Manifesto de Ouro Preto

So I found this today while looking for grants on the New York Foundation for the Arts site
(nyfa.org) which people should check out. They've recently revamped their site and their search is really quite good.
But I liked this alot.
This can be found at the site for
Partners of the Americas

Manifesto de Ouro Preto Youth Ambassador Summit Partners of the Americas International Convention Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brasil November 14, 2007 We Can Be the Present We Don’t Want to Be Just Numbers Youth in Action to Attract Achievers We, the Youth Ambassadors gathered in Ouro Preto on the occasion of the 2007 Partners of the Americas International Convention, have come together to diplomatically discuss our ideas about youth participation in the Americas. In this Manifesto we are sharing our conclusions and inviting adults and other youth to join us in action. Considering: 1. That the private, public, and third sectors are the bases of society; 2. That young people are discouraged from political participation, lacking positive role models in the public sphere; 3. That young people need to work to help their families and themselves, yet lack experience to find employment; 4. That young people are willing to contribute to civil society and volunteer organizations, but may face discrimination when trying to contribute to projects and programs; Recognizing: 5. That youth have the optimism to find new solutions to problems; 6. That youth have the capacity to create change and contribute to small-scale efforts that gradually lead to larger ones; 7. That young people are necessary to organizations and have great potential; 8. That it is important to listen to youth and their vision of a better world; 9. That by working together, youth can build a world-wide community of leaders and entrepreneurs to be a marketplace of fresh ideas and innovations such as technology, in order to benefit all people; 10. That youth are both the present and the future of our hemisphere; 11. That actions we take today will affect our future; We resolve: 12. To better understand each other and work to influence other young people as peers; 13. To support the development of professional skills to improve future employment, and work skills and increase leadership capabilities; 14. That employers should consider profiles, ideas, and leadership and not just previous work experience; 15. That adults need to open their minds to our creativity and ideas; if they say we are the future, we should be able to shape the future; 16. To continue to focus on and refine our abilities through employment, in order to continue our educational experiences; 17. To organize ourselves, to join other organizations, and to network amongst ourselves and others; 18. To be proactive in expressing our opinions and skills and contributing to political issues; 19. To improve our political sense through education in order to better contribute to the public debate and be more aware about what is happening in the world; 20. To demonstrate our interest in and knowledge of issues by forming political parties and supporting youth candidates in local and national elections; 21. To better understand issues related to not only young people, but children, adults, and elderly as well, in order to work for all of society; 22. To remain down-to-earth and keep in mind that we cannot change the world alone, so we must work together amongst ourselves and with others in order to advance our ideas and our view of a better world.

Express your support by signing on to the manifesto!