Union of Youth

This fall Main Street Mentors is proud to kick off the Northfield Youth Micro-Grant Program. This program will provide funding to Northfield students under the age of 19 who would like to start their own businesses. The intention of the Youth Micro-Grant is to help young people learn valuable skills, interact with community mentors, and potentially form a profitable business.

Northfield Healthy Community Initiative dedicated $5,500 to form this youth micro-grant program. No more than $1,000 will be granted to any one student/application. The first deadline for applications is November 1. If available funding remains or additional funding is secured, there will be a secondary deadline on January 15, as well as April 15. After each deadline a board made up of three adults and three youth will review the applications and distribute funding based on the merit of the project.

Interested students will be asked to fill out an initial application, which requires little more than a basic business idea. After the initial application is received the student will be matched up with a mentor based on his or her project. After meeting with a mentor the student will complete a more detailed secondary application to be reviewed. If the student receives funding he or she will be invited to attend informative seminars that highlight important business skills or other relevant information.

The review board will look highly on projects that will contribute something valuable to the Northfield Community and utilizes the great people in this town.

Applications are available on this (The Key’s) website at www.unionofyouth.org (click on the microgrant heading). Any questions about this program can be directed to Josh Hinnenkamp at mainstreetmentors@gmail.com or Wade Hauser at hauser@stolaf.edu. We are more than happy to answer questions and help get programs off the ground.

Applications can be handed in via email above or dropped off at The Key.

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.

Kathy Ruby, the director of financial aid at St. Olaf College, will be at College Prep on Wednesday January 23rd at 7:00pm. She is emphasizing that she will be talking about college financing in general not just 4 year colleges (and not just liberal arts either). She can talk about 2 year tech schools, 4 year public universities and state schools, liberal arts and private schools, etc. She will be there to answer questions, so please bring them. ALSO bring your PARENTS if you wish (advised). Please contact Amy Merritt with any questions at 507.301.8992.

The Key’s Drug Action Meeting at the Armory was a wonderful success and generated many new and creative ideas that will be in action very soon. Over 85 people showed up for the event. The meeting was also a success for new collaborations. A big thanks goes to Skip Zimmerman and Amy Belcher from the YMCA, Zach Pruitt and Kathy Sandberg from the Rice County Chemical Health Coalition, and Pat Allen from the Mayor’s Task Force. The biggest thanks goes to the Northfield Union of Youth’s Youth Board for making this event happen and for causing so much to be achieved from the event. They all received a standing ovation at the event and deserved it. Ruth Amerman and Marie Fischer were wonderful as the facilitator and introductory speaker. Gus DeMann did a mean stopwatch, putting the smackdown on those who went too long. Mackenzie O’Connell and Jena Fredrick were great as the runners (which was a difficult job). Max Jennings, Gerritt Duys, Sam Dunnewold, Ani Lovoll, Kellen Kirchberg, Phoebe Currier, Andi Sison, Tom Launer, Abe Henson, Zane Anway, and others helped with the setup and cleanup. All of them participated in the group discussions helping to give the event some youth focus. Eventually we will get these groups on our website (maybe with the help of HCI) and will notify the community when this happens. Pictures of the event here. Griff was also on site and you can check out his (better than mine) photos of the event on Locally Grown.