Applications requested for summer Kansas community health stipends

LAWRENCE -- A University of Kansas summer program designed to build stronger, healthier communities while creating future leaders of Kansas communities is seeking applicants for its Kansas Community Leadership Corps.

This two-month summer program provides a $2,000 stipend to selected students to pay for living expenses while working in their selected Kansas community. Also, the organization working with the student receives a $500 micro-grant to assist in covering program expenses during the summer program.

Corps members will work in a program the recipient designed to assist a local community program in its efforts to improve Kansas communities. Past participants have worked on programs such as substance abuse, adolescent pregnancy or HIV awareness.

In its fifth year, the Kansas Community Leadership Corps is sponsored by the Kansas University Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development and funded by the Kansas Office of Prevention. The program has sponsored up to 10 KU students each summer.

During the first four years, the corps program was open only to KU undergraduates who qualified through an application process. However, this year the program is open to qualified area high school seniors within an approximately 45-mile radius of the KU campus who have been accepted at KU for fall 2002.

"This is a pilot program, due to limited resources, but we believe the inclusion of incoming freshmen to this summer program will help broaden their vision to the needs of their hometowns and create a call to community service and leadership vital to the well-being of Kansas communities," said Jerry Schultz, director of the corps.

Applications and information are available online or by calling the KU Work Group, (785) 864-0533. The application deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 30.