The Huntsville Youth Council — a group of high school students whose purpose is to aid in making community decisions — are currently working on several projects to benefit the youth of Huntsville.

In the near future, the group plans to organize a benefit for the Good Shepherd Mission, gain young students increased access to local libraries and make contributions to other city projects.

“We’re a group of 12 high school students who aid in making decisions in our community that effect the youth of Huntsville,” said Caroline Erb, HYC public relations chair. “As a group, one of the ways we represent youth is by trying to attend both City Council and school board meetings regularly.”

According to Huntsville’s Promise Executive Director Scott Atnip, the youth council was started in 2005 when the youth of Huntsville expressed their desire for such a representative group.

“In 2001, one of the weaknesses the young people in Huntsville identified was that they didn’t have a voice in the decisions that were being made around them,” he said. “Huntsville was actually one of the first cities in the state to adopt one of these councils, and the purpose is to give the youth a voice in what goes on in their community.”

In the past, the council has contributed to events such as the Huntsville Youth Council Teen Forum, which brought junior high school and high school students together to discuss current issues with panels of community leaders.

“Now, we are working on a Christmas toy and book drive for the Good Shepherd Mission,” Erb said. “Another issue we’re looking at addressing in the community is library access. We’ve noticed the youth of Huntsville feel that library access is somewhat of a problem, and we’re trying to find a way to make those resources more available to teens.”

According to HYC member Austin Evans, the group is also interested in learning more about different aspects of the community and how they can become involved in those areas.

“We’re interested in learning about economic development and how we can influence it for the future,” he said. “We want to find out about what projects are going on and what the youth of Huntsville can do and say to influence them.”

The youth council will hold its next meeting on Nov. 8, and ideas may be submitted to any current member or to the HYC Web site, http://www.myspace.com/huntsvilleyouthcouncil.

“We really try to get the youth of Huntsville to speak up, because what we do is a good way to let the leaders of our community know what they want,” HYC member D. Bell said.