The Northfield Union of Youth, Inc. has a new Director. The Youth Board unanimously voted to hire Joshua Hinnenkamp and their choice was approved by the Adult Board in April of 2006. Josh worked as an AmeriCorps member for the Union of Youth from 2004 until 2005 and has had a paid staff position as Program Coordinator since then.

About Josh

Josh, and his twin brother Tad, were born in Chicago. He grew up in Albert Lea, Minnesota for most of his youth. During high school Josh spent his time as punk rocker and enjoyed wrestling – he even made it to State twice. After Josh graduated high school he came to Northfield to attend St. Olaf college, where he earned a B.A. in English. Since then he has lived and worked in the Northfield community. He says Northfield feels more like home then anywhere else and that it will always be ‘home’ to him. Community involvement is important to Josh. He feels that by working at The Key, he is making a contribution to the community.

Vision

Josh is optimistic about where The Key is headed. He was worried for a while about most of the Youth Board graduating in May of 2006, but since the 2006-2007 board has been elected things have been great. There are a lot of new faces and fantastic new ideas. The new Youth Board is really stepping up to the challenges of leadership. Their and Josh’s tasks at hand include fixing up The Key’s physical space; evaluating existing programs; creating new programs (based on youth input); possibly looking for a new building; discovering where the new board would like to take the organization; and developing more sustainable funding sources. The future is up to the kids, says Josh.

The Key is like no other place… Here, people from different groups and ages gather to engage, hang out and participate. Josh wants to make sure that The Key continues to be a open and welcoming environment. If you are unfamiliar with The Key, come down and meet some of the people, or sit in on one of the weekly Wednesday Union of Youth meetings at 3:45.