On Wednesday, June 25, in a special awards ceremony featuring music by Dimitri Bartholomew and a rousing inspirational speech by former Planning Center director Micaela Birmingham, MAS honored this year’s crop of CITI Youth Map Technicians. The CITI Youth program trains high school students in the use of Geographic Information Systems and places them in paid internships at their local community boards to provide on-the-spot electronic maps (www.myciti.org) at board and committee meetings.

Map Technicians Jackson Hidalgo, Eric Kenny, Caron Nazairo, and Peejay Howard of Brooklyn; Ahmed Dirhalleh and J. Little Horse Hollingsworth of Queens; Dolly Ou, Dorian Valentine, and Jesse Pan of Manhattan; and Latoya Herndon and Shaquana Staton of the Bronx received awards for the commitment and skill they displayed while providing a much-needed service to their community boards. From Charlene Phillips, District Manager, Brooklyn Community Board 3, Bedford-Stuyvesant: “As a District Manager, using CITI helps me to stay on top of land use issues and share information with other board and committee members. I regularly ask (Map Technicians) Peejay and Coran to prepare and display maps and planning information during meetings so that all our board members can have clear picture of what we are discussing.”

The city’s 59 community boards are on the frontlines, helping communities weigh in on planning and development decisions in a rapidly-changing and growing city. The CITI Youth Map Technicians aid in this work by deploying on-site services that take advantage of cutting edge mapping and communications technology. Congratulations, CITI Youth!