Latest News Local News OKC Named Among Top Towns for Young People
OKC Named Among Top Towns for Young People
Oklahoma City receives 100 Best Communities
for Young People trophy
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett on Wednesday accepted the 100 Best Communities for Young People trophy awarded to Oklahoma City by America's Promise Alliance.
Making the presentation at Mark Twain Elementary School was Colleen Wilber from America's Alliance. America's Promise Alliance is the nation's largest partnership organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth.
The 100 Best designation recognizes communities that make youth a priority by implementing programs that help keep children in school and prepare them for college and the workforce.
Oklahoma City was named one of the nation's 100 Best thanks to the community's renewed focus on providing high-quality mentoring and youth fitness programs to inner-city youth.
After the findings of a wide-reaching report by the United Way of Central Oklahoma uncovered a desperate need for mentorship programs, a community-wide call-to-action was established for caring adults to volunteer as mentors in local schools and organizations. As a result, programs such as Mentoring Matters and businesses like Devon Energy, INTEGRIS Health, Chesapeake Energy, SandRidge Energy and many other have worked to increase the number of volunteer mentors in the community.
Sports camps sponsored by the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team, the Oklahoma City Kid's Memorial Marathon and initiatives implemented by Oklahoma City Fit Kids Coalition that brought fitness, sports, exercise and healthy eating habits to inner city youth also contributed to the award designation.
The competition is one element of the Alliance's Grad Nation campaign, a 10-year initiative to mobilize all Americans to take action in their communities to end the high school dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21st century workforce. More than 7,000 students drop out each school day in the U.S., resulting in 1.3 million young people a year.
