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Miley Cyrus gets serious about homelessness
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Miley Cyrus has taken her passion for youth homelessness to the Governors office of New York State. - photo by JJ Feinauer
Miley Cyrus has taken her passion for youth homelessness to the Governors office of New York State.

Im speaking up to support a request by Senator Brad Hoylman, the Empire States Pride Agenda and the Coalition for Homeless Youth to include $4.7 million for homeless youth in this years New York State Budget, Cyrus wrote in a letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Cyrus, who currently resides in Los Angeles, is referring to the #5000TooMany campaign, which was launched by Hoylman and a slew of activist groups, including the Empire State Pride Agenda and the Coalition for Homeless Youth. As Cyrus mentions in her letter, last month was part of an effort to bring awareness to the fact there were more than 5,000 instances in 2012 when kids were turned away from homeless shelters due to lack of beds.

Hoylman and other advocates are urging Cuomo to increase funding to battle youth homelessness in New York.

Im incredibly grateful to Miley Cyrus for her support of our campaign to restore funding for homeless youth shelters in our state budget, Hoylman told MTV News. Its unconscionable that thousands of New York kids each year are turned away from homeless youth shelters because there arent enough beds. We must act now to bring these kids in from the cold by increasing funding for homeless youth shelters.

Cyrus seems to be particularly concerned about homelessness as of late.

At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, where Cyrus won Video of the Year for her single Wrecking Ball, Jesse Helt, a once homeless aspiring model from Oregon, accepted Cyrus award on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States who are starving lost and scared for their lives right now.

At the time, Cyrus took criticism from some circles for seemingly using the issue of youth homelessness to reshape her image, something that she conceded to a certain degree on Ryan Seacrests radio show.

I just didnt realize my platform; I didnt realize my power, she told Seacrest in reference to the attention she attracted with her salacious VMA performance the year before.

If Im going to be given this loud of a voice and this big of an image and this big of a platform and this huge of an opportunity to talk to young people in America right now, what am I really trying to say? Because I dont think what I was trying to say is what happened the year before," she said.

Celebrities using awards speeches as platforms to spur social change is nothing new. This years Academy Awards was full of them, but what started as an attempt to divert the attention she knew would come from an awards show seems to have blossomed into full-on activism.

In September 2014, Cyrus founded The Happy Hippie Foundation, a nonprofit that sets its sights on rallying young people to fight injustice, starting with youth homelessness.

Cyrus posted the letter to Cuomo on her Instagram account Wednesday, declaring that she was speaking up so homeless youth in NY can have a place to sleep!!!

At the end of the day, I can wear some of the skimpiest things on stage, but if I pass somebody and I feel like Ive got to help them, and I feel connected to them I cant help myself," Cyrus told Yahoos Chris Bath last year in an interview. "I have to. It makes me, like, who I am.
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Georgia Motorcycle Safety Program announces grant
Funds earmarked for Share the Road initiatives
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Grant funding totaling $93,458 has been awarded to the Georgia Motorcycle Safety Program (GMSP) by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. The approved funding will be used to increase motorcycle safety awareness and outreach by encouraging all motorists and motorcyclists to Share the Road.

“The need for motorcycle safety programs is greater than ever, and this support from GOHS enables motorcycle safety programs and impaired riding initiatives to reach riders and non-riders alike” said Commissioner Spencer R. Moore. “Thank you GOHS for helping (the Department of Driver Services) and GMSP educate and encourage all Georgia drivers to ‘Share the Road.’”

The grant allows DDS to further develop the Motorcycle Safety Outreach Program by continuing to fund a position to promote state and national safety initiatives. The GMSP outreach coordinator researches, coordinates and helps maintain an adequate presence at industry events, local schools and colleges, regional meetings and festivals to increase awareness of motorcycles on the roadways and provide the most current information on motorcycle safety initiatives.

Visitors to a GMSP event display are also encouraged to sign up for regular newsletters which provide additional safety information, as well as review the motorcycle safety message on other social media platforms.

GMSP regulates motorcycle training for new riders, as well as seasoned riders, who want to learn how to ride a motorcycle legally and safely. The program is based on a continuum of learning and therefore offers three entry points to rider education.

Students participating in the Basic Riders Course do not need specialized motorcycle equipment, as the GMSP provides both a motorcycle and a helmet to class participants. Upon successful completion of the course, participants receive a 90-day license waiver card that exempts them from both the written and on-cycle skills tests needed to obtain a Class M license in the state of Georgia.

Please visit the DDS website at www.dds.georgia.gov for many online services including the convenience of enrolling in a GMSP training class and accessing many licensing services.

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