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| Building Community Together |
Introduction
Embracing the principles of community youth development,
Building Community Together (BCT) proposes to promote
youth leadership and youth/adult partnerships as integral
expressions of community decision- making. The
intention is to build community pride, enhance adult/youth
relationships and foster the development of future
community leaders. Specifically, BCT utilizes
the formation of a Community Advisory Board, a Youth
(Philanthropy) Board, and a Fiscal Agent to demonstrate
the power of healthy youth/adult partnerships to impact
local communities through service initiatives that
build community pride and enhance social capital.
Overview
Three Ohio counties were selected as pilot sites to implement the two-year program
in collaboration with sites in Wisconsin, Missouri, and Minnesota. Selected
sites include: Hocking County, Richland County, and Sandusky County. Selected
youth and an adult representative from each site participated in a three-day
retreat on the campus of the University of Wisconsin to become more familiar
with the Building Community Together Initiative.
Each participating site has an active youth board that has conducted a local
needs assessment, developed a request for proposals, and selected recipients
for grants. Local youth organizations submitted grant proposals to conduct
programs and activities that directly benefited youth and the communities that
they live. Currently, community projects are being completed that include:
providing recreation & education programs for youth, cleaning parks and waterways,
vehicular safety workshops offered to teen drivers, youth retreats are being
planned, and much more.
Locally, adults are involved in the Building Community Together initiative. Community
leaders are providing support to the efforts of the youth boards, serving as
mentors to youth members, advocating for additional youth involvement on local
boards, and hosting receptions and celebrations for board members and grant recipients..
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