Union of Youth

Here is the Hope Mural that the Northfield Union of Youth (and their Art Project) and Kevin Krein, our AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, worked on in September of 2008. This mural was sent to the Search Institute and displayed at a national conference hosted by the organization. The Union of Youth and Mayor’s Youth Council helped lead a presentation on ways to foster community involvement among youth and to increase youth voice in civic affairs. Here is the author’s statement that went with the mural:

To us, “hope” represents many things. Hope can mean diversity – people from different backgrounds coming together to create a more understanding and peaceful world. Hope can also mean power or a voice. That is what The Key, the Northfield Union of Youth, represents to the young people in the community. It is a diverse mix coming together so their voice can be heard.
Through this painting, the different faces represent diversity, and the fist represents that voice – the power to the people. Everyone comes from a different background, but we can all blend together to be one community.

The Northfield Skateboard Coalition will host a pancake breakfast this Sunday (March 1, 2009) from 8:00-9:30 a.m. at Applebee’s (2433 Highway 3 South). The breakfast will include all-you-can-eat pancakes, plus an order of eggs, sausage, and breakfast beverages.

Tickets are only $5 and can be purchased at the door — or from your favorite skateboarder!

The funds raised at the breakfast will go to support the Northfield Skateboard Coalition. This group of incredible young people has been working for nearly three years to raise money and public support for a skateboarding plaza in Northfield. To date, the youth have raised over $30,000 to go for the construction of a plaza.

Hope you can make it on Sunday to support this important grassroots youth effort! (Thanks Zach for the post)

Northfield Youth Micro-Grant

The Northfield Union of Youth and HCI are excited to announce that five local youth have been selected as the first cohort for the “Northfield Youth Micro-Grant Program.” The youth range in age from 5th to 12th grade.

The young people submitted initial applications where they outlined entrepreneurial ideas that they had. Business ideas from this cohort of youth include:

* Cake decorating business
* Computer class instruction
* Lawn care business
* Sale of skateboard supplies
* Dog walking service

The selected youth are now being paired with an adult mentor who has expertise in business development and their area of entrepreneurial interest. The pairs will work together to submit a business plan application, along with a funding request for up to $1,000. This will be reviewed by a panel of local adult business leaders and youth to determine the final grant amounts.

Look for future updates on this exciting new initiative! If you know a young person with an entrepreneurial idea, encourage them to apply for the next round of micro-grants, which are due on April 15.

Thank you Zach and HCI for the post!

The Key helped out at the latest Swim and Gym for the PRIMEtime collaborative at the Northfield Middle School this past Monday the 16th. Buttons and bracelets were the activities coordinated and led by the youth this time around.

About 10 members of the Skateboard Coalition went on their monthly field trip to a Minnesota skatepark, this time heading to 3rd Lair in Golden Valley. I wasn’t able to take many decent photos on account of my laziness and the darkness of the building. It was an exhausting time and many of the boarders left a little bruised up.

A group of 7 people from the Key helped clean up a temporary housing apartment on the outskirts of Northfield. The group did a thorough job and would be psyched to do it again.

Northfield Union of Youth members Grayce Forsythe, Audrey Hamann, and Caitlin Ruppel gave a short presentation on community service opportunities at the Key for the 1st annual Northfield Connect event at St. Olaf College. The February 12th event was an opportunity for local community organizations to promote their own opportunities for college students to get involved through work study, civic engagement, volunteering, internships, etc. It was also an opportunity for college students to learn about the community organizations that presented and the opportunities that they provide (a packed house of around 200 students were present, including many students as a class assignment). Members from Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, Laura Baker Services, Tackling Obstacles Reaching Our Goals (TORCH), Northfield Historical Society, Northfield Area Family Y.M.C.A., Smartwood Rainforest Alliance, Rural Enterprise Center and the Northfield Arts Guild also presented at the networking event. A big thanks goes out to Nate Jacobi the Associate Director for Civic Engagement of the Center for Experiential Learning for spearheading and organizing the event.

A group of 10 skateboarders went to the Northfield Park Board meeting on Tuesday the 10th hoping to get a better sense of how far along the process was for the new skatepark. The skatepark took up less of an agenda item than expected, but the process still seems to be moving along though some times it seems like boxing a glacier.

The three Northfield AmeriCorps Promise Fellows, Alyssa Jilek (High School), Jason Hallen (Middle School), and Kevin Krein (The Key) organized an extremely informative recycling summit at the Northfield High School Auditorium on Thursday the 5th. The Fellows brought in representatives from Waste Management and the Northfield Recycling Center to discuss important ways to reduce garbage, resuse potential garabage, and what can and can’t be recycled. For instance, did you know that pizza boxes from your local pizza place cannot be recycled and neither can yogurt containers or plastic salsa or margarine containers? Did you also know you can recycle your used paint, cleaning products, old electronics (some for a cost) at the Recycling Center along Highway 3 (just bring it in Wednesdays or certain Saturdays)? Did you know that many of the recycled paper products on the market are not made with 100% recycled paper (check the label and buy accordingly)? And did you know that glass bottles can be endlessly recycled (unlike paper or plastic)? Those in attendance were also given some disturbing news about the amount of waste generated by Rice County, the State of Minnesota, and the U.S and the economics of the garbage and recycling industry. Many youth and a handful of adults came for the presentation and are now recycling experts for the Northfield community.

If you can find it in your heart, please check out the brand new blog for The Key’s Writing Workshop.  It’s much better than the old blog that the Writing Workshop page links you to.