Havasu Youth Advisory Council under the leadership of Mayor Mark S. Nexsen, travel to Scottsdale to compete against two other youth councils, Surprise Youth Council and Young River People, at the League of Arizona Cities and Towns Youth Conference. The three councils were invited by the Center for the Future of Arizona and Arizona State University’s Office of Entrepreneurship + Innovation to pilot a civic engagement challenge for seed funding to implement projects that enhance the culture of entrepreneurship, innovation, and civic engagement at the high school level in their hometowns. Our youth council will improve civic health in Lake Havasu City by taking actions to build the community by working with neighbors to fix something. Their project focuses on retention of quality teachers. This was one of the major issues that was brought up by community leaders at the Town Hall in August of 2015 for the America’s Best Communities prize competition discussion, and is also one of the goals for Vision 20/20, Pillar 2-Education and Talent.

The youth councils will begin their pitch presentations at 5:00 p.m. Watch it live on Facebook at facebook.com/AZFuture and  cheer on the Havasu Youth Advisory Council from home. The youth councils will compete for a grand prize of $750 to implement their civic engagement intervention. The second place prize is $500 and the third place is $250. Projects will be evaluated based on innovation, impact, and implementation. #GrowDemocraSeed

Photo of HYAC: Stephanie Nelson, Ella Wofford, Jersey Orias, Garrett McNerney, Cheyenne Halfacre-Buie, Carla Betancourt, and Tatum Bracamonte. Not in photo: Hayden Lintz.