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MEMORANDUM FOR MRS. CLINTON
FROM:
Shirley Sagawa
Ann O'Leary
MaryEllen McGuire
Heather Howard
Ruby Shamir
RE:
White House Conference on Teenagers
DATE:
March 30, 2000
We wanted to bring you up to date on the planning for our conference, now scheduled for May
2. We have tentatively entitled the event "The White House Conference on Teenagers: Raising
Responsible and Resourceful Youth." In addition to the group on this memo, Sonia Chessen,
director of the White House Council on Youth Violence, has been working hard on the
conference. Sonia is on detail from HHS where she was a senior advisor to Peggy Hamburg
responsible for the youth development portfolio.
We have held focus groups with researchers, youth-serving organizations, experts on youth
development, education organizations, foundations, work and family experts, and youth. In
addition, we have asked youth-serving organizations to hold their own focus groups with youth
and to report back their ideas. We are finding strong support for the following messages:
The early teen years are as important as the zero to three years in terms of healthy and
meaningful development (there is even preliminary research that suggests the brain goes
through an important "pruning and weeding" phase around puberty, raising the stakes for
these years).
Contrary to their own perceptions, parents do play an important role in the development of their
teenage children; research and reports from teenagers themselves confirm that youth look to
their parents for guidance and want more interaction with them.
Parent and teen fears about violence and other dangers are disproportionate to actual risks; we
must shatter the stereotypes people hold in regard to youth and at the same time explore why
some risks/negative behaviors perpetuate, we need to acknowledge that there is a crisis of
community and values in our society that must be addressed in order to be restored.
While there is significant consensus regarding what young people need, and about what parents,
adults in the community, and youth themselves can do to meet these needs, this information
is not well known.
The opening session will be held in the East Room in the morning, to be followed by a lunch,
breakout sessions, and possibly a closing off-site. We expect to invite about 150 people
including youth experts, foundations, corporations, federal, state and local policymakers,
educators, and pairs of youth and parents. Please let us know if there is anyone in particular you
want to invite. We will have a draft invitation list for you to look at next week.
We are working on several possible deliverables. They include:
Portrait of American Teenagers: A "snapshot" report on teenagers and the
American Family, to be prepared by the Council of Economic Advisors, will be
used as a base for the conference and will provide the public with an accurate
image of teens, their families, positive and negative behavior trends of young
people, and why parents matter in the lives of teens. This report will include
information on the diversity of teens (race, ethnicity, immigrant status), health
status, life expectancy, education and will put this information in an historical
perspective - -- looking at teens over the past one hundred years.
Tools for teenagers: A one-stop center for information pertaining to teens will
be rolled out in a new www.teenagers.gov site that will link together government
websites with information on everything from health care to education to
programs and opportunities for teenagers. In addition, we would like to be able
to announce possible plans to develop a national youth hotline like the UK's
"Childline" so that America's youth could have one hotline to call that would link
them to local service providers for help in crisis or times of trouble.
Tools for parents: We would like to provide a number of tools for parents: (1)
a joint statement/pamphlet by the Campaign for the Prevention of Teen
Pregnancy, ONDCP, Tobacco Free Kids, and Youth Violence campaign on what
parents can do to help their children avoid risky behavior; (2) a new parenting
website being developed by OJJDP that would have information specifically for
parents of teenagers (most parenting websites provide little or no information to
parents of teenagers) ; and (3) steps to move forward on developing a uniformed
rating system that would be easy for parents to use.
Challenges to the community: to employers to make it easier for parents of
teenagers to spend time with them; to youth organizations to involve parents in
their programs, not just youth; to schools to involve not just elementary school
parents, but middle school and high school parents as well; to the media to take
responsibility in how they portray young people, how they market to young
people, and what messages they send to young people, etc.
Challenges to youth themselves to take responsibility for their futures. We
are also considering initiating a national challenge to "make family meal time a
priority" as a proxy for the overall important message of parents and teenagers
spending time together. Research suggests the importance of this simple step,
but in a practical sense, it is not easy to achieve even by the best parents. In order to
acknowledge how hard it is for many families to come together for meals, and to make
the challenge credible, we would seek a few lead commitments by employers and
others (7-11s, cereal companies, etc.) both to spread the word and take steps to
help their own employees participate in family meals. Do you think this is a good
idea?
To increase media attention we are looking to include a celebrity into the speaking program. So
far we are considering Denzel Washington, Susan Sarandon, Sela Ward, Cal Ripkin, or Bill
Cosby to take part as both child advocates and parents. As youth-oriented role models we are
considering Will Smith and Grant Hill, a basketball player from the Detroit Pistons who has
done PSAs for AmeriCorps, the Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, and ONDCP. Do you
have any preferences or further ideas on which celebrities to invite?
Finally, we are pleased that the Annie Casey Foundation has agreed to provide funding in
support of the conference; the Department of Education has agreed to organize the satellite
uplink; GSA has agreed to manage the satellite uplink and downlinks; and the YMCA of the
USA has agreed to do a poll and video for us, and to be our key private sector partner. The
video will feature a diverse group of young people and parents talking about the issues they face.
It is being produced by Sunburst (the firm that did the Philanthropy Conference video and
Millennium Evening videos).
Next week, we will provide you with a draft of the agenda including proposed speakers,
researchers, and model programs we hope to highlight. Over the next few days, we will
be vetting ideas internally and will be brainstorming further with David Hamburg in order
to further revise and hone the message. We will keep you posted as we move forward.
Don't hesitate to call with any questions.
Do not circulate - Embargoed
White House Conference on Teenagers:
Raising Responsible & Resourceful Youth
Despite many positive developments in the last seven years - including declining rates of
teen pregnancy, decreases in crimes against youth, and increases in student achievement
and college access - parents of today's adolescents express significant anxiety about the
well-being of their children. In many cases, teenagers themselves feel alienated from
their communities and insecure about the future. And recent tragedies have made parents
and teens of all backgrounds feel helpless in the face of school violence.
The White House Conference on Raising Teenagers in the 21st Century will respond to
these concerns by focusing attention on ways that families and communities can teach
good values, promote healthy behavior, and support positive youth development. Break
through brain research suggests that the adolescent years are far more important than we
had previously understood. With this in mind, and against a backdrop of broader societal
changes (new technology, an increasingly diverse population, and a significant
"opportunity gap" for low-income and minority youth), the Conference will bring to light
research on positive youth development, stress the importance of investing in youth, and
provide tools for parents and other adults - and youth themselves - to ensure that the teen
years are healthy and productive ones.
What issues will be addressed through the Conference?
Parents feel disconnected from their teenage children, lack information to
respond to the challenges they and their teens face, and may not believe they
have an important role to play in their own children's lives.
Teenagers feel alienated from their families and communities, are victims of
negative stereotypes, and may be overly influenced by negative role models.
Low-income and minority teenagers face an "opportunity gap" in many areas.
Problems of youth require comprehensive and integrated solutions, but often
are addressed through programs focused on a single issue.
There is only limited research on "what works" for adolescents, and that
research is not well known.
What do we hope to accomplish?
To engage parents and communities in a conversation about how we can do a
better job working together to raise our teenagers.
To make the case for new resources to support positive youth development.
To challenge inaccurate views and stereotypes about teenagers, their role in
the community, and the importance of parents in their lives.
To encourage more effective, integrated services for and by youth at all levels
of government and in the private sector.
To provide parents and communities with tools and information they can use
to address the needs of adolescents.
To enable teenagers to speak out about the challenges they face and their role
in addressing these problems.
To issue a call to action to the private sector, media, etc. to take responsibility
for their effect on youth, and use their resources to promote healthy
development.
When will the conference occur?
Tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, from approximately 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. We
anticipate that the opening session, to take place from approximately 9:30 to 11:30 am,
will be available via satellite. This session may be followed by lunch, four to six
different breakout sessions, and a closing event or reception.
Who will attend the conference?
Approximately 180 individuals will attend the conference. (The size is limited by the
available space at the White House.) The on-site audience will include a diverse group of
parents, teenagers, policymakers, youth workers, educators, faith-based organizations,
media, business, and foundations. Additional individuals may participate via satellite at
locations around the country.
What will be addressed in the conference program?
Both youth and parents will be significant voices in the program
The program may be organized thematically around "community, opportunity,
and responsibility."
Within this framework, the following issues may be addressed during
breakout sessions:
Health - exercise, nutrition, teen pregnancy, HIV, smoking, drugs and
alcohol, and research on obesity, sleep, etc.
Education - afterschool programs, smaller high schools, impact of work
on education, college preparation and access
Work - family friendly workplaces, youth employment, entrepreneurship
programs, school-to-work
Safety - violence by youth, youth as victims of violence, gangs, sexual
harassment, peer pressure, risky behaviors
Values - citizenship, service, philanthropy, character education,
community strengthening, "One America"
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