WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING GRANT APPLICATIONS FOR THIS PROGRAMWhile the Make It Your Own Awards grants were awarded in May 2008, the projects live on. Read more about the Top 100 projects, or see what made the MIYO Awards novel. This site has been archived to serve as a resource for anyone wishing to create a similar project in their community.Assoc. of Young AmericansProject SummaryThe mission of the Association of Young Americans, a non-partisan nonprofit, is to represent and serve the interests of Young America by providing our participants with pertinent information and meaningful discourse, while engaging in focused advocacy on their behalf. About meMy name is Luke Repici. I am an attorney in Philadelphia, PA. I graduated cum laude from Franklin and Marshall College with a Bachelor's Degree in Government and departmental honors for my senior thesis. I also graduated cum laude from Villanova University School of Law. In last 10 years I became increasingly concerned with the lack of substantive political discourse coming from candidates, elected officials and the news media. Coupled with the lack of a longer term perspective when discussing policies and passing legislation, I began to see the need for an engaged young electorate, which was future-focused and viewed the governing and political process through more that just partisan lenses. With the help and support of several other friends and colleagues (republican, democrat and independent) in 2005 we started the Association of Young Americans. Over the last 2 years we have worked at building an organization that could fill some of the void in our national political landscape by providing non-partisan policy information along with opportunities for discussing critical issues of public policy. We are interested in this grant to help us continue the work we are doing in furtherance of the goal of an informed and engaged young citizenry. |