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ABOUT
Who We Are
The Vision Zero Youth Council is a youth-led program of NOYS (National Organizations for Youth Safety) that advocates for safe and sustainable mobility by focusing on the youth experience and supporting the prioritization of youth representation and involvement in decision-making spaces.
We believe that youth are the leading force for positive change in our society, and that we become stronger when we work together.
For this reason, our purpose is to create a network of youth activists to support Vision Zero efforts across the world.
Our Story
The Vision Zero Youth Council was founded in December of 2014 in New York City after the deaths of three youth from the same middle school. These deaths severely impacted the entire community, bringing the founding group together in hopes of stopping these horrendous and preventable crashes.
The group began hosting monthly meetings at a local middle school to educate their peers on the statistics of road safety, how to be safe road users, and how to be vocal advocates for change. By partnering with other local organizations, the newly-formed Vision Zero Youth Council began speaking up for safer streets at the local, state, and national levels.
Since then, the Vision Zero Youth Council has continued to grow and in 2023, U.S. chapters of the VZYC were adopted as a program of NOYS (National Organizations for Youth Safety).
HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR WORK
SPEED SAFETY CAMERAS
In May of 2019, Governor Cuomo from New York signed into law a speed safety camera bill, which expanded the pilot program from 140 school zones to 750, with extended hours of use. This bill was the outcome of four years of hard work, spearheaded by Families for Safe Streets. The Vision Zero Youth Council took part in lobbying days at the New York State Senate in Albany, organizing rallies, and spearheaded a petition that received over 600 signatures from high school students across the city in just three days.
WHERE ARE WE IN THE WORLD?
