Northfield named one of America’s 100 best communities for young people

Posted to the Strib at 11 am today:

Five of the nation’s 100 Best SEO are here in Minnesota, according to America’s Promise Alliance, which on Thursday announced the winners of its 2008 competition… Northfield was lauded for its numerous youth groups, including a youth council that advises the mayor.

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See the America’s Promise Alliance web pages for the 100 Best Communities for Young People. The image above on the right is a screen capture of the mouseover about Northfield. Click to enlarge. The press release included this:

All communities that took part in the 2008 competition completed an application based upon research from the National Academies of Science, Search Institute, Academy for Educational Development and Child Trends. This included submitting information on how their existing programs and initiatives help deliver the Five Promises—resources identified by the Alliance as being critical to the development of healthy, successful children: caring adults; safe places; healthy start; effective education; and opportunities to help others.

Applicants were also asked to describe how different sectors of their community work together to help children and families overcome challenges and specific efforts and programs developed to ensure that their young people graduate from high school prepared for college and/or the workforce.

A tip-of-the-blogger hat to Anthony Pierre for the alert.

7 Comments

  1. Tracy Davis said:

    This is really encouraging! I like the criteria used for the competition. My oldest two daughters both agree that Northfield is/was a terrific place to grow up, but I’ve heard Northfield’s youth options described as “laughable” by parents of teenagers who can’t imagine how to occupy themselves without a mall. I’m glad there are organizations like America’s Promise Alliance that recognize a different value system.

    January 24, 2008
  2. This is good. I’ll have to look at the full report, but I’m wondering if some of Northfield’s minority youth feel this way. I personally know about 40 kids who might disagree with this statement after a school board decision to close The Village School last year.

    Northfield in general is a great place to live, young or old, but we shouldn’t let this report tell us that we don’t have our problems here and there that we deal with – like every other city.

    January 25, 2008
  3. Charlene Coulombe- Fiore said:

    What a great Honor!!!
    This is wonderful news.

    January 25, 2008
  4. Griff Wigley said:

    In today’s Northfield News: City named one of nation’s 100 best for youth.

    Zach Pruitt, one of the youth council’s adult leaders, said it took council members two months to complete the application – researching, gathering statistics, writing essays and conducting interviews. NHS senior [Tom] Pokorney and fellow council member Claire Carlson said many of the programs cited in the application were found in the district’s schools. Among them is a mentoring program at Northfield Middle School in which high school students partner with middle-schoolers…  ­The council also pointed to recreational activities as well as two organizations that they say help build the city’s youth – the Northfield Union of Youth/The Key and 5th Bridge. ­

    January 26, 2008
  5. Griff Wigley said:

    In today’s Nfld News, reporter Megan Proft has a story titled Video highlights Northfield youth.

    Northfield youth were highlighted in a recent video produced by America’s Promise, a national collaborative dedicated to the well-being of children and youth. High school students and Mayor’s Youth Council members Ruth Amerman, Sam Ruby and Adrian Lazaro were featured in a video that profiled local youth initiatives, such as the Northfield Union of Youth and the Skateboard Coalition. ­

    The video is supposed to be available on the Minnesota Alliance for Youth Web site, and America’s Promise Web site but I can’t find it. Anyone?

    February 2, 2008

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