Milan Taylor
Milan Taylor is the President and Founder of the Rockaway Youth Task Force (RYTF). Raised in the Rockaways, Taylor attended local public schools along the Peninsula prior to his enrollment at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in New Britain, Connecticut where Taylor ran track and field at the Division 1 level. While at CCSU, he was the President of the Black Student Union and a member of the Student Government Association. Taylor ultimately decided to transfer to John Jay College of Criminal Justice to be closer to his hometown and use his leadership skills to improve his community.
Upon his return, Taylor became active in the local community; specifically in local politics. He began his journey by obtaining an internship with City Council member James Sanders, Jr. From this opportunity, he was appointed to Queens Community Board 14, becoming the youngest active member of the board. As a result of his newly appointed position, he became acquainted with several community leaders with the intent of growing his knowledge of the issues surrounding the Rockaway community. Taylor began to analyze the needs and concerns of the residents. His participation grew as he attended various community meetings discovering the lack of youth participation in the community.
In fact, there were few politicians who were truly focused on youth-related problems in the Rockaways. As a young person with concern over his generation, Taylor decided to take action. Looking around, he realized there were few places where young people in the Rockaways could grow and learn to be great leaders. Therefore the vision of RYTF came to fruition - an advocacy organization created and ran by the youth of the Rockaways to properly address youth issues in the community.