Cooperative effort may help keep youth here

Have you thought much about the year 2020 lately? Or what about 2015? Or, even, for that matter, 2005 or 2010?

If you're anything like the majority of people, thoughts about life that far into the future are few and far between. Most folks have enough trouble dealing with the challenges of everyday life, let alone finding time to think about what's going to be happening a number of years down the road.

Even though that may be the case, it's good to hear that a concerted area-wide effort is being made to help young people create a future for themselves in Southwest Nebraska.

For years, we have been shaking our heads in dismay as hundreds of young people leave the area after high school graduation, never to return.

After receiving their diplomas, many go away to college, then take jobs in other cities and states after receiving their degrees.

But, now, a number of organizations in Southwest Nebraska are joining together in an attempt to help youth build futures for themselves in this area.

A formidable task? Absolutely. But that's why it needs to be done.

For the past 70 years -- starting with the Dust Bowl and Great Depression of the 1930s -- this area has seen a massive exodus of population.The census of the eight southwestern-most counties of Nebraska, which once numbered more than 75,000, now totals less than half that.

But, the irony is, many of those who depart miss the lifestyle in the Golden Plains. The great outdoors, the neighborly spirit and the lack of metropolitan hustle and bustle are among the attractions that city-dwellers give up when they move away.

How can we change that? A place to start is the Youth Entrepreneur Partnership launched by a dedicated group of partners, including the Southwest Community Builders, the Nelson Institute-Americorps Fellows, the Southwest Nebraska Resource Conservation and Development District, McCook Community College, the Nebraska Rural Development Commission, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Applied Rural Innovation and the Boy Scouts of America.

Working together with volunteer mentors, the group is striving to help high school students, from freshmen through seniors, develop business skills that will help them stay in Southwest Nebraska.

You can learn more about this exciting new program at a public information meeting scheduled next Tuesday, Oct. 22, at McCook Community College. The meeting will be in Room 5 at Tipton Hall beginning at 7 p.m.

Students, parents and concerned area citizens all stand to benefit from participation in this program for youth entrepreneurs. After all -- for this area's high school youth -- the year 2020 is more than a distant dream. For them, it will be the prime of life and -- if opportunities emerge as planned -- it's possible a growing number of them could spend those critical adult years in Southwest Nebraska.