NYLC President and CEO Honored at Minnesota Youth Service Celebration
kielsmeier honored
On May 12, 2005, the Minnesota Department of Education honored NYLC President and CEO James C. Kielsmeier at the Minnesota Youth Service Celebration. Kielsmeier received the Outstanding Contributions to Service Learning 2005 Policy Award. The award recognizes individuals who have impacted and developed polices and legislation to further advance service-learning.
"Jim is an obvious choice," said Michelle Kamenov, Service-Learning Specialist for the Department of Education. "This is long overdue!"
Kielsmeier, a former teacher, has been engaged in the design and implementation of comprehensive state and federal youth service and service-learning models since 1984. Among his many public policy achievements, he advised three Minnesota governors, helped U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger write the 1990 National Community Service Act, and testified before the Minnesota House and Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
"Jim is one of the rare teachers who gets the connection between policy and education," said NYLC's Maddy Wegner, as she introduced Kielsmeier. She added that no matter how big the policy issue is, he never loses the small picture of the kids who didn't drop out of school because of their engagement in service.
"Policy means permission to do something and the resources to do it," Kielsmeier said. "Minnesota opened the policy door for state support of service-learning back in the 1980s. I'm proud that this state's work was the precursor to so much that has happened since, at the local, state, and federal levels."
