Dear USYDI Supporters,
We are pleased to announce on behalf of the USYDI that the US Department of State launched on Thursday, August 23rd their first ever US Youth Observer Program that will send one US youth between the ages of 18 and 25, chosen through an open application process, to the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. This program is anticipated to act as a pilot for a full US youth delegate program launch in 2013.
After advocating for the creation of a US Youth Delegate Program with the USYDI for almost two years, this news comes with great congratulations to the US Department of State for its excellent steps forward in realizing active youth representation at the international stage and with sincerest thanks to all those of you who advocated along side of us with your letters of support, your time, or your ideas. We could not have advocated more strongly without your support, and we take this pilot program’s launch to be a great sign of the positive outcome mobilized support for change can have. Thank you to each and every one of you who made the vision and dream of active representation of US youth voices at the international stage a reality.
Though we are extremely excited at these great steps forward, we also recognize that in order to realize a full and effectively representative youth delegate program, many hours and much thought will be necessary for the growth and development of the program in the months ahead. As such, we would like to call on your support once more as we do our best to help make this program the most successful it can be through two requests:
- If you are between the ages of 18 and 25, please apply to the program at http://www.unausa.org/membership/us-youth. Applications are due by September 7th. We would love to see you as the first US Youth Observer!
- For everyone, if you are willing and able, please share this news with your networks and all those who you think may be interested in spreading the word or applying for the program. The greater the awareness for the program, the larger the applicant pool is likely to be, and the more representative of US youth the selected candidate can be. This element to the program’s success is integral, and any support you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to forward this email, post on your Facebook, Tweet about it, sing a song about it, play a soccer game in honor of it, or share the news any other way you can think of.
For more information, please visit to the United Nations Association of the US page at: http://www.unausa.org/membership/us-youth, and to the US Department of State’s Official Blog at http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/youth_observer_un_general_assembly.