Saipan Republicans Senate President Pete P. Reyes and Speaker Arnold I. Palacios said $40,000 will pay for the travel of the youth and service providers from Guam and various neighboring islands as well as the cost of holding the conference.
Last Nov. 28, Reyes and Palacios met with Sarah M. Thomas-Nededog, executive director of Sanctuary Inc.; Maria S. Connelly, director of the Guam Department of Labor; and members of the Micronesian Youth Services Network.
The CNMI lawmakers were advised that the MYSN plans to hold its fifth annual conference on Saipan from March 30-April 1, 2009.
The theme will be “Strengthening Micronesian Communities: One Youth at a Time.”
“We fully support this conference as the CNMI is faced with several social and economic challenges,” Reyes and Palacios said in their letter to OIA Director Nikolau Pula.
They noted a rash of violent crimes involving the island’s youth.
“One such crime, involved the murder of a high school security guard and another involving a violent car jacking. Additionally, there have been several reports of school violence from the elementary levels on through high school,” they said, adding that they believe that this conference presents an opportunity to share information with the community in order to better address the youth issues of the region.
“Given the current economic climate in the CNMI, Guam and Micronesia, the local business sectors and local governments are unable to provide the needed funding to ensure participation from all sectors and from all the Micronesian islands, as has been the case in the past,” Reyes and Palacios told Pula.
MYSN was founded in 1990 by youth service providers from Guam, the CNMI, Palau and Chuuk.
The non-profit regional organization was encouraged by other regional groups including the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures,
