Bylaws of the YouthVoice Youth Board.

How the board is run: who can join, how we vote, how briefs get approved, and how we protect people who share. Draft for the board to review and vote on.

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Draft. Not yet adopted.

Article 1.
Name and purpose

  1. The name of this group is the YouthVoice Youth Board, called “the Board” in these bylaws.
  2. The Board collects what young people and their communities think, in their own words, finds where those voices agree, and delivers that evidence to people who can act on it.
  3. The Board publishes at least one brief every month.

Article 2.
Independence

  1. YouthVoice is independent and youth-run. It is not sponsored, managed, or endorsed by any public agency, district, city, or business.
  2. The Board does not speak for any public agency, district, city, or business, and none of them speak for the Board.
  3. The Board does not use the logo or branding of any public agency, district, or city.

Article 3.
Membership

  1. Any young person ages 12 to 18 who lives or spends time in the communities YouthVoice serves may apply.
  2. Members 12 and under need written OK from a parent or guardian. All members tell a parent or guardian that they are joining.
  3. New members are approved by a majority vote of the Board.
  4. Members agree to keep every post and recording private, and to follow Articles 7 and 8.
  5. A member may resign at any time. The Board may remove a member by a two-thirds vote for breaking these bylaws.

Article 4.
Officers

  1. The officers are Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Research Lead, and Publicity Chair.
  2. Chair runs meetings and signs briefs on behalf of the Board. Vice Chair fills in for the Chair. Secretary keeps minutes and the public record of briefs and responses. Treasurer tracks any money and reports it at every meeting. Research Lead runs the weekly grouping of answers and checks that every finding follows Article 6. Publicity Chair runs outreach, contests, and polls.
  3. Officers are elected each year by majority vote and serve one year. They may run again.

Article 5.
Meetings and voting

  1. The Board meets at least twice a month, in person or online.
  2. A quorum is more than half of current members.
  3. Decisions pass by a simple majority of members present, except where these bylaws say otherwise.
  4. Minutes, without anyone’s private information, are posted publicly within two weeks.

Article 6.
Briefs

  1. A finding goes in a brief only if at least three perspectives agree: young people, parents or guardians, neighbors, and local businesses.
  2. Quotes are used word for word. They may be shortened but never reworded.
  3. Every brief includes a section on where people saw things differently.
  4. No brief includes anyone’s name or details that could identify them.
  5. Publishing a brief takes a two-thirds vote of members present.
  6. Briefs are signed by the Youth Board, delivered to the decision maker they concern, and posted publicly with any response.
  7. The Board may publish its own brief in a month with few answers, and says so in the brief.

Article 7.
Privacy and redaction

  1. Names, social handles, phone numbers, emails, and addresses are removed from every transcript before any member reads it, and muted in any playback.
  2. Location is kept at the zip-code level only.
  3. Recordings are deleted after the brief they belong to is published.
  4. Only Board members may see unpublished answers. No public agency, district, city, or business gets the full list.

Article 8.
Safety

  1. Wherever people answer, YouthVoice shows how to reach 911, 988, and Say Something for anything that needs urgent support.
  2. Members do not investigate or judge serious posts. A post that says someone could be hurt is never published, and the member who sees it tells the Chair and a parent or guardian the same day so it can be referred to 911, Say Something, or 988.

Article 9.
Conflicts of interest

  1. A member who works for, or has family who own, a business or group named in a brief says so before the vote and does not vote on that brief.

Article 10.
Money

  1. No donation, discount, or gift may change what a brief says.
  2. The Treasurer reports any money received or spent at every meeting, and the report is part of the public minutes.

Article 11.
Amendments

  1. These bylaws may be changed by a two-thirds vote of all members, after the change has been posted publicly for at least 14 days.