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News Releases
Hampton Program Recipient of Jostens Our Town Award & Grant
Hampton's Mobilization for Youth to receive award and $50,000 grant
MINNEAPOLIS, June 11, 2001 -
Jostens Inc. announced today that it has awarded Hampton's Mobilization for Youth the Jostens Our Town award and a two-year $50,000 grant. The award will allow Hampton to further the success of its youth-led initiative over the next two years. Hampton, Virginia, is one of four communities nationally chosen by Jostens for the award and grant this year.
"To be recognized with the Jostens Our Town grant for our achievements with youth confirms that we are indeed on the right track," said Hampton Mayor Mamie Locke. "Our community has invested time, energy and resources into our youth and youth programs and we know that this investment will pay off in the future with young adults who will be an asset to our community."
Kathryn Price, age 16, a youth planner who'll be a high school senior next fall, agrees. "Teenagers can offer a unique perspective and pose solutions that would otherwise be overlooked in a group made up exclusively of adults. By opening a variety of doors to eager and interested students as Hampton does, we are able to move toward a more satisfying goal for the community as a whole," said Price.
The award recognizes Hampton's success in giving young people a stronger voice and greater stake in their community. Mobilization for Youth has drawn support from area businesses, schools, clergy and adults. It also had the support of Alternatives, Inc., which specializes in partnering youth and adults in building communities, and In Sync Partnerships, a Hampton neighborhood program offering after-school activities.
Mobilization for Youth received additional assistance from The Daily Press, which ran a 42-week series on building youth-benefiting assets into the community. Notable among Hampton's business community is ZelTech, whose KidTech program helped spread computer literacy into low-income neighborhoods.
The Jostens Our Town award and grant program is operated in conjunction with the Search Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the well-being of children and adolescents. Hampton, like other Our Town honorees, is implementing programs based on an asset model developed
by the Search Institute known as Healthy Communities o Healthy Youth. The asset model is a framework of 40 developmental assets that include positive experiences, relationships, opportunities and personal qualities that young people need to grow up healthy, caring and responsible.
Minneapolis-based Jostens is the leading provider of yearbooks, class rings, graduation products, school photography and others products that recognize achievement and build affiliation. "Jostens has always had a commitment to our communities. We believe that it's particularly important to improve the quality of life for our youth. Because of what Jostens does as a company, it's only natural that the Our Town Foundation recognizes the achievements of the youth and adults working together in the Hampton area," said Kent Gilmore, president of Jostens Our Town Foundation.
Mobilization for Youth was selected by the National League of Cities to train other communities seeking ways of fostering youth civic engagement. Prominent positions held by young people in Hampton's city government's Core Team ensure that a true youth voice is incorporated into every system of the community. A group of 400 youths serve on an advisory group that focuses on building developmental assets into schools and neighborhoods. More than 100 volunteers in one neighborhood organized an intergenerational games festival to celebrate the district's 100-year history. Asset-building plans have been implemented in all 11 of Hampton's secondary schools, and more than half of its elementary schools. Hampton has also formed a strategic partnership with Newport, its nearest neighboring community.
Mobilization for Youth intends to use its Jostens Our Town grant to seek new ways to develop further partnerships between youth and adults in the media, the faith community and the arts. "Our community is thrilled to be chosen for this award," said Cindy Carlson, director of Hampton's Coalition for Youth. "We see it as a validation of the direction we have been taking with youth development for a long time and a wonderful opportunity to learn and share more with this exciting national movement."
Representatives of Hampton's Mobilization for Youth will formally receive their award from Jostens at the national Search Institute Healthy Communities o Healthy Youth Conference in November in Indiana.
Jostens Our Town award and grant program, in cooperation with the Search Institute, is just one example of Jostens' commitment to helping youth improve their communities by improving themselves. This year, Jostens and the Search Institute recognized four communities with grants of $50,000 earmarked toward furthering youth-led community initiatives as part of Jostens' five-year, $500,000 commitment to this program. As part of Jostens' five-year, $500,000 commitment to this program, seven communities across the country have received the award and grant so far.
Jostens Our Town Foundation has contributed more than $25 million toward youth and education since it was founded in 1976 as part of Jostens' longstanding commitment to improving the quality of life in the communities it serves. Jostens is the leading provider of yearbooks, class rings, graduation products, school photography and other products that recognize achievement and build affiliation.
(More information online at http://www.jostens.com/company/community.)
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For more information contact:
Mark Malmberg (Weber Shandwick) 952.346.6139
Julie Goetz (Jostens) 952.830.3332
Karolyn Josephson (Search Institute) 612.399.0218
Editor's Note:
To speak to a local program representative, please contact:
Adult - Cindy Carlson 757.727.1382
Youth - Katherine Price 757.726.6926
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