I am proud to be the founder of the nationally known and recognized, Mayor’s Youth Leadership Institute of Ray City, Georgia. We have dedicated thousands of hours toward ensuring that the youth of our city become “World Class Leaders”. Our program has been in existence since the year 2000, and we are proud of our future leaders. Please allow me to share with you a copy of an essay that I wrote for the Georgia Municipal Association’s City Upon A Hill Series. This essay is related to our youth, and our nation’s cities.

A City Upon a Hill is found in its youth. If the youth of today are really going to be the leaders of tomorrow, then we must teach them to lead today. And I believe that cities must take an active role in providing opportunities for them that fosters their growth and development.

“Would your city survive if all of the citizens over the age of eighteen years old would suddenly disappear?” That is a question that I ask community leaders during presentations on youth issues. No one ever says “yes.” I always follow-up with “we’ve got to get to work” because too many of our youth feel disassociated from their communities. If our cities are to survive and prosper we must bridge those generational gaps that divide our youth from their communities.

As one who has been involved with youth for quite a number of years, it seems to me that today's modern and advanced cities should take a closer look at what can be done to solidify a positive and lasting relationship with its youth. “I believe it does take a village to help raise a child or at least it takes a village to raise our next generation of leaders." Taking a proactive stance will help ensure that our youth will have that proper guidance and established security from their community.

It seems so often that youth are excluded from those activities that help create and define our cities, but personal attention for each and every one of our youth has a special seat at the table of leadership in Ray City. Through the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Institute we’ve invested much time, energy and resources toward ensuring that we do our part in helping develop what we call “World Class Leaders.” The institute has committed over two thousand hours toward training our youth and encouraging them to take an active role in their community. The program focuses on leadership, education, local, state, and federal government issues, voting and elections, and critical issues such as teen pregnancy prevention and abstinence, drugs and alcohol abuse prevention and crime prevention.

Cities have the ability to pass on the bright torch of leadership to our youth. And when it comes to cities, size really doesn’t matter. I’m proud of what we’ve done in Ray City and how we as a small city with less than a 1,000 citizens have positively impacted thousands of others through our youth leadership efforts.

Empowering young citizens should become a goal of not only elected officials, but also every adult citizen in our state and nation. Real value can be found in our youth … in their energy and in their ideas … we can't ignore it.

Investing in the stock market may be wise, but a return is not guaranteed. Investing in the future of our youth is sure to produce a prosperous return, no matter what the state of the economy may be.

Allow your city’s light to appeal to the youth who are the future of the City Upon a Hill.

Carl Camon

Visit the web site at www.mayorsyouthinstitute.com