(Miami, Florida)—City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz will host the 4th Annual Miami Youth Council Presentations, Friday, June 5, 2009, from 10:00am – 11:00am, at Miami City Hall, Commission Chambers, 3500 Pan American Drive.  City Commissioners, Miami-Dade County Public Schools representatives, and members of The Children’s Trust will be present to watch the students in action as they identify issues and formulate public policies to deal with these issues.

The City of Miami Office of the Mayor established the Miami Youth Council during the 2005 – 2006 school year with funding from The Children’s Trust.   The Miami Youth Council combines community service, civic engagement and leadership development for high school students in the City of Miami.  A Youth Council has been established at each of the City of Miami senior high schools.  Each one of these councils have received training through the school based “Project Citizen” curriculum which provides guidance as they identify and study a public policy issue, propose a solution and develop an action plan to carry out their policy.  

The participating Youth Councils will be addressing the following public policy issues and presenting their action plans:

Assistance for Stray Animals - Miami Sr. High School
Drug Abuse in their Community – Miami Jackson Sr. High School
Overcoming Hopelessness in Urban Schools – Miami Edison Sr. High School
Positive Opportunities for Youth in their Community – Miami Northwestern Sr. High School
Violence in their Community – Booker T. Washington Sr. High School