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The LEAGUE National Youth Commission

The LEAGUE is a national youth service organization founded in 2005. It is a school and web-based program for service learning that builds character and empowers young people to “do good” -- make a positive difference in their community, the nation, and the world.

The LEAGUE National Youth Commission is the youth advisory board to The LEAGUE. As youth service leaders in their communities, their mission is to provide three core services to The LEAGUE:

· Stand as advocates in support of The LEAGUE.

· Serve as a think-tank to generate new ideas for The LEAGUE.

· Monitor The LEAGUE programs while serving as a voice of youth evaluation of The LEAGUE.

NEW! Check out the National Youth Commission Blog!

Meet the Chair of The LEAGUE National Youth Commission - Daniel Fine

Daniel Fine

Co-Founder and Chair The National Youth Commission of The LEAGUE

Daniel Fine is a sophomore at The Peddie School in Hightstown New Jersey. He is the founder of Dollars for Diabetes, a youth-run fundraising initiative that began in 2004 when his younger brother Jake was diagnosed with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes.

Fine created Dollars for Diabetes to insure that while adults were busy fundraising, kids too could make a difference by “Fun-raising,” literally one dollar at a time for his family’s fundraising initiative, Team Brotherly Love. He founded a Youth Advisory Board, which began with just Daniel and his brother that now involves over 80 children, ranging in age from five to twenty!

To date, Dollars for Diabetes alone has raised over $42,000 by literally collecting dollars in buckets at sport venues, school events, and local businesses. Further, he has engaged support and sponsorship from a diverse group of businesses including Quick-Chek stores, the Utz Pretzel Company, and NBC Universal. All told, Fine and his family have raised over $620,000 to date for diabetes support domestically and internationally.

As a result of his work, Fine and his brother Jake have been featured on “The Today Show” with Tiki Barber and were invited to the United Nations to launch World Diabetes Day with the International Diabetes Federation.

Fine has received important recognition from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) including awards for “Top Fundraising Team,” “Top Fundraising Individual,” “The JDRF Platinum Achievement Award,” and “The Golden Sneaker” for three consecutive years. In 2008, the JDRF honored Fine with the “Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Leadership.” Fine’s unprecedented work resulted in the JDRF naming him the Founder of the Youth Board of Advisors for the organization.

Fine was also elected for the past two consecutive years to the Youth Advisory Board of Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS), is a nationally ranked, Junior Olympic swimming gold medalist, and is Vice President of The Peddie School’s Young Entrepreneurs Club.

Daniel was just awarded with the prestigious “Prudential Spirit of Community Award” and will receive the distinction of President Barack Obama’s “Volunteer Service Award” through a partnership with the President’s Council of Service and Civic Participation for his outstanding volunteerism.

Fine is proud to be the Co-Founder and Chair The National Youth Commission of The LEAGUE.

And most proud of being Jakes big brother!

How Does The LEAGUE National Youth Commission Work?

The Youth Advisory Board

The Youth Advisory Board will be comprised of the Chair, Vice Chair, founding members, and those appointed to the Board. The Youth Advisory Board will lead The LEAGUE Youth National Commission in its responsibilities and be the formal liaison to The LEAGUE.

Membership Levels

The LEAGUE National Youth Commission has three different levels based on longevity, experience and contribution to the organization – Rookie Member, Veteran Member, and MVP Member.

· Rookie Member

New, incoming members will be a Rookie Member. Their responsibilities will be more local. They will be responsible for being local advocates for The LEAGUE with local school captains (other LEAGUE students) and coaches (LEAGUE teachers) as well as distributing and collecting evaluations.

· Veteran Member

A Veteran Member will be any member who has completed all the Rookie Member requirements and responsibilities. They will be responsible for working with their Rookie counterpart on staying in touch at the local level with LEAGUE coaches and students. Veteran Members will also play much more of an advocating role in The LEAGUE as they will be mentored by a MVP Member.

· MVP Member

MVP Members will hold the most responsibilities. They may responsible for the newsletter, blog, and taking think tank ideas to Youth Advisory Board and or The LEAGUE. MVP members are also paired up with their Veteran Member counterpart in their state and are given the responsibility to mentor them. The Veteran Members will be interns to the MVP Members and the MVP Members will be responsible for mentoring the Veteran Members. MVP members will be expected to attend annual meetings and participate in conference calls.

An important aspect of The LEAGUE National Youth Commission is that members can choose to stay on at their current level or can apply to go to the next level. At the end of every year, a member determines if they can or cannot commit themselves to the responsibility of the next level and if so they choose to stay at the current level as long as the member continues to do well and is committed to the organization.

Communication

The LEAGUE National Youth Commission will interact primarily through digital communications along with having a quarterly conference calls and an annual meeting. Online, members will communicate via email and chats as well as on a private LEAGUE National Youth Commission blog/forum. The forum has multiple discussion threads where members can talk and discuss the various projects. More general comments can also be made on the wall of our Facebook group.

(Sub) Committees

The Youth Advisory Board will delegate responsibilities to members. For example, members will be given jobs such as maintaining the blog/forum, writing the quarterly newsletter, updating the website, or doing anything else that may come along. Members will rotate throughout sub-committees so that everyone gets an opportunity to try everything. However, once someone finds a area that they really enjoy, they may choose to make that their primary responsibility.

The National Youth Commission

Core Services to The LEAGUE

Advocates:

We request that each member of the National Youth Commission to stand as a Living Advocate for The LEAGUE. Upon entry, each member will write a personal statement detailing his or her thought on The LEAGUE. The National Youth Commission will advocates via various media forums.

·       Member personal statement
·       Quarterly newsletter
·       Facebook group/ cause/ fan-page
·       Blog

Think-Tank:

Another goal of the National Youth Commission is to serve as a youth think-tank for new ideas to be generated and developed. Through all means of communication, both in online postings and live chats, we will constantly be setting time aside for people to present ideas. After developing these ideas, we will present them to The LEAGUE. The National Youth Commission will work with The LEAGUE to bring these ideas to life all the way through from conception to implementation.

Program Monitoring:

Arguably one of the most important roles of The LEAGUE National Youth Commission will be to monitor The LEAGUE’s program and act as the voice of the youth for The LEAGUE. The National Youth Commission will review new LEAGUE programming to provide feedback. Will also look at program results to see where improvements can be made. Additionally, The National Youth Commission will also design and administer an evaluation that will help the members to seek out and “hear” the voice of the participants in The LEAGUE. Through the evaluations the National Youth Commission will identify areas of opportunity for change and bring these needs to The LEAGUE; advising The LEAGUE on how best to handle.

The National Youth Commission

Managing Content

All content that will be released by The LEAGUE National Youth Commission will be reviewed by MVP Members and then submitted to the Youth Advisory Board for submission to The LEAGUE before being released. Anything the National Youth Commission releases must be reviewed by MVP Members, Youth Advisory Board and The LEAGUE and will be held to the highest standards.

The Media

The National Youth Commission relationship with the media will be an open and friendly relationship, but those interacting with the media must respect and follow standards from The LEAGUE. Only those approved by the Youth Advisory Board will be permitted to speak directly with the media. Anything that the National Youth Commission prepares for the media must be approved by The LEAGUE.

Productivity

Productivity will be very important to the success of the National Youth Commission. That is why every meeting and conference call will be planned out before hand. Before meetings, all members will be sent a meeting agenda. By using this system, all members will know in advance to bring all of their ideas, drafts, and question.

Integration with The LEAGUE

The National Youth Commission is a part of The LEAGUE. All members will be in registered LEAGUE Schools.

Interested in joining the National Youth Commission? Download the application.