As a leading affiliate of America’s Promise Alliance, we actively participate in the Grad Nation movement, a national effort to end the high school dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21^st century workforce.  We believe AmeriCorps members can be part of Minnesota’s long-term strategy to address our graduation crisis by providing evidenced-based supports to youth in grades 6-10.

AmeriCorps Promise Fellows focus their service on working with youth who are at risk of dropping out of school in grades 6-10. Fellows serve youth in both school and community-based settings.
Fellows provide researched-based interventions that focus on promoting and improving attendance, behavior, and school success. Promise Fellows tap into resources in both schools and community settings:

• Caring Adults:  Increase the number of significant caring adult relationships experienced by youth participants
• High Quality In & Out of School Supports:Implement high quality in school and out of school time activities to support academic enrichment, study skills practice, career exploration, etc.
• Service-Learning: Actively engage youth in meaningful service-learning or civic engagement activities

With support from their Host Site and other community & school partners, Promise Fellows develop, plan, organize, and implement programs to support young people, mobilize adult volunteers, and strengthen service-learning in communities.  Utilizing AmeriCorps Promise Fellows can be a cost effective way for organizations to deliver meaningful and necessary interventions, and serve additional youth.

To apply to become a Host Site, organizations must complete an application as outlined in the Request for Proposals (available online at www.mnyouth.net).  A Webinar will be held Monday, January 30^th at 2 pm to provide technical assistance and support to sites prior to submitting an application (RSVP to Melissa Burwell, mburwell@mnyouth.net).

Completed Host Site Applications are due postmarked Friday, March 2, 2012.

For more information about the Alliance or the application process, please contact Melissa Burwell, Director of Strategic Initiatives, mburwell@mnyouth.net, cell: 612-616-2574, office: 651-528-8561.

“Legislators need to hear the message that investment in youth is an investment in a healthy Minnesota,” said Sarah Dixon, CEO and president of the Alliance. “Virtually every Minnesotan in every part of the state stands to benefit when the next generation of young adults is better prepared to contribute and participate in our economy and community life.”

Supporters are invited to come with a young person

Minnesota Alliance With Youth supporters are encouraged to attend this event with a young person, and to visit with your legislators.

The schedule for the Day includes:

• 9 a.m.: Gathering and short training, Great Hall in the Capitol building
• 9:30 – Noon: Visits with legislators (supporters are responsible for scheduling their own visits in advance)

Register to attend today!

Schedule your visit:  To schedule visits with your legislators, follow these steps;

1. Find out who your legislators are, visit the Minnesota Legislature District Finder
2. Call their office to make an appointment for Feb 21st between 9 a.m. – Noon
3. Let us know when your meeting is scheduled, fill out the brief link

Partners in the Youth Policy Alliance are:

• Minnesota Alliance With Youth
• Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota
• Minnesota Workforce Council Association
• Minnesota Youth Intervention Programs Association
• Minnesota Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee
• Youthprise

More information will be available on our Facebook Event Page and on the Youth Rally Minnesota Blog.

Are you interested in promoting youth voice across our state? Do you like working closely with youth and adults? Do you have a passion for policy issues that affect youth in Minnesota?

If so, the Minnesota Youth Council is for you!

An application can be found online here. The deadline to apply has been extended to Saturday October 15^th. Apply today!

If you have questions about how to apply or the application deadline, please direct them to Spencer Neitzel (promisefellow@mnyouth.net) 651-528-8584.

The search is on.

State Farm is looking for Promise Places and you may be able to help find them. Is there a school, community organization, church, or business in your community that offers a caring, nurturing environment for young people? Let’s hear about them!

You matter.

You can help in the following two ways:

Nominate a Promise Place in your community.

Community organizations can apply to become a Promise Place online.

Through our partnership with the America’s Promise Alliance and the Grad Nation campaign, State Farm is now serving as the presenting sponsor of a program called Promise Places. The initiative is a critical part of a larger effort to end the high school dropout crisis. Nationwide, nearly one in three U.S. high school students fails to graduate with a diploma. In total, approximately 1.2 million students drop out each year – averaging 7,000 every school day or one every 26 seconds. Among minority students, the problem is even more severe with nearly 50 percent of African American and Hispanic students not completing high school on time.

A Promise Place can be a school, community organization, church, business, or any other organization that provides all Five Promises (caring adults; safe places; a healthy start; an effective education; and opportunities to help others) to young people in their community. Research shows children are more likely to succeed academically, socially, and civically when they are exposed to the Five Promises. Promise Places receive recognition materials, are featured on the Alliance’s website and serve as models for others in their community and across the country.

Thank you for your commitment to your community!

Apply to become a member of the Minnesota Youth Council today! Applications are due September 5, 2011.

Learn more about the MYC.

Dakota Wicohan, Host Site to Promise Fellows Grace Goldtooth, Laverne Goodthunder, and Mariah Heffner.

Read the full story.

The application must be filled out by youth who are interested in the microgrant they are applying for.  Some adult supervision is permissible to ensure the activities meet the requirements/guidelines.

Summer 612 is a part of the City of Minneapolis’ Blueprint for Action’s initiative to reduce youth violence.  The initiative has four key objectives: 1) connect every youth to a trusted adult; 2) intervene at the first sign that youth are at risk of violence; 3) restore youth who have gone down the wrong path; and 4) unlearn the culture of violence in the community. Summer 612 is a campaign under Goal 4.

Our goal for Summer 612 is to directly engage at least 1,000 Minneapolis youth in the campaign through several youth-led events. In addition to raising awareness of youth violence, this grant program will enable youth to develop unique job skills while interacting with professionals in a specific industry.

GRANT APPLICATION

All microgrants are to be submitted no later than 12 noon on Friday, June 24, 2011. Three (3) copies of the microgrant must be submitted via postal mail or in person to:

Bass Zanjani, Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator
Minneapolis Dept. of Health & Family Support
250 S. 4th Street, Room 510
Minneapolis, MN  55415

Key Dates for Microgrant Application/Program

• Applications available:  6/13/11
• Informational Meeting: 6/17/11
• Grant Proposals Due: 6/24/11
• Grant Recipients Announced: 7/6/11
• Kick-Off Meeting: 7/8/11
• End-of-Summer Event: 9/22/11

If you have any questions prior to the informational meeting please feel free to contact Bass Zanjani @ bass.zanjani@ci.minneapolis.mn.us or by phone 612-673-5438

Esther Lee (seated at the far end of the table) with other Youth Leaders, White House Staff, and the President of the United States (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Minnesota Alliance With Youth was invited to the White House to participate in a roundtable that promotes Youth Voice and Youth Engagement. The Alliance sent Esther Lee, Board of Directors Youth Co-Chair and Minnesota Youth Council member to Washington D.C. as our representative. Esther and 9 others met with White House Staff and the President of the United States. Visit the White House Blog for more information about the President’s 100 Youth Roundtables Initiative Debrief.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog

Congratulations Esther!

In January, STEP toured Century College.  Alec recently told me he wants to become a Cardiologist when he grows up.  As a group, STEP discussed the importance of attending college.  I informed the group they can win scholarships that are geared towards middle school students, and it was unanimous that they all wanted to research scholarships.

Alec is working hard towards completing this school year.  It is hard to believe this is the same boy who I met in the fall.  Since September, Alec has gone from rarely completing his assignments to completing almost all of them.  Not only is Alec committed to his homework, but he is working hard at improving his behavior, both at school and at home. Now you know where to go if you ever need to see a Cardiologist…