budget below $250,000. Due to the level of competition and our great online support this is a great opportunity for us to win some money to help cover our…
NYRA has offered its full support to the New York Civil Liberties Union’s (NYCLU) suit against New York City’s school safety officers over excessive force and wrongful arrests of students. The lawsuit documents numerous incidents in which students engaged in non-criminal conduct were handcuffed, arrested and physically assaulted by police personnel at school. The police…
I’m sure by now we’ve all heard the case of Constance McMillen, the high school student who, after being told she could not bring her girlfriend as her prom date nor wear a tuxedo, she got the ACLU involved and the school was forced not to ban her from the prom because of her sexual…
