Youth leadership program set to expand

Since the program launched in February 2024, the 39 graduates of Southwest Montana Youth Partner’s (SWMYP) leadership initiative have logged more than 1,000 hours of change-focused instruction and designed and completed 17 community service projects.

“We want to try to reach more kids,” says SWMYP Executive Director Rochelle Hesford, adding that the organization’s Youth Leadership Program plans to welcome two new, and larger, cohorts next month, one each in Boulder and Whitehall.

The goal is to address what Hesford, an admitted leadership junkie, sees as a gap in traditional education: There’s little in school to build the leadership capacity of children in 7th, 8th and 9th grades, an age group she believes is primed to begin building a sense of personal agency and a commitment to civic engagement.