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FROM STAFF REPORTS

MONTEVALLO – For one week, teens ages 13-18 serve alongside one another while learning about the history of Birmingham, the needs of the Birmingham and surrounding communities and how the work of service partners is addressing those needs.

This week, these teens experienced an Urban + Rural Exchange in Montevallo, participating in a beautification project restoring headstones in the Montevallo Cemetery.

“YouthServe Urban Service Camp is an immersive experience designed to connect youth to the Birmingham and surrounding communities through service. This week, YouthServe has expanded its summer Urban Service Camps to include a week of building bridges between urban and rural communities through service with diverse groups of youth from both regions,” YouthServe Executive Director Jennifer Hatchett said. “While the opportunity to serve in a city cemetery was unusual, it underscores what brings us all together: caring for and respecting our communities and each other, despite what we perceive to be our differences. I think the campers have learned this week they have much more in common than not.”

Twenty-two students from 18 schools in Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair and Perry counties as well as one from out of state are attending the camp at Living River this week.

All students will earn 45 hours of service with Shelby County Emergency Assistance, the Cahaba River Society and the city of Montevallo.

YouthServe origins date back to the mid-1990s in Birmingham with two organizations, First Look and Birmingham Youth Service Corps, who merged to become YouthServe in 2004.

Since then, it has become the premier organization for diverse groups of youth to experience civic engagement together and express community leadership in the here and now.

To learn more about YouthServe, contact Jennifer Hatchett at (205) 521-6651 or email jhatchett@youthservebham.org.

For more information about the city of Montevallo or Montevallo Cemetery, contact Executive Assistant to the Mayor Lisa Shapiro at (205) 665-2555 extension 109 or lshapiro@cityofmontevallo.com.