Atlanta Regional Commission

The Model Atlanta Regional Commission (MARC) youth leadership program brings together 10th and 11th grade students from the public and private schools in the region for six months of study, hands-on activities and presentations by regional leaders and planners. During the process students began to formulate their ideas for what makes a livable region and how to address regional challenges such as traffic congestion, water and air pollution, loss of green space, affordable housing and sprawl. Most residents of the Atlanta region say they want a region with lots of sidewalks, scores of mixed-use communities, new transit options, luscious forests and trails on the banks of an urban river and a sharp reduction in the homeless population. This vision of the region is a constant work-in-progress. And the MARC students contributed their ideas to the vision and shared them with Atlanta’s regional leaders.

Before they were accepted into the program, the students wrote an essay about the regional issues that interest them most. This essay is one of the most heavily weighted parts of the application process. Students who were accepted were divided into four committees Environment and Land Use, Community Services, Transportation and Air Quality and Communications and Public Involvement. In their committees they researched issues of interest to them and then proposed two resolutions to address a problem or improve quality of life. At their final meeting they presented their resolutions to the entire MARC class, who then voted on the resolutions. The students then returned to MARC at the agency’s regular board meeting where they presented their resolutions to the Commissions board.