On Tuesday, 26 students from around Butler County celebrated completion of the Butler County Youth Leadership Program.

While the students were honored during the graduation by program partners, the entire community should admire these students for taking the additional time beyond their regular studies and activities to take advantage of an opportunity to learn more about their county and community, how it all works and what opportunities might be available to be a part of that.

The program, founded as a student-oriented extension of the Leadership Butler County initiative, gives participants a chance to look behind the scenes at what keeps the wheels turning in the community through engagement with local industry, government and nonprofits.

Started in 2017, the program comes at a time when it is sorely needed.

According to a 2024 study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, there is an “alarming lack” of civic knowledge in the United States.

Meanwhile, data collected through a partnership between AmeriCorps and the U.S. Census Bureau every two years shows a drop in civic engagement, most noticeably volunteerism, after the turn of the millennium that only grew following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Programs like the county’s youth leadership program can be a means to spark interest in civics in the young adults who will one day lead our communities into the future. Providing a working knowledge of how those communities and their leadership work, and giving future leaders a lens to examine how they may be able to participate themselves, is essential if we hope to leave a healthy, engaged world to those who come after us.

— JP