Teens endorse friendly businesses Teens endorse friendly businesses (November 04, 2005)

By Nikki Pritchard

Have you ever walked into a Mountain View store or restaurant and been really impressed with their service and treatment of youth? If so, you may want to recognize these awesome businesses to show your appreciation.

We have just the program for you. The Mountain View Teen Friendly Business Program was kicked off at the 10th annual Mayor's Youth Conference on Tuesday. This program will acknowledge outstanding local businesses for hiring employees that respect youth as customers and people. It's another way for generations to overcome obstacles between them.

The point of this project is not to bash certain businesses, but to uplift outstanding ones. Honesty is very important when it comes to nominating a business. We will give stickers to businesses to place in their windows if they are a place that will respect youth. It is a sign of comfort for teens to know that there are places that will respect them.

This program was inspired by the mistreatment felt by many teens in Mountain View at various retail outlets and restaurants. Of course, all of these anecdotes could never be proven. So we came up with the idea of "Teen Friendly Businesses." Instead of criticizing a business, we decided that teens could tell us who is worthy of promotion and recognition.

The program works like this: Nomination forms will be available at schools, the community center, teen center, library, and possibly online. Teens can fill out a form on any business in Mountain View and turn it in at their leisure until the deadline, which will be set soon (probably it will be in September or October 2006).

The Teen Friendly Businesses of Mountain View will then be announced at next year's Mayor's Youth Conference. Since the forms are based on a number system, the awards will be given based on the highest average ratings. So get ready to participate!
Nikki Pritchard is a sophomore at Mountain View High School.

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