Program Overview

Nebraska YMCA Youth and Government provides students across the state with the opportunity to represent their schools and communities as part of a youth-run, youth-led model state government.

The Nebraska Youth and Government program is open to all high school students across the state. Interested students and teachers who wish to participate in the program can contact Victor Ortiz-Morales at victor@ymcayag.org.

Program Year Kickoff Event

Join us on Saturday, Sept. 28th in Lincoln, Nebraska from 10:30am – 3:30pm to learn more information on how to start a chapter at your school. Register for our kick-off event:

Kick-Off Event Registration Form | Tentative Agenda

This is a great opportunity to share your ideas for the 2019-20 program year, as well as to meet with our Youth and Government program staff and Youth Governor Olivia Bartek,

We’ll also share information about how your school can get involved in voter registration, ensuring that as many of your eligible peers are registered to vote as possible!

Finally, students will have the opportunity to meet with current District 8 State Senator Megan Hunt. Senator Hunt will be available to answer any student questions regarding current State Affairs or questions regarding the Nebraska Legislature.

Delegate Training Conference

December 2019 | Lincoln, Nebraska

Our delegate training event will take place in Lincoln, NE, during this event delegates will be able to interact with their fellow NE YAG student members and will participate in a series of professional development activities that will better prepare them for the State Assembly. Some of the key points are as follows.

• Chapters across the state will come together to discuss their program goals and achievements. Chapters will be encouraged to share ideas on how to better program participation and community engagement.
• Delegates will participate in parliamentary procedure training sessions and will decide on what procedures NE YAG will adopt in future assemblies.
• 2020-2021 Presiding Officer Candidates will be presented, candidates will have the opportunity to speak to the delegation.

State Assembly

April 2020 | Lincoln, Nebraska

At our State Assembly, participants serve as Youth Senators in our model unicameral session at the Nebraska State Capitol. Each Youth Senator researches and writes a bill on an issue they believe is important to our state, and prepares speeches to present during debate.

This year’s program fee is $35, which can be paid during registration (or indicate on your registration that you will be mailing a check). Checks should be made out to “YMCA Youth and Government.”

Please stay tuned for more updated information, follow us on Twitter. Registration will open later this fall:

Register for State Assembly | Coming Soon

Bill Submission | Coming Soon

To help you prepare your bill, please use the bill template and research materials in the resource section.

Program Resources

Please use the following resources when training and preparing for our State Assembly:

• Student Safety & Code of Conduct Form – all students must download, print, and sign this form with their parent/guardian and bring it with them to State Assembly.

• Bill Template (MS Word) – please use this template to draft and save your bill before emailing it for submission.

• Nebraska Unicameral Bills – samples of bills from actual Nebraska Senators for reference when drafting your bills.

• Debate & Parliamentary Procedure Guide (Coming Soon) – please use this debate guide to the practice parliamentary procedure we will be using during State Assembly

• Presiding Officer Candidate Declaration (Coming Soon) – Students can also run as candidates for one of our Presiding Officer roles: Youth Governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the Legislature, and Secretary of State. These roles are elected at each State Assembly to serve at the next year’s session.

• YMCA Conference on National Affairs Application (Coming Soon) – Attendees at this year’s Nebraska Youth and Government State Assembly are invited to apply to join the Nebraska Delegation to CONA 2020, which will be held from June 29th to July 5th at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, NC.