Governor Hochul, Secretary Clinton, and #HalfTheStory Launch New York’s First Teen Tech Council to Advise on Distraction-Free Schools
New York leads the way in youth-driven digital innovation, bringing teens to the table for first Teen Tech Council Meeting
NEW YORK, NY, (July 23, 2025) – New York is putting teens at the center of education innovation with the launch of the New York State (NYS) x #HalfTheStory Teen Tech Council, a new statewide youth advisory group giving students a voice in digital wellness and phone-free schools. The initiative kicked off with the first-ever Teen Tech Council Board Meeting on July 22, 2025 at the Clinton Foundation in New York City, where 20 NYS high school students shared their vision for a successful implementation of the state’s new “distraction-free schools” initiative with Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Larissa May, founder of #HalfTheStory.
“Here at the Clinton Foundation, we’re guided by our belief that putting people first — putting people’s concerns, needs and hopes first — is essential to creating a better world. That starts with you,” said Secretary Clinton to teens. “As the largest state to adopt a phone-free policy in schools, New York has the opportunity to show the rest of the country what we can accomplish when we combine the capacity of government and nonprofits with the energy of smart young leaders.”
In the meeting, teens shared their perspectives on phone use policies and raised ideas for student-centered solutions. Teens focused on building connections and opportunities for meaningful interactions among students, teachers and administrators throughout the school day. This included advice to introduce the new rule as a positive “phone-free” school policy instead of a “ban” on phones. The teens also shared practical implementation ideas for schools to encourage students to interact and share information without screens, and to create physical, technology-free spaces for students to connect and get support they need during the school day.
This event underscores Governor Hochul’s continued commitment to working with young people to ensure an equitable and successful rollout of a distraction-free environment in schools statewide. Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, New York is the largest state in the nation to require state-wide, bell-to-bell restrictions on smartphones for the 2025-2026 school year. This initiative is part of Governor Hochul’s nation-leading commitment to protecting youth mental health and promoting student success in the digital age, following her action last year to secure and sign a first-in-the-nation law to restrict addictive social media feeds for minors.
Removing cellphones from classrooms is about more than reducing distractions—it’s about restoring the focus and rigor that high-quality education demands,” Governor Hochul said. “By launching the Teen Tech Council, we’re ensuring students are part of building school environments that support deep learning, equity, and academic success.”
“This week, #HalfTheStory trained teens in 55 cities nationwide through the Digital Civics Academy, an annual summer program for teens that aims to educate and empower today’s youth to learn effective activism, storytelling, and leadership techniques essential for driving global and local change, and yesterday’s Teen Tech Council meeting gave these young leaders an opportunity to shape the policies that will affect them directly. In New York State, those voices are going a step further by being brought to the table with Governor Hochul,” said Larissa May, Founder and Executive Director of #HalfTheStory. “We’re grateful to Governor Hochul and the Clinton Foundation for partnering with us to launch the Teen Tech Council Board Meeting and support the statewide rollout of distraction-free schools. Together, we’re empowering students to lead, share what’s working in their schools, and join our growing statewide network of digital activists. By training future leaders at scale, we’re making New York State a model for the world—in and outside the classroom—for student wellbeing and digital citizenship. Teen work makes the dream work.”
As an extension of #HalfTheStory’s Digital Civics Academy, the Teen Tech Council will be scaled across the state, with teens from across New York joining from their districts. Students will be nominated by teachers and peers to help schools successfully implement bell-to-bell policies and create a shared culture of digital wellness — one that extends beyond the classroom into play, connection, and creativity.
NYS-based teens can apply now to join NYS x #HalfTheStory Teen Tech Council—or Teachers can nominate a student to help shape the future at: https://www.halfthestoryproject.com/teen-tech-council
About #HalfTheStory
#HalfTheStory is a non-profit dedicated to improving the next generation’s relationship with technology. As the first youth-led non-profit of its kind, #HalfTheStory focuses on progressing education and advocacy work surrounding social media and tech use. Through its evidence-based education program, Social Media U, young people in schools across the US, UK, and Canada are taught the skills needed to have a healthy relationship with their screens and are empowered to understand and advocate for their digital health. Larissa May founded #HalfTheStory after facing her own struggles with social media and has spent the past 10 years driving a global movement towards digital wellness. #HalfTheStory’s funders include Pinterest, Pivotal, The Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation, The Archwell Foundation, and The Born This Way Foundation.
About the Clinton Foundation
The Clinton Foundation is a non-partisan organization that has transformed philanthropy through programs designed to develop leaders and accelerate solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Under the leadership of President Clinton, Secretary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, our unique approach prioritizes solutions over ideology — bringing people together in the spirit of collaboration to build a brighter future. Flagship programs founded by the Clinton Foundation include the Clinton Global Initiative, which has transformed the landscape of modern philanthropy to reach more than 500 million people in 180 countries; the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which has reached nearly 30 million people with lifesaving HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis medication by pioneering new approaches for procuring and delivering treatment; and the Clinton Presidential Center and Library, which provides civic education and cultural programming designed to inspire and inform the leaders of today, tomorrow, and generations to come.
Learn more about our work at www.clintonfoundation.org, and follow along for updates on Meta, X, and LinkedIn.