Talking Points

 These talking points are here to help when you go to visit your Members of Congress.   They highlight some of the important concepts in the Younger Americans Act (YAA), and refute some arguments against it.  Tell personal stories about the need for and success of youth development programs.  Connect these stories to the points about the YAA by showing how YAA funding would support organizations like yours.

1. The Younger Americans Act sends a message to young people that the government cares about them. 

2. Most youth-focused federal programs are deficit-based; that is, they are trying to solve a problem (drugs, crime, teen pregnancy, etc.).  YAA mobilizes communities to set positive goals for and with youth.  To become productive citizens, young people need to be more than just problem free.

3. While the Younger Americans Act focuses on all young people, it includes a special focus on youth who have the greatest need.  Thirty percent of YAA funding at the local level is designated for five categories of situations young people find themselves in:

   ·         Rural communities

   ·         High rate of poverty

   ·         High risk due of abuse and neglect
   
   ·         Out-of-home facilities, like juvenile detention facilities
   

   ·         Alternative schooling and young people who have been suspended or expelled

4. YAA does not create more bureaucracy.  Existing government agencies allocate the funds, and existing community organizations will oversee the administration of funds.

5. Communities are in control of YAA funds, not the Federal government.  Roughly 90% of the money goes directly to communities, to be distributed as grants by  local boards.

6. Local flexibility is combined with increased accountability.  There are measures of accountability at the local, state, and Federal level including annual reports, audits, and evaluations.

7. This bill is supported by virtually every major youth-serving organization in the country, such as United Way of America, America’s Promise (whose founding chairman is General Colin Powell), The National Collaboration for Youth, National Network for Youth, 4-H, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and many others.