The CITY Project (Community Improvement Through Youth) employs one of CCE's Signature Programs, Youth Community Action (YCA) and utilizes a National 4-H Cooperative Curriculum System resource, Public Adventures: An Active Citizenship Curriculum for Youth. The CITY Project uses YCA to promote civic engagement, workforce preparation, and asset development among teens, 14-18 years old. Using a broad-based community collaboration approach, the CITY Project is working to empower at-risk teens in two high-need community sites to become community change agents. These CITY Teen Leaders are identifying issues in their community through community mapping, the use technology (e.g., videography and GIS/GPS) and resources available through the CYFERnet, to set achievable goals and work in partnership with caring adults to create lasting, sustainable changes in their communities. The CITY Teen Leaders will gain job skills through paid summer employment as they carry out community improvement projects they plan during the school year.

The CITY Project is being conducted in Binghamton and New York City by Cornell University Cooperative Extension Broome County and Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City, respectively. The major collaborators in Broome County are: Broome County Gang Prevention Program/Binghamton Housing Authority. The major 

New York City collaborators are: Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and the Police Athletic League/Wynn Center in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Steve Goggin is the Principal Investigator for this project funded by the Children, Youth and Families At-Risk (CYFAR) Program, Sustainable Community Projects (SCP). June P. Mead is the Project Director and Evaluator. For more information, visit the CITY Project website.