The Northwest Montana United Way has received a Learn and Serve America grant to implement a Youth Leaders in Service project.

The program will enable students from six area high schools — Flathead, Glacier, Columbia Falls, Bigfork, Stillwater Christian and Whitefish — to develop youth-led service projects that create healthier communities.

Funding for the project is made possible through the Corporation for National and Community Service and Hope Mountain, a Bozeman-based nonprofit organization.

For more information, call Joan Schmidt at 871-1008.

Hope Mountain’s mission is to invest in rural and tribal citizen leaders, adults and youth who are working to improve education, ecological health and economic develop.

“Through Youth Leader in Service, rural and tribal youth will have to opportunity to design and implement innovative service projects in cooperation with local community partners,” said Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, executive director of Hopa Mountain.

Learn and Serve America helps more than 1 million students every year make meaningful contributions in their communities while building their academic and civic skills and establishing a lifelong commitment to service.

For more information, visit http://www.learnandserve.gov.

The Corporation for National and Community Service engages more than 4 million Americans in service each year through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America. For more information, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov.