YAC stands for Youth Advisors Council. We are the youth representatives of the Healthy Kids Healthy Communities (HKHC) partnership in Buffalo. We set an advocacy agenda each year towards healthy eating and active living in Buffalo – we decide what is important to us and then we act on it.
In 2013-2014, our focus is on improving school meals in Buffalo. On Wednesday, October 23rd at 5pm, we are hosting a kick-off event, called Just Lead. Just Lead will engage everyone in improving school meals and introduce opportunities for youth and adults to get involved.
Just Lead will take place as part of the 2nd Buffalo Food Policy Summit and will be held at the Burchfield Penney Art Center on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo. Following Just Lead, HKHC-YAC will meet monthly during the school year.
To reserve your space at Just Lead, RSVP online by October 14th at https://mapgrowinggreen.wufoo.com/forms/just-lead/
Our plan for this school year is to:
- Establish youth leaders and adult mentors from school site-based Wellness Committees
- Raise awareness about the Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) Food Service Department and the district’s new wellness policy
- Support the Food Service Department and Buffalo Public Schools Nutrition Committee in implementing changes within each school’s meal program through feedback from students, parents, staff, teachers and other members of the community
YAC Leaders in 2012-2013
- Maddi Callanan, TapestryCharterSchool, ‘15
- Dillon Hill, PS #156 Frederick Law Olmsted, ‘15
- Bernard Rice, PS #206 SouthParkHigh School, ‘14
- DeQhaun Vance, TapestryCharterSchool, ‘14
Past accomplishments
- Engaged youth & families in the Buffalo Green Code planning process (2010-2011)
- Secured two voting seats for youth on the Food Policy Council for Buffalo & Erie County (2012-2013)
Other policy interest areas
NFTA Youth Passes
Most of us ride the bus or train every day. But sometimes we have things to do after school – sports, clubs or jobs – and then it is hard to use our NFTA pass. We want to start a conversation with NFTA about making it easier to for students to use their pass to participate in afterschool activities or jobs. We hope to come up with some ideas about how the pass could be better, and then present them to the NFTA.
School Wellness Policies
We spend so much time in school, it would be great if we knew that the schools were thinking about how they can make easier for us to learn and be healthy. Some schools have wellness policies, some don’t. Wellness policies usually have information about what food can be served, how much time we should get for exercise and who should be involved in making the rules. We would like to work on getting better policies, or new policies if schools do not have them, and make sure that there is a youth representative on each wellness committee.
The HKHC-Youth Advisors Council (HKHC-YAC) is a Buffalo-based leadership initiative run by and for high school students, with support from Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in Buffalo.
For more information about HKHC-YAC or the Just Lead event, contact Rebekah Williams at MAP via email at Rebekah@mass-ave.org or by phone at (716) 882-5327 x 6