The Hillsdale County Community Foundation is accepting applications for membership on the Youth Advisory Committee of the Foundation, YOUTH (Youth Opportunities Unlimited Throughout Hillsdale). The YOUTH Committee is an elite group of young people responsible for county-wide funding decisions and performance of community service. YOUTH membership is made up of two voting members for each school district in Hillsdale County, as well as homeschooled students. Applications are currently being accepted for potential members, age 12-21, from the following school districts: Camden-Frontier, Hillsdale, Hillsdale Academy, and Will Carleton Academy. Applications are also welcomed from homeschooled students who live in Hillsdale County.
Key information for potential applicants includes:
• Members must be in at least 7th grade at the start of their term;
• Members must have a support system that will enable them to attend meetings (the third Sunday of each month) and community service events and projects throughout the school year;
• Members may not necessarily be outstanding leaders at this time, but must show potential for development of leadership skills;
• YOUTH members are diverse in several areas, including but not limited to: gender, age, involvement levels in school and extracurricular activities, academic and athletic achievements, family socioeconomic status, race, etc. Potential members need not necessarily be the top academic/social achievers in their school;
• Each potential new member who completes an application form is required to submit a letter of recommendation and may be interviewed by a panel of the current YOUTH officers; and
• Completed applications are due in the HCCF office by 4 pm on April 2nd.
Applications forms are available at the Foundation office at 2 South Howell Street in downtown Hillsdale, or online at www.abouthccf.org. For more information, please call the Foundation office at 517-439-5101. The Hillsdale County Community Foundation YOUTH was established in October of 1991. The YOUTH Advisory Council has an ongoing program for studying the assets, needs, and concerns of the young people of Hillsdale County. YOUTH has a special endowment fund, initially made possible by a challenge grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, to make available grant dollars to benefit and involve young people in Hillsdale County.