by Martha Tancock
Communications

There were youth programs but no youth centre at Stacy Hill's home at Six Nations near Brantford when she was growing up. There still isn't. Because of her efforts, however, there will be one in Peterborough at the Friendship Centre by next fall.

      Hill applied for and recently got $120,000 funding from Human Resources Development Canada to establish the aboriginal youth centre. She had heard about the federal funding as vice-president of the National Association of Friendship Centres aboriginal youth council.

      "I have a really big interest in trying to do things for young people," said the second-year Trent Concurrent Education Program student.

      Hill, 21, is co-ordinator of the community-based project. She has already begun recruiting 12 young people -- they must be out of school, out of work and between 18 and 30 -- to help her set up the youth centre over the next six to nine months.

       The centre will occupy a separate section of the newly located Friendship Centre. After it is established, the centre may include a café and sell arts and crafts to sustain itself, says Hill.

      She envisions the centre as a possible site for third-year teacher-education students to do their required alternative practicum. "They could organize different events for youth" and help plan and co-ordinate tutoring and after-school homework programs, field trips and other educational activities, she says.

      This is not the first project proposal Hill has written. When she was 15, she successfully applied for support to set up a youth program similar to Big Brothers/Big Sisters and one geared to alcohol prevention in her home community. After she graduates, she hopes to return there to teach at the Mohawk and Cayuga Immersion High School.

      Impressed with Hill's success, Concurrent Teacher Education Program director Deborah Berrill had nothing but praise for Hill. In a message congratulating her, Berrill said: "It is keen testimony to the value of your vision, Stacy. And your skills....You are a person with vision and energy: this project will help you learn how to turn your visions into reality."