Politics & Government

Bellevue Youth Link to Recommend Outside Funding to Continue Mission

The Youth Link board will recommend to the Bellevue city council that the youth leadership program continue in the future by sharing costs with the city by seeking grants and partnerships.

, the leadership program that has supports Bellevue youth programs for more than two decades, could serve young people into the future by seeking outside grants and partnerships to split the costs with the city.

Youth Link board members will come before the city council on Monday to recommend sharing costs with the city by maintaining its current city funding level but raising money to pay for increasing costs.

The group recommends that the city continue to fund the program at 2011-12 levels, which is $230,000 for that biennium. Rises in costs will be covered by raising funds through grants and in-kind partnerships, according to a report to the city.

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As part of the changes, the Youth Link Board will start a separate fundraising entity that will be in charge of those efforts, according to the recommendation.

Youth Link is an youth leadership organization that is run by the City of Bellevue and Bellevue School District. Young people can join the Bellevue Youth Council, which leads the programs project. The organization also has a board of students and of adults that oversee the program.

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The group oversees city projects that help Bellevue teens. The projects that have started under the leadership of Youth Link since it was founded in 1990 include the , , , , the  and Bellevue Youth Court. Some of these projects have spun off to local nonprofits, according to the report, though others remain the responsibility of Youth Link.

According to Youth Link, about 8,000 young people have been involved in the program since the beginning.

Youth Link also publishes its monthly newsletter  in Bellevue Patch.

Members of the Youth Link Board will come before the council at its meeting on Monday night during the study session.

You can read the Bellevue Council Meeting Agendas by looking under the photos attached to this article, or download the clickable PDFs of the agendas from the city of Bellevue website.

If you go

The  is scheduled from 6-10 p.m. at  The discussion of Youth Link is scheduled for 6:45 p.m., after a 45 minute executive session that are closed to the public. The regular meeting starts at 8 p.m. The council meetings are broadcast live on Bellevue Television (cable channel 21). Video of the meetings can be viewed any time online from Bellevue TV.


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