About Us

 

National Organizations for Youth Safety® (NOYS) is a coalition of nearly 70 national nonprofit organizations, business and industry partners, and federal government agencies that all address the health and safety of youth in the United States. The mission of NOYS is “to promote youth empowerment and leadership and build partnerships that save lives, prevent injuries, and promote safe and healthy lifestyles among all youth.” NOYS was originally founded in 1994 as a Traffic Safety Collaboration and for 10 years was supported by funding from government agencies, including the Department of Transportation. From its inception in 1994, the organization grew to what is today known as NOYS, and expanded from a focus on traffic safety to include all youth safety issues. In 2005, NOYS formed its own 501c3 and has seen tremendous growth since its formal founding in the nonprofit sector.

Global Youth Traffic Safety Month® (GYTSM) was formed in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to support the United Nations 2007 Global Road Safety Week. GYTSM is a month-long campaign during May asking youth groups (often chapters of coalition member organizations) to engage in teen traffic safety projects in their communities. GYTSM offers a toolkit for ideas on projects, and youth are charged with inventing a unique way to address teen driver safety. After the initial success of the first GYTSM, the NOYS Board of Directors adopted this as the NOYS Teen Traffic Safety campaign. In the second year of GYTSM, The Allstate Foundation funded a national contest now known as Act Out Loud®. The Act Out Loud contest started in 2008 as part of National Youth Traffic Safety Month to encourage more youth to become involved in spreading the word about the importance of traffic safety. Since then, thousands of lives have been impacted. Each year the contest grows and more youth Act Out Loud to help save the lives of their peers.