The objective of the Youth Development program: 

• Encourage and help facilitate Rock County students to actively engage in American citizenship by focusing on local civics. This will be accomplished by working and collaborating with student councils and/or Social Studies/Government education classes in K-12 schools across Rock County; and local business leaders and local elected officials

• Government in the US, whether federal, state or local, is dependent upon the ‘consent of the governed’ by electing citizens they trust most.

• ‘Consent of the governed‘ is a political philosophy asserting that a government’s legitimacy and authority are derived from the agreement or approval of the people it rules. It’s the idea that rulers can’t just impose power—citizens must, in some way, willingly accept or participate in the system, whether through voting, social contract, or tacit agreement. It’s a cornerstone of democracy, contrasting with absolute monarchy or tyranny, where power isn’t tied to public will

  • Declaration of Independence (1776): Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” It justified breaking from Britain—King George III ruled without colonial consent.

  • Core Idea: Government exists to serve the people, not the other way around, and its right to govern hinges on the people’s consent

RCF’s Youth Development Fund

Why the RCF Youth Development exists and why local business leaders donate to its mission:

• A recent series of survey’s* indicate community involvement is on a rapid decline in the US. The respondents were asked over the time period of the three surveys whether community involvement was “very important” to them. The series shows a dramatic decline from 2019 to 2023 as the response declined from 62% to only 27% respectively.

• The intent of this program is to assist and augment similar educational programs provided by local K-12 schools through collaboration with local schools. We believe by engaging our youth in hands-on local civic engagement we can help offset the decline in community involvement

2024 FUNDRAISER | February 19, 2024

This fundraiser featured Yeonmi Park, Special Moderator, Tim Bremel, and the Honorable James P. Daley

Yeonmi Park is a renowned, human-rights activist and North Korean refugee and defector who has become a leading voice of oppressed people around the world. Her memoir about her escape from North Korea, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom, created a sensation worldwide and her has recently been published in 30 languages and 18 countries. Her latest book, While Time Remains, sounds the alarm on the culture wars, identity politics, and authoritarian tendencies tearing
America apart.

Born in North Korea, human rights activist and TED Speaker Yeonmi Park grew up in a punishing society devoted to the worship of Kim Jong-Il. But at the age of 13, she and her family made a daring escape to China in search of a life free of tyranny. In her viral talks, viewed online nearly 350 million times, Park urges audiences to recognize—and resist—the oppression that exists in North Korea, and around the world.