A Message from the Chair

The Honorable Barbara A. Favola, Senate of Virginia
It is my pleasure as Chair of the General Assembly’s Commission on Youth to welcome you to our website. The Commission on Youth is tasked with providing a forum for review and study of youth policies and services. Whether you are a member or staff of the General Assembly, a government official, service provider, educator, parent or caregiver, or interested member of the public, you will find this website a wonderful resource on the Commission’s work on a host of issues, from child welfare to juvenile justice, or from mental health to education.

Children matter to policymakers in Virginia. Almost 2 million young people age 0-18 live in our state. This number represents almost 25% of our state’s population. Correspondingly, a significant percentage of our state budget goes directly to services for these youth and their families. Given the size of this population and the breadth of special needs associated with young people and their families, Virginia is fortunate to have the Commission on Youth to provide guidance and leadership on youth policy issues. I encourage you to familiarize yourself with our work and to let us know whenever we can be of assistance to your child, family or community.

Announcements

Special Education Dispute Resolution Study:

Families and Professionals Interested in Special Education – Share your experience with dispute resolution by filling out this survey!

Survey Link: https://tinyurl.com/mja3398x

The Commission on Youth (https://vcoy.virginia.gov/), a bipartisan legislative commission of the Virginia General Assembly, is conducting a study on how to improve Virginia’s special education dispute resolution system. 

Your perspective as a parent, agency professional, attorney, advocate, teacher, or other role will be crucial as the Commission begins to develop recommendations for this study. The Commission is eager to hear from you.

The survey is estimated to take 10-25 minutes to complete, depending on the number of questions you choose to answer. The survey will close on Friday, November 22, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. Your responses to the survey questions are completely confidential. 

The Virginia Commission on Youth is accepting public comment on the 2024 Draft Recommendations for:

Public comment must be received by 5:00 p.m. Thursday, November 21, 2024. Public comments received by the deadline will be provided to the Commission for consideration at the November 25th, Commission meeting at 10:30 a.m. at Senate Room A in the General Assembly Building. In person public comment will be received at this meeting as well.  

2024 Commission Meetings - Click here or on the Meetings link to view Meeting handouts

The Virginia Commission on Youth will be holding meetings at the following dates and times:

In the News