(Pictured left to right: Terrill Story, Ramona Rhinhart, YEP board members, and Community Foundation board members: Kelly Money, Errica Hartley, Lindsey Pantaleo, Jenna Davis, & Jon Hartley.)

Recently, the St. James Area Community Foundation granted $2,000 to the St. James Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) to help them with their Firehouse Coffee Shop. St. James YEP’s Firehouse Coffee Shop has emerged from a place-based grant from the Rural School Partnership’s Coover grants program.

The partnership between the local community foundation and the school-centered YEP program is exactly the kind of collaboration that is needed to strengthen school and community in small towns.  Congratulations to everyone in St. James for this good work.

Also in the last few weeks, the St. James Area CF threw a New Year’s Eve Gala at Matt’s Steakhouse, where they raised more than $10,000, as posted on their Facebook page.

If you would like to learn more about the Firehouse Coffee Shop project, go to the St. James YEP link at http://yep.groupspot.net/St.-James/Default.aspx.

The Student Conservation grants are funded through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Rural Schools Conservation Fund and the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation Grant Fund. Recipient districts are partners of the CFO’s Rural Schools Partnership, which focuses on sustaining rural schools as anchors of their communities.

“The conservation/environmental grants are selected on the basis of student involvement and community impact,” said Julie Leeth, Rural Schools Coordinator and Executive Vice President of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. “All of the selected projects will enhance the education of the involved students and at the same time better the community at large, which is the essence of place-based education.”

To learn about RSP’s other grant opportunities, click here.

The Student Conservation grants were awarded to the following student-led projects:

• $1,325 to Ozark Upper Elementary School for maintenance of the campus’s outdoor classrooms and to build a network of trails between them, as well as the completion of a Native Missouri Plant Garden.

• $1,573 to Stockton High School’s Stockton Teen Empowerment Project (STEP) to help create, maintain and publicize a trail network within the community and in Stockton State Park. Benches made of recycled materials will be part of the project.

• $1,235 to Galena High School for a collaborative effort to create a small food plot on vacant land, as well as utilization cages and trail cameras, that will allow students to study and observe local wildlife.

• $1,848 to the Hartville R-II School District to help transform a vacant area on the school’s campus into a native flower and vegetable garden, with a goal of eventually contributing to the district food service’s Garden to School program.

• $1,983 to the Ozark County Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) for expansion of the group’s citywide recycling program in Gainesville. Funds will be used to purchase more receptacles to place in school and public facilities, as well as extra bags and plastic liners.

• $2,000 to Willow Springs Elementary School to help improve the district’s outdoor classroom, including a sand sensory box for science classes, picnic tables and the planting of fruit orchard for fourth graders, with produce eventually being sold at community events.

The Ozark County Youth Empowerment Project and Stockton Teen Empowerment Project are two of 35 chapters of the CFO’s Youth Empowerment Project, which encourages youth philanthropy through education, service learning, grantmaking and fundraising.

The Youth Empowerment Project is designed to promote volunteerism, grantmaking, fundraising and education to get mostly high-school and some middle-school students involved in community-based philanthropy. The YEP program now includes chapters at 35 schools.

You can view photos from the conference, hosted at Drury University, at the YEP website, yepozarks.org, and check out individual chapter pages and brand-new group photos here (thanks for posing in the morning cold, kids).

To learn more about YEP, and how your school might start a chapter, contact Bridget Dierks by e-mail, or call (417) 864-6199.

Go to yepozarks.org. Click “Media” to view photos.

Click here to learn more about individual YEP chapters.

S.T.A.R.T., an acronym for Students Together Achieving Responsible Tasks, is Clinton’s entry in the Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ (CFO) Youth Empowerment Program (YEP).  There are more than 35 YEP groups throughout the Missouri Ozarks, and their common mission is to engage students in thoughtful service and philanthropic activities.  It is place-based education at its best, and students learn about community needs, the tenets of philanthropy, and how to strengthen their respective communities with small grants and service projects.

Clinton’s S.T.A.R.T. program was well established before becoming a part of YEP, but the ensuing partnership has been beneficial to the local group and the overall YEP effort. Smith, who also finds time to serve on the Truman Lake Community Foundation (serving Clinton and surrounding Henry County), has become a familiar and welcome face at YEP regional events that focus on training and development. But even the ever-optimistic Smith has been astounded by what his S.T.A.R.T. students accomplished when they set out to create a public 9-11 memorial for the tragic event’s tenth anniversary and remembrance.

In 2010 the students learned of an opportunity to garner one of a limited number of steel pieces from the World Trade Center.  Led by Bethany Van Winkle (now a freshman at Missouri State University), the students decided to flaunt the odds and began trying to procure the historic relic, obtain funding, and plan a suitable memorial on Clinton’s beautiful downtown square—hoping all efforts would come together in a successful manner. After months of hard work and keeping fingers crossed, S.T.A.R.T. students learned their project had been selected and they were quickly able to raise $25,000 for the memorial and installation.

The steel, a small, bent piece from the bottom of the north tower, now rests on a simple pedestal in front of an appropriate memorial and the Henry County Courthouse. “That was quite a day when the piece of steel arrived,” said Smith. “There was a real sense of reverence when we opened the package.  I still find it hard to believe these kids pulled it off, and you just wouldn’t believe how many people stop, get out of their cars, and come over to the memorial to pay their respects.” He added, “This is a contribution to our community that these kids will always remember and take pride in.”

YFL will focus on volunteerism, philanthropy, and keeping contact with fellow YEP students through college and beyond.  We are looking forward to putting together in greater detail some features and plans for YFL.  We are expecting a few meetings a year (mostly during summer and winter break) with collective volunteerism as the main focus.  We will also find ways to connect our YEP alumni members who spend most of their year outside the Springfield Metro area.

Additionally, CFO has very generously offered free Springfield Cardinals tickets in the Dugout Decks at the game that evening to those in attendance at the meeting.   YFL students and sponsors can mingle and hang out at the Cards game.  Everyone in attendance will also get a free hat! This is exclusively thanks to CFO’s continued support of YEP and its mission.

This is a great opportunity to connect YEP students after graduation.  It is also an opportunity to share thoughts and ideas about this exciting new step for YEP.  We will meet first at CFO and take the short walk to the Cards stadium after our meeting.

YEP for Life, Inaugural Meeting
June 22^nd 5:30 p.m.
Begin: CFO Offices (425 E Trafficway, Springfield, MO)
End: Springfield Cardinals stadium
RSVP to Bridget by emailing at bdierks@cfozarks.org or via Facebook (http://facebook.com/bdierks1)

This will be a great opportunity to connect YEP graduates and give each of you a connected way to continue philanthropy in your communities.  Please share this with your YEP graduates.

The Student Wellness Grants are made possible by the Ed and Virginia Heer Family Foundation Fund. Several of the grants were made to chapters of the Youth Empowerment Project, a CFO initiative to encourage youth philanthropy and community service. The recent YEP conference was profiled in the Nov. 12  “Making a Difference” segment on Springfield public radio station KSMU, 91.1 FM.

The grants were awarded to:

• Fair Grove High School Youth Empowerment Project: $1,300 to create informational markers for distance intervals and circuit training at a new walking track around school property.
• Purdy High School Spanish Club Youth Empowerment Project: $900 to expand its research on food sustainability, including visits to a large Farmer’s Market, like Springfield’s, natural food stores, and other areas of interest.
• Gainesville Schools’ Youth Empowerment Project: $1,500 for the YEP group to assume responsibility for the school’s weekend backpack program, which provides nutritious food for about 57 eligible students.
• Carl Junction High School Youth Empowerment Project: $1,500 to begin a weekend backpack program providing nutritious food to about 65 eligible students throughout the district.
• Hermann Elementary School: $1,500 for an “Art from the Heart” project combining nutrition education with printmaking skills using the vibrant colors of heart-healthy vegetables and fruits.
• Valle Catholic School in Ste. Genevieve: $625 to purchase pedometers for students participating in a morning walking program to track their target goal of 10,000 steps a day.
• Cuba All Aboard Learning Center: $1,275 to support the annual “Turkey Trot Fun Run” that serves as a primary fundraising effort to defray rates to parents participating in its day care and before- and after-school programs.

“We are eager to see the results of these grants to our Rural Schools Partnership and Youth Empowerment Project members who are using both creativity and community service to encourage healthy lifestyles and good nutrition,” said Julie Leeth, CFO executive vice president.

Johan Mostert, CFO Speaker Drury U from CF Ozarks on Vimeo.

Dr. Johan Mostert’s keynote address, which was given at the 2010 Youth Philanthropy Conference on October 14th, is available to watch online.  Dr. Mostert’s talk to Ozarks students focused on the importance of becoming social entrepreneurs by finding and addressing community needs in each small town.

“Philanthropy is a love, it’s a commitment to humanity,” Dr. Mostert said.  “It is a sense of ‘I am here for the rest of the world.  I’m taking my life and I’m investing it to make it better for other people’”.   

Dr. Mostert holds multiple graduate and terminal degrees and is currently a Professor of Community Psychology at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. 

“I want you challenge you to be social entrepreneurs,” Dr. Mostert said.  “Make a magnificent difference in the communities that you’re privileged to live in.”

The Monett YEP was one of the chapters that attended the annual conference at Drury University.

Nearly 200 students and advisors representing most of the 31 Youth Empowerment Project chapters across southern Missouri gathered for an annual conference at Drury University today, which featured inspirational words and ideas and the unveiling of the new YEP website.

The website – www.yepozarks.org – is now live, but development work on it continues as each YEP chapter will get more training to develop its own page and submit calendar items at a November webinar. In the meantime, its features include resources for students and advisors, photos of the chapters’ activities and basics like the tenets of YEP.

Johan Mostert, a professor of community psychology at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, gave the keynote remarks urging the YEP students to live the meaning of the word “philanthropy,” which translates from its Latin roots to essentially “loving humanity.”

“Love has to be put into action and that action is service,” said Dr. Mostert, a native of South Africa. “I want to challenge you to become social entrepreneurs and you’ll make a magnificent difference in your communities.”

A video of Dr. Mostert’s remarks will be posted soon on the new YEP website. Springfield Public Radio station KSMU will air a report about the YEP as part of its “Making a Difference” series on Nov. 12.

CFO Executive Vice President Julie Leeth also encouraged the YEP students to consider applying for the upcoming Conco Community Arts and Student Wellness grants, which are due Friday, Oct. 29. Each program has $10,000 available for grants ranging from $500 to $1,500 for student-led arts and wellness projects.

During two sets of breakout sessions, the students from exchanged ideas on topics including fundraising, community service, soliciting grant applications and making grant selections. A number of creative fundraising ideas were discussed, ranging from wrestling in Gainesville to a middle-school prom in Seymour.

The 2010 Youth Philanthropy Conference promises to be the biggest and most exciting conference yet!  With 31 YEP chapters in the region, YEP membership has nearly doubled in size in one year.  Students and sponsors will have so much to share and learn from one another at this event. 

Additionally, we will be unveiling the NEW Youth Empowerment Project of the Ozarks website and helping you see how this helpful, interactive website will assist you in YEP collaboration with other chapters.  If you are interested in creating a Youth Empowerment Project at your school, please feel free to attend and learn more about YEP from students and sponsors in the program.

What:                  CFO Youth Philanthropy Conference

When:                 October 14, 2010
                              10:00-1:00, registration begins at 9:30

Where:                Drury University, Lay Auditorium
                               900 N. Benton St., Springfield, MO

Cost:                    Free to an adult sponsor and four students for non-YEP partners
                              Free to an adult sponsor and 12 students for current YEP partners
                              Lunch is provided

If you are interested in attending conference or have students or potential sponsors interested in participating, please contact Bridget Dierks at bdierks@cfozarks.org or (417) 864-6199. 

Registration is required and will be accepted until October 8^th.  Contact Bridget (bdierks(at)cfozarks.org) to receive a registration form and event timeline.

The Carl Junction Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), with the help of sponsor Theresa Wilson, hosted their first annual membership drive on Thursday, August 19th.  Last year was the first year of YEP in Carl Junction, and students from that inaugural class of YEP members worked at this year’s membership drive to increase their membership and include more students from all four high school grades. 

Carl Junction’s first year in YEP began with a bang last spring when they created a 60 Second Challenge video and won second place in the competition.  This garnered a $1,000 prize, which the Carl Junction YEP students will use as part of their first grantmaking round this year.