Youth Leadership

The Youth Leadership program reaches out to those youth who are the next generation of leaders for the Greater Albuquerque community and prepares them for constructive and responsible participation in community affairs.

This program is designed for student leader and skills development. The volunteers responsible for the planning and implementation of this program believe that students who are given the opportunity to participate in this program will gain knowledge and insight to help them make decisions about the skills and education or training they need to become successful workers, business people and community leaders.

Youth Leadership is citywide in scope.  The program brings together high school students from public, private, charter and parochial high schools in the Albuquerque area.  The interaction among youth from all parts of the city encourages mutual respect, dispels misplaced fears, and results in a shared concern for a continuing commitment to the growth and advancement of the Greater Albuquerque area.

The Youth Leadership program provides a process for students to learn and practice the skills necessary to become productive workers and community leaders.  Throughout the nine-month program, students explore our community – its resources, leadership, issues and opportunities.  They share ideas and learn what it takes to become a decision-maker.  They examine how to develop the abilities and skills needed to be responsible participants in community affairs.  This program is designed to motivate the students to think seriously about the role they’d like to play and the difference they can make in their community.

Participants:  A maximum of 35 students are selected in their sophomore year to participate during their junior year.  There is no cost to the participants or their schools.  Due to limited program size, commitment of each student to participate fully is essential.

Selection:  A business/school based committee selects a maximum of 2 participants from each high school based on information from the application, brief essays and an interview process.  The target group includes not only those with leadership potential, but “diamonds in the rough” – leadership potential, not necessarily already the top leaders.  Students must have a 2.5 GPA.

Program:  The Youth Leadership Program is designed to prepare our young leaders to “make a difference” in the economic health and quality of life in our community by teaching them how they can take a leadership role in the voluntary (nonprofit) and public (government) sectors.  We do this through delivering a year-long program to 35-40 high school juniors.  The program is driven by what we refer to as the Pillars of Leadership.  They are as follows:

Leadership Development - Youth Leadership is dedicated to introducing the youth participants in our program to the tried and true skills as well as the emerging thinking related to leadership.

Civic Engagement- Service-learning combines service objectives with learning objectives and engages the student in self-reflection and self-discovery.

Issues Colloquium – This pillar relates specifically to the education of the class participants to the issues (challenges/hopes) of our community as well to celebrate the “gems” of our community.  These issues are identified each year based upon the curriculum committee’s assessment of emerging issues or hot topics.  The topics for each program day range from leadership and team building skills to how to be a success in business.  Agendas focus on employability skills, communications, decision making, how a city runs, responsibilities in building a community, perceptions of neighborhoods and multicultural awareness.    Students participate in a small group project.  The emphasis of the project piece of the program is on both process and results.  The purpose is to teach students how to take on responsibilities, interact with others and make decisions.

Schedule:  The program begins with a retreat in August, followed by eight program days held from 7:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.  It concludes with a project report day and a graduation dinner in April.