Children and Youth Bill of Rights

In the spring of 2011, GUB coordinators investigated local interest in a Children and Youth Bill of Right (CYBOR). They called together a “council of councils” by inviting members of most Boulder youth councils and high school student governments to a meeting to discuss creation of a CYBOR in Boulder. Lack of attendance prevented the intended discussion. However, those present used this as an opportunity to re-think how best to engage youth in the bill of rights discussion.
 
GUB coordinators and collaborators decided to use a different method of engagement, and instead worked with interested and motivated teachers. By networking with local schools, they were able to find a group of four committed teachers to help us design and implement a CYBOR curriculum. Participating teachers were from New Vista High School’s Street Law, Language Arts and Service Week classes, Casey Middle School’s Leadership class, and Boulder High School’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) class. AVID is a program that provides support for at-risk students who wish to attend four-year universities.  This group of teachers and GUB coordinators spent the summer of 2011 designing curriculum and evaluation questions, classroom activities, a speaker series, and a Wiki site (an interactive website to be used by everyone). The curriculum was supplemented with materials designed by other countries for children and youth rights educational units. CYBOR classes also presented their final projects to the each other and to the larger Boulder community at the annual GUB event.
 
More than 200 youth participated in this project, which culminated in a summarized draft bill of rights. 
 
To view more information about the CYBOR Curriculum, visit the wiki page on GUB’s CYBOR or see the 2011/2012 Annual Report.