Highlighting America’s 100 Best Communities for Young People
The 100 Best Communities for Young People competition honors outstanding efforts on behalf of young people by multiple sectors of communities. In cities, suburbs, small towns and counties across the country, this annual competition is leading communities to assess their efforts, work more effectively together for young people, and share best practices. Each week one of the 2007 100 Best Communities will be highlighted in the America’s Promise Bulletin and on our web site.
Orofino, Idaho
By Christopher Epps
The vistas in this tiny town, deep in the heart of the Clearwater Valley of North Central Idaho, appear as if on a post card: majestic purple mountains, clear running streams and incredibly scenic green valleys. The Steelhead and Chinook salmon fishing here is among the finest in the world.
Still this independent little community is working hard to change the prevailing mindset and bring Orofino, and its children, up to date. After 100 years of progressive logging and a quarter century of having the highest unemployment rate in the state, residents are looking to diversify their economy, boost their children's educational opportunities, and grow.
Limited by their size but not their ambitions, adults collaborate to offer their kids as many opportunities as time and resources will allow. Orofino has taken great pride in its ability to create collaborative partnerships between the public, private and nonprofit organizations that are committed to making youth a top priority. Virtually every program created by members of the community focuses on the needs of Orofino’s young people.
One initiative, the Orofino Outreach Advisory Committee comprises local professionals who volunteer their time to help bring Lewis-Clark State College to Orofino youth and community members. The Committee’s vision is that Orofino will be a threshold of higher education and lifelong learning. Committee members recognize that poverty level incomes can be increased through education and training which will lead to higher paying jobs; therefore, the committee has been instrumental in offering a very successful “Kids College.”
The city has established several major mechanisms to cultivate and support youth leadership. The ManiYAC Center Maniac Pride/YAC involves up to 100 students annually. The Maniac Pride/YAC group provides a minimum of 40 community service activities each year. A group of the young participants are the “management team” for the teen center. With adult supervision, they produced a business plan, a code of conduct, disciplinary standards, a revenue generation plan, community outreach activities, and other facets of a complete operations program. Behavior codes are strictly enforced by the students with adults available for continuous support.
Orofino was selected as one of 100 Best Communities for Young People for several reasons. A few include:
The Clearwater Youth Alliance
(CYA) is a nonprofit organization established to foster the wholesome development of young people. The Alliance’s primary goal is to promote programs and create facilities and community alliances which provide young people with positive role models and educational enrichment. CYA envisions a community where children can live, learn and play in a safe, nurturing environment, knowing that they can count on many Caring Adults to help them grow to be productive citizens of the community.
LEAP
(Learning Enrichment After-school Program) is an after-school program that offers educational enrichment activities in the arts and science, provides tutoring and positive role models and sponsors field trips. Certified teachers run the LEAP program which operates Monday through Thursday after-school, then all day on Friday. The program runs throughout the summer months and targets 6-14- year-olds.
Sidekicks/Kickstarts
is a group of volunteers who have agreed to learn karate to assist an instructor with teaching karate to a younger group of elementary school children (kickstarts). The program is designed to be a prevention program with the goal that students will develop the skills necessary to help them resist influences of a more negative peer group as they enter middle and high school.