The Northfield Union of Youth’s Youth Board was recently selected as a winner of The Minnesota Alliance With Youth’s Red Wagon Award. The award was given to youth groups and young individuals who have demonstrated increased academic achievement, civic engagement & service, and exemplary leadership. The selection committee consisted of the Alliance Leadership Team, Minnesota’s Youth Advisory Council members, key partners, and AmeriCorps Promise Fellows. Three youth from the current Youth Board recently attended the ceremony held at the Governor’s Residence in St. Paul. Presenting the awards this year was Lt. Governor for the State of Minnesota, Carol Molnau. Congratulations Youth Board!!! Thanks to our local rep David Bly for the photo.

It was a tough and grueling process as the organization had a wonderful bunch of applicants for the position. After the final interview, the Key’s Youth Board locked itself in the Key and spent the next two hours without adult presence and finally came up with their choice for Executive Director. Amy Merritt will assume the position taking over for Josh Hinnenkamp by September 1st. Amy has been a long time volunteer for the organization (over 8 years!), an Art Project Coordinator for 3 years, an Adult Board member for nearly 2 years, and a Program Coordinator for about 1 year. Amy has also worked and volunteered for multiple other youth organizations within the Northfield area. The youth did not come to this decision lightly but ultimately felt she was the best fit for the organization at this time. The youth thought her knowledge of the Northfield community, her familiarity with the organization and community partners, her administrative and managements skills, and her passion to help the youth guide the organization to new places were the main factors for her being hired. The Youth Board informally but officially congratulated her late last night after sleuthing her whereabouts to the Contented Cow. And what a show that was. The Northfield Union of Youth congratulates her!

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 Northfield Union of Youth held its final mayoral open house at the Key on Sunday August 24th. Paul Hager, Lee Lansing, and Jim Schlichting attended the event and each took turns speaking to the audience and answering questions. A large array of topics were covered including issues specific to The Key, transportation issues, property taxes, noise pollution, and the future of Northfield. There were some great questions asked and some equally wonderful discussions generated as well. Many youth helped set up and attend the event.

The Key’s August 17th Mayoral Open House went on without a hitch. About 15 adults and 7 youth were present for the event. Jon Denison, Mary Rossing, Dave Hvistendahl, and Eduardo Wolle all spoke for about 5-10 minutes each on why they should be elected as mayor. Youth issues were included in all of the candidates’ platforms and a slew of other topics were brought up as well. Candidates and “spectators” then mingled for about 45 minutes and ate and drank a wide variety of refreshments present at the event. Those cherry tomatoes were pretty darn good and they came from the Key’s plot at the Northfield Community Garden by Greenvale School. Heirloom tomatoes were given to all the candidates at the event. I must be hungry. Voter registration forms and info were are also present at the event along with info on the NUY’s Youth Platform. The photo shown was taken by Susan Hvistendahl (Dave’s sister) and the Northfield Union of Youth wishes to make clear that we do not endorse or wish to promote any candidate. I forgot my camera and Susan was kind enough to send me some shots. My guess is that Susan will be voting for her brother in the primary (:

The Northfield Union of Youth through much hard work and effort pulled off the Mayoral Speed Candidating event at The Grand from 2:00-4:30pm on Sunday August 10th. Youth from the community were in more abundance than adults at the event, although everyone was invited. Candidates and “daters” talked about youth issues (Key building space, skatepark, drug rehab for youth, programming, etc.), urban sprawl, future projects, the economy, and a slew of other topics. The forum was excellent for talking to candidates and getting a feel for their positions, and The Key would highly recommend this approach in future races with a large amount of candidates. Mayor Lee Lansing, Mary Rossing, Eduardo Rolle, David Hvistendahl, and James Schlichting showed up to the event and seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. Paul Hager had a prior commitment and Jon Dennison was too ill to attend. A big thanks to Amy Merritt for taking such a commitment to the event and of course to all the youth that organized, staffed, and attended the event. WOW! The Key also tabled their VOTE YOUTH platform and had a table for registering to vote and signing up to be an election judge.

Adults (and youth) have another chance to show they care about their future mayor by attending one of the future Sunday mayoral open houses at The Key. THIS SUNDAY the 17th at 3:00PM the KEY will be hosting a “meet n’ greet” open house mayoral shindig with snacks, beverages, and the following candidates: Dave Hvistendahl, Mary Rossing, Eduardo Wolle, and (probably) Jon Denison. We will do it up again on the 24th (3:00pm) with Paul Hager, Lee Lansing, and James Schlichting. Just show up and listen to the candidates talk for 5-10 minutes and when the candidates are done you can go and talk to them one-on-one. Do you care about the environment, highway sprawl, future projects, the liquor store, energy sustainability, city taxes, youth issues, etc.? Well show up and ask/talk to them about your issues. Also – The Contented Cow will be hosting events as well on Thursday nights. Click here for information.

You can email northfieldunionofyouth@gmail.com for any additional questions.

Youth Board President Marie Fischer and Youth Board extraordinaire Kellen Kirchberg held their first art gallery showing on Friday January 4th and Saturday January 5th at Grezzo Gallery. Both artists were mentored by local artist Nick Sinclair and utilized Grezzo Gallery throughout this ongoing mentorship (a big thanks to Steve Delwiche for the use of Grezzo). A big shout out to the wonderful people of Women in Northfield Giving Support (WINGS), a major grantor of Main Street Mentors.