Puerto Rican/Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute (PR/HYLI)
The is an innovative collaboration with the NYS Assembly/Senate Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force in conjunction with the annual SOMOS El Futuro conference, Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages, the New York CityÌýDepartment of Education, and other agencies as appropriate.
The overall purpose of the PR/HYLI is student empowerment. To this end the Institute has the following goals for its student delegates:
- The development of leadership skills in Latino/Hispanic Youth;
- The creation of opportunities for Latino/Hispanic students to interact with positive role models such as Puerto Rican/Latino elected officials, educators, and business leaders;
- The creation of partnerships and conversations among educators, business leaders and students, and
- The development of an in depth knowledge of the state legislative process.
The Puerto Rican/Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute consists of 3 main phases:
- Training in regional delegations: selected student delegates focus on identification and research of local issues, study of the NYS legislative process, parliamentary procedure and selected bills.
- Participation in the 3-day Institute: Approximately 200 students from 8 delegations statewide take part in key activities which include team-building exercises to develop inter-regional relationships, a Mock Assembly sessionÌý which is conducted in the NYS Assembly chamber, a student recognition dinner where winners of the PR/HYLI scholarships and other awards are announced and career development workshops.
- Extension and refinement of leadership skills: back in their local communities, student delegates continue to develop leadership skills and put their skills “to practice."
