Serving the

Community

About Us

Bozeman Youth Initiatives (BYI) (Bozeman, MT)

The Bozeman Youth Initiative's mission is to help the youth of Bozeman reach their full potential and become valued citizens of their community, through a collaboration of diverse people and organizations committed to engaging youth, listening to their vision of community and actively working with them to fulfill their vision in a meaningful way.

BYI was begun as the Bozeman TYDE in 1997 , a branch of the Turner Youth Development Initiatives (TYDE), under the fiscal umbrella of local organization, HRDC. An organization of both youth and adult members of the community was formed. Projects undertaken by this group include the Kirk Park skate park, the Blue Iguana teen center, and the RAVES volunteer rewards program. In the year 2005, the TYDE support council undertook a process of re-evaluating our programs and organization to better meet our mission. Out of this process came the long-overdue decision to leave our parent organization and become a fully-fledged non-profit corporation. We chose to incorporate under the name Bozeman Youth Initiative, which expresses our commitment to local, youth-driven programs. BYI achieved corporate status on December 29th, 2005.

BYI currently operates three programs, another due to launch this year, with volunteer training and development always a priority. The longest-running of these programs is the Bridging the Gap radio show. A teen produced, hosted, and engineered talk radio show providing a vehicle for youth to voice their opinions, learn real-life job skills, and discuss issues affecting their lives. Topics have included war, religion, education, drugs and alcohol, body image, youth culture, and many more. The show airs every Sunday from 4-6pm on 1450 AM KMMS. Our largest program is the Dial-Up Line and Event Production. The first aspect of this program is an activities phone line, run by youth, connecting teens to healthy activity opportunities throughout the community every day of the week. The line can be reached at 586-8801. This aspect will be phased out into an online calendar by the end of the year. The second is a youth-operated production company providing job experience and a range of entertainment opportunities. The youth managers of Dial-Up organize a volunteer staff of youth and adult mentors in all aspects of producing dances, concerts, and other events for youth, including booking, promotion, ticket and concession sales, logistics, and security. Our newest program is Web Club. Youth learn web development and production, with adult and peer mentorship, in a collaborative environment. Aspiring webmasters receive training in popular professional web design programs. Youth in this program produce and maintain our BYI website, and pursue their own projects. Our program that is soon to be launched, Youth Lab, is designed as a laboratory for community activism. Youth will design and run activities based on perceived needs in the community. BYI will connect the group with appropriate mentorship and available funding. Activities are likely to involve lobbying, community organizing, fundraising, public speaking, research, logistics, strategy, and fun!

Contact: byi-director@ycsi.net