Provided

The First Ever Affordable Fashion Show, held in November at the Boys and Girls Republic in lower Manhattan, highlighted how young people are manipulated by the media, advertising and designer labels to spend more than necessary on clothes and shoes. It was one of programs that garnered extension's CITY Project national recognition.

Interactive theater that raises awareness in urban communities about teens' risk-taking behaviors; a community forum on verbal and street harassment supported by the New York City Police Athletic League in Brooklyn; and the "First-Ever Affordable Fashion Show" to highlight the impact of media on teen shopping behaviors are just a few of the projects that earned Cornell's Community Improvement Through Youth (CITY) Project national recognition recently.

The National Association of Extension 4-H Agents (NAE4-HA) Urban 4-H Programs Task Force chose the CITY Project, a program in the College of Human Ecology's Department of Human Development, for the second year in a row for inclusion in its selective 2007 NAE4-HA Directory of Successful Urban 4-H Programs http://www.colorado4h.org/urbanprogram/.

"The CITY Project uses Cornell Cooperative Extension's 4-H programs as a model for promoting civic engagement, workforce preparation and asset development among youth, ages 13-18," said June P. Mead, project director and evaluator who works with principal investigator Steve Goggin, both in Human Development, on the project.

The CITY Project, which fosters community collaborations in Broome County and New York City, works to empower at-risk youth to become community change agents. It is part of the Children, Youth and Families At-Risk Program, Sustainable Community Projects program and is supported by Smith Lever funds from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For more information, see the CITY Project Web site.