About NOYS

On February 8, 1994, the National Organization for Youth Traffic Safety Collaboration meeting was held in Washington, DC. This meeting laid the groundwork to what later developed into the coalition known today as the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) .

 

Youth-oriented national organizations were identified and brought together to explore ways in which they could work together to promote youth safety, specifically highway traffic safety at the time. By working in a concerted effort it was hoped that not only would more youth be reached by programs, but scarce funding resources could be conserved by not duplicating work to reach the targeted youth audience. In addition, and just as important, was the objective to involve youth leaders as a part of this effort.

 

Since the initial meeting in 1994, the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) has grown to nearly 40 national youth and youth-serving organizations. NOYS members have been meeting several times a year over the past several years to share information on their individual programs and projects, collaborate with other member organizations to develop programs, and work together on NOYS sponsored programs and projects.

 

NOYS youth designed programs serve as focus-groups or focus-group leaders on cutting-edge issues, speak on issues and promote programs at conferences, meetings, and for media outlets, as well as provide leadership within the coalition.

 

NOYS has increased diverse representation through the NHTSA-sponsored National Youth Diversity Summit on Traffic Safety held in Los Angeles on July 26-29, 2001. The Summit brought together five hundred youth and their adult advisors of diverse cultures and backgrounds. The youth were empowered to help reduce risk, injuries and deaths related to traffic crashes and other issues of concern.

 

Youth designed projects include:

· NOYS New Year’s Eve

· NOYS Party Planner

· Speak Out and Make NOYS

· Project YOUTH-Turn

· Smashed: Toxic Tales of Teens and Alcohol

 

These projects are accessible on the NOYS website at www.NOYS.org 

 

NOYS also manages mini-grant programs to support innovative strategies that model problem-solving among local community coalitions.

 

NOYS STRUCTURE

NOYS is a collaboration of close to 40 national, youth-serving organizations, including non-profit organizations and government agencies, with the common goal of promoting safe and healthy behaviors among our nation's youth. The coalition meets in a round table forum approximately 2-3 times per year.

 

NOYS is governed by a rotating Board of Directors of up to 21 members with a minimum of up to four youth representatives sitting on the Board. The Board of Directors is the governing committee of NOYS, and has sub-committees on programs, communications, and membership. There are, however,  other committees that may be formed on an ad hoc basis to address issues such as fundraising, special initiatives, and other items of business that may arise.