Union of Youth

NOTE: This entry was first posted by Zach Pruitt on the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) website April 15th

The Northfield News published a great story in Saturday’s (April 11) paper about the Youth Micro-Grant program that HCI funds and supports with the Northfield Union of Youth. If you missed it, check it out by clicking here.

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis for the Youth Micro-Grant program. Any young person interested in starting a small business is encouraged to apply! Click here for more information — to apply, complete and submit “Application – Step 1″ on the right side of the page.

If you have any questions, call Josh Hinnenkamp (507-663-0715 ) or HCI (507-664-3524).

An example of a beautiful creation that came out of a recent Youth Micro-Grant!

The PRIMEtime Collaborative, including members of the Northfield Union of Youth (The Key), headed up to the Water Park of America in Bloomington, the world’s largest indoor water park. I was unable to attend so will post photos when I can. A whole busload of youth attended the trip with five members of The Key along as chaperones and participants. It was a very popular trip and all had a wonderful time. The trip was done as part of PRIMEtime’s goal of offering programming and activities to K-12 students on days when school is not in session. Sounds like a fun Spring break trip.

This trip was made possible by an “After School Community Learning Program” grant from the Minnesota Department of Education.

The last time the Key’s Art Project did tape sculptures, the organization got a lot of compliments from local businesses and townspeople. The creations made it about a month before all of them were stolen, though you would see them popping up here and there all over the downtown area. Well, the Key has done tape sculptures again and my guess is that the results will be much the same. So keep a look out for the life-sized clear creations. They might just end up on your yard.

After a few schedule changes Cooking Class finally met again at Emmaus Church. On Thursday March 19th about 10 youth learned how to make crepes from youth chef extraordinaire Danny Dobrow. I wasn’t able to stay and make the food but the kids who went spoke very highly of Danny and the food.

Members of the Northfield PRIMEtime Collaborative, which includes after school enrichment programs from the Northfield Middle School Youth Center, the high school, elementary schools, and The Key, attended the Rally for Minnesota Youth Day at the Capitol on Thursday March 5th. This was an all-day event created so that hundreds of participants from dozens of youth service organizations throughout MN could come together to rally behind common issues, including homelessness, mentoring, out-of-school time programming, workforce development, and youth intervention.

Members of the PRIMEtime Collaborative took an early bus up to St. Paul and all members participated in a kick-off at the Kelly Inn, a march to the Capitol, meetings with State Senator Kevin Dahle and State House Representative David Bly, and a giant youth rally in the rotunda of the Capitol. Three members of the PRIMEtime Collaborative gave testimony to a committee debating a bill for after school funding. After the testimonies, the weary warriors for youth funding headed home to Northfield.

The testimonies given by Northfield High School Assistant Principal Marnie Thompson, Northfield High School senior and NUY Youth Board President Ruth Amerman, and Middle School Youth Center participant and leader Champange Eiklenborg were powerful presentations given during deliberation of an upcoming early education bill (HF203) by the Early Childhood Finance and Policy Division Committee. A big shout out to The Key’s Ruth Amerman for her especially gut-wrenching testimony.

The PRIMEtime Collaborative was given an “After School Community Learning Program” grant of $299,295.31 for a two-year period through the Minnesota Department of Education in the Fall of 2007. The Collaborative was at the Capitol to advocate for future funding of this kind. The Northfield Union of Youth (The Key) is also funded by, and advocated for future funding for, the Office of Justice “Youth Intervention Program.” YIPA (Minnesota Youth Intervention Programs Association), a youth advocacy group of which the NUY is a member, has a future bill (HF972 & SF741) that is trying to keep the Youth Intervention Program from having its funding cut. These bills should be heard in the Public Safety Finance/Budget Committees of both the House and Senate later this month.

FOR MORE PHOTOS PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Assistant Director of Financial Aid, Kathy Ruby, will be at The Key on Wednesday the 11th of March from 6:30-8:30pm. She will go through all aspects of the financial aid process whether someone is going to a 2 or 4 year school, public or private. (This is NOT simply for students headed to a private liberal art college.) Questions from attendees are encouraged and expected. Parents are especially encouraged to attend. This is a wonderful opportunity, so do not let it pass you by.

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’s 15 anniversary celebration and open house went off without a hitch and was quite a celebration. Around 100 visitors came to the celebration; many old friends and many first time visitors (and quite a who’s who). About 20 youth from the NUY were on hand to talk about the past, current programming, and the future of the organization. Guests were treated with a wide array of food and drink and a lot of conversation with the youth. Guests were also asked to fill out a survey about the organization and building involving first impressions and potential improvements. All in all a very successful night and a HUGE double high five to the youth for pulling off such a successful event. Way to go Key! Ready for 15 more? Check out photos here. My flash was not working for the first hour, so apologies on the blur. The shot below was taken right after clean up. A big thanks to Griff and Locally Grown for helping us get the word out. Check out some of the comments here.

The Northfield Union of Youth recently did something they had never done before. They let a 14 year old freshman teach a cooking class. How could a 14 year old have the cooking experience to teach a cooking class? Well young chef extraordinaire Danny Dobrow currently is employed at Fermentations in Dundas and is in the process of setting up his own entrepreneurial French bakery (fingers crossed) through the new Key/HCI microgrant program. He also makes a darn good homemade pasta (as in homemade noodles and sauce). About 15 kids showed up to the cooking class on January 22nd at Emmaus Church (a big thanks to them) and learned how to make his delicious homemade pasta. The class was a giant success and plans are in the works to get Danny back.

It’s harsh, but accurate. Here is the new Seatbelt Challenge poster that the Key has been putting up lately.