Hopa Mountain News Blog

Hopa Mountain is excited to announce an opportunity for adult leaders working with youth involved in community service and/or service-learning programs to be a part of Hopa Mountain’s 2011-2012 Youth Leaders in Service (YLS) cohort. This Corporation for National and Community Service funded program is designed to train and support adult leaders of youth engaged in service-learning projects for rural and tribal youth, ages 11-17, living in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota’s Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations, in leading service activities that create healthier communities. Adult program leader candidates will participate in three separate multi-day trainings as well as monthly conference calls throughout the cohort cycle. The purpose of this program is to provide coaching, mentoring, training, and support for adults who work with youth that are actively involved in community service projects. The application deadline is June 30, 2011. The request for proposals can be found at http://www.hopamountain.org/.

In addition to the YLS cohort opportunity, Hopa Mountain is also offering competitive sub awards for adult and youth teams to support service-learning projects in interested communities. Participating teams may also choose to apply to receive up to $12,000 in support to launch a service-learning afterschool program. Funds must be matched 1:1 in cash or in-kind support by grantee organizations. Rural and tribal youth program leaders working in communities with populations under 35,000 are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to participating organizations that serve a high percentage of children that are eligible for free and reduced lunch programs.

“In our two years of working with Hopa Mountain, we have been provided significant support by means of professional development training, on-going mentoring, a platform for peer collaboration, and training opportunities for youth leadership development,” remarked JoAnna Thayer of Anaconda Family Resource Center, a current YLS site. Thayer continued, “With Hopa’s assistance, our community has gratefully been able to implement and sustain an effective service-learning program in Anaconda.” This partnership between the Corporation for National and Community Service and Hopa Mountain has allowed interested communities to design, support, and implement in service-learning projects that simultaneously support youth development and meet community needs in areas such as health and education.

Hopa Mountain’s mission is to invest in rural and tribal citizen leaders, adults and youth, who are working to improve education, ecological health and economic development. “Through Youth Leaders in Service, rural and tribal youth will have the opportunity to design and implement innovative service projects in cooperation with local community partners,” said Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, Executive Director of Hopa Mountain. Hopa Mountain will provide ongoing training and technical assistance to selected adult program leaders and service-learning programs throughout the Northern Rockies. For more information about Youth Leaders in Service, please contact Josh Meyer, program coordinator at (406) 586-2455 or josh.meyer@hopamountain.org. Informational conference calls will also be held on May 27 at 11 am, and June 2 at 12 pm to provide more information about Youth Leaders in Service and how to apply. Interested participants can dial 1-866-200-5786 and enter conference ID 7759909# when prompted.

Helena, MT – The Governor’s Office of Community Service and Hopa Mountain, a Bozeman-based nonprofit organization, announced today a training program and opportunity for competitive grants for youth program leaders through Youth Leaders in Service. This National Corporation for Community Service grant program is designed to train and support adult leaders of youth service as they engage rural and tribal youth, ages 11-17, living in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota’s Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations, in leading service activities that create healthier communities. Youth program directors that are accepted to participate in a four-day training program August 1-4 will be invited to work with rural and tribal youth to determine a meaningful community service project and apply for grant support to implement their youth-led initiative throughout the 2011-2012 school year. The application deadline is June 15, 2011. The request for proposals can be found at www.hopamountain.org.

Eleven teams of youth program leaders along with two youth will be chosen in a competitive application process to participate in the four-day summer training program that will be held August 1-4. Participating teams may also choose to apply to receive up to $12,000 in support to launch a service-learning afterschool program. Funds must be matched 1:1 in cash or in-kind support by grantee organizations. Rural and tribal youth program leaders working in communities with populations under 35,000 are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to participating organizations that serve a high percentage of children that are eligible for free and reduced lunch programs.

“We are so pleased that more teens will have an opportunity to implement service projects that contribute to rural and tribal community vitality through Youth Leaders in Service,” said Jan Lombardi, Director of the Governor’s Office for Community Service.

The Corporation for National and Community Service and Hopa Mountain are partnering to engage young people in service-learning projects that simultaneously support student development and meet community needs in areas such as health and education

Hopa Mountain’s mission is to invest in rural and tribal citizen leaders, adults and youth, who are working to improve education, ecological health and economic development. “Through Youth Leaders in Service, rural and tribal youth will have the opportunity to design and implement innovative service projects in cooperation with local community partners,” said Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, Executive Director of Hopa Mountain. Hopa Mountain will provide ongoing training and technical assistance to selected youth program leaders and teen citizen leaders throughout the Northern Rockies.

For more information about Youth Leaders in Service, please contact Josh Meyer, program coordinator at (406) 586-2455 or josh.meyer@hopamountain.org. Three, hour-long conference calls will also be held on May 17 at 2 pm, May 27 at 11 am, and June 2 at 12 pm to provide more information about Youth Leaders in Service and how to apply. Interested participants can dial 1-866-200-5786 and enter conference ID 7759909# when prompted.

The Corporation for National and Community Service engages more than four million Americans in service each year through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America.

Jamie Diehl, a senior at Montana State University from Sandpoint, Idaho, has been selected for a Newman Civic Fellows Award recognizing college student leaders who make a difference in their communities.

Diehl, a family and consumer science education major with a minor in women’s and gender studies, is coordinator of Hopa Mountain’s youth leadership program. She has served as a Child Advancement Project (CAP) mentor for four years, and is involved with numerous student organizations on campus. She serves as the president of the Phi U honorary service organization and is the president of the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers student chapter. A member of Amnesty International, Diehl is a 4-H leader and was chosen to sit on the National Education Association’s Women’s Issues Committee. She was also recently recognized by Montana Campus Compact for the Montana Campus Corps Award for Exemplary Service.

Diehl was nominated for the award by the MSU Office for Community Involvement and MSU President Waded Cruzado. She was one of 137 students from 30 states named Newman Civic Fellows by Campus Compact, a national coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. To learn more: http://www.compact.org/