Youth Advisory Council

Did you know The Kim Foundation has a Youth Advisory Council? Well, we do! The Kim Foundation partners with local high school and college students to gain their input and knowledge which helps direct our suicide prevention and mental health initiatives. It also provides the students with an opportunity to bring mental health awareness and suicide prevention into their schools. We have an employee from Boys Town who attends the meetings and brings a large amount of knowledge and expertise to the table.

The meetings are once a month, typically on the third Sunday of the month, but it does depend on the month. Throughout the past couple of months that we have met, we have been able to compile a list of goals. These goals are the main things the youth want to obtain from the Youth Advisory Council (YAC). They are: volunteering in the community, increasing youth participation in mental health awareness and activities that the Youth Advisory Council does, and remaining educated on suicide prevention and mental health topics.

Along with these goals we also have created a YAC Twitter account. The youth were able to create the account and come up with different ideas to post on there. Feel free to follow the account if you’d like. ?

If you are a local high school or college student and are interested in attending the next YAC meeting, please reach out to me at kzimmerman@thekimfoundation.org. I would love to see more faces at the meetings! Our next meeting will be on January 19th, 2020. We are excited for what 2020 has in store for the Youth Advisory Council!

Katie Zimmerman, Project Coordinator for The Kim Foundation

Katie Zimmerman joined The Kim Foundation in June 2019. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies and Sociology from Central College in Pella, Iowa. During her time in college, she volunteered at many non-profits organizations and took multiple sociology classes which focused on mental health. Katie’s role at The Kim Foundation includes running the social media accounts, assisting in the Youth Advisory Council, and providing mental health awareness and education to the community through A Voice for Hope and Healing presentations.