Office of Youth Development and
Community Outreach
and the
Albion Youth Development Coalition
About the
Albion Youth Development COALITION
Greetings!
We welcome your interest in our community. Albion is a unique community, both a foundry town and a college town. We are a melting pot ethnically and racially because of foundries having recruited labor over the years from various regions. These were people of ambition, accustomed to hard work and hard conditions. Our foundries have subsequently closed, leaving many without the needed skills to move forward in the workplace of the 21st century. Thus Albion is an economically deprived community, with a disproportionate percentage of low-income families. Yet our spirit is rich. Historically, we in Albion acknowledge our problems and work together to develop solutions. We are a “roll up your sleeves” community.
We are blessed with having Albion College as a corporate citizen. We have the benefit of the expertise that is associated with an institution of such high academic standing. Faculty and administration see our community as a laboratory in which the students can gain real experiences in dealing with issues. Students take an active role in many endeavors. Typically, over three hundred Albion College students become involved each year in tutoring and mentoring, or otherwise helping our youth. We are also blessed by the presence of Kellogg Community College’s eastern campus (next to Starr Commonwealth, another resource) and our new partnership with the Kids at Hope Foundation of Phoenix, Arizona.
In mid-year of 2003, the Superintendent of the Albion Public Schools convened a group of community leaders to engage the community as a whole about unacceptable academic performance. This group became the Albion Youth Development Taskforce. It has evolved from being a taskforce to a coalition. About 25 committed persons from all aspects of the community regularly engage with each other through monthly meetings.
It is in the name of the Albion Youth Development Coalition that we welcome your interest and involvement in our community. We hope you will share our commitment and promise to our youth that Every Child Can Succeed, No Exceptions, No Excuses!
David C. Farley
Chair, Albion Youth Development Coalition Executive Director, Albion Community
Foundation/ Treasure Hunter
Kevin D. Brown
Executive Director, Albion Youth Development Coalition Director of Youth
Development and Community Outreach/Treasure Hunter
Executive Committee:
David C. Farley
ChairLarry Ley
Past-ChairSherry Grice
Chair-ElectKristi Rigelman
SecretaryCanduace Cloy
At-Large MemberTerry Langston
At-Large MemberKevin D. Brown
Executive DirectorCJ Kreger
Youth Advisory CouncilTBA
Youth Advisory Council