Research shows that youth civic engagement leads to increased academic performance and improved social-emotional wellbeing, helping young people build skills and networks valued in the workplace and supporting economic mobility. To lessen this disparity and boost youth civic engagement, the Jim Ramstad Institute for Civility and Youth Leadership Endowment Fund for the YMCA of the North was established.
As the first institute created at the YMCA of the North and integrated within the Y’s Center for Youth Voice (CYV), the Ramstad Institute seeks to advance and perpetuate the ideals Jim embraced in his political leadership: a respect for bipartisan collaboration, a commitment to seek common ground, and a willingness to accept pragmatic, common-sense solutions.
Through proven youth development models, the Institute works to foster these ideals within two main program areas: CYV’s Youth in Government and the Y’s Respectful Conversations curriculum being used in secondary schools across the state.
Please join us in honoring Jim Ramstad’s legacy and developing our next generation of leaders with a gift today.