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Published
April 9, 2002
Yost . . . Empowering Others For Good Work BY MITCHELL J. LEE LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR  Putting money back into Nebraska's rural communities is
vital to Jeff Yost.
The 33-year-old Red Cloud native and lifelong Nebraskan is working to preserve his hometown and others like it. Yost, executive vice president of the Nebraska Community Foundation, said his goal is to educate others on the importance of returning something to their communities. "I concentrate on one thing every day and that is empowering other people to do good work," Yost said. To that end, he has helped reinvest $22 million in rural communities and projects since 1998. "Jeff is driven to use his talents to help others," said Maxine Moul, president at the NCF, which has financial ties to more than 150 Nebraska communities. "I think that is sparked from his rural work ethic and upbringing." According to Yost, more than $90 billion likely will be transferred from one generation to the next within 50 years - much of it affecting rural communities where about 750,000 Nebraskans now live. Yost is trying to convince people to re-invest in those communities. "Imagine if 5 percent of that $94 billion is reinvested," he said. "That's over $5 billion that goes into our state's communities and various other programs, and I don't think that is crazy to talk about," Yost said. Not only does Yost, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate in economics and agricultural business, strive to help rural Nebraska communities preserve their futures, he also has had opportunities to share his knowledge abroad. In 1996, he traveled to Palestine and Israel, where he saw firsthand the "deep divisions that hate and misunderstanding create." Among the highlights was a meeting with Yassar Arafat's chief of staff. Yost said Arafat's aide told him that 80 percent of Palestinians want only one thing: peace. In 1997, Yost spent a month in Tajikistan, where he taught strategic planning and economic development at a private university. Unwittingly, Yost said, he met several people associated with the Taliban and possible members of Al Qaeda. Despite numbing poverty, the people were generous and honored to meet someone from the United States, Yost said. "You realize just how privileged we are as a society. You realize the privilege of security." Yost said he admires Robert Kaplan, who writes about how a privileged society has a responsibility to help those less fortunate make better lives for themselves. In Palestine, he said, many youth "don't believe that they have anything to live for." But Yost said he also sees this kind of despair in America. "Those who control their futures have the best futures, and those who control their futures believe." If rural Nebraska doesn't take control of its future, Yost said, it could become an uninviting place. "We could see more pockets of poverty and less hope for a future," he said. Carl Eskridge, assistant ombudsman for Nebraska and a former colleague, credits Yost with taking "fund raising to another level. Jeff is hardworking, highly motivated and is committed to a lot of great issues." Yost, married and the father of two young children, said he has no plans to slow down. Down the road, he hopes to see his efforts bear fruit for the state's rural communities. "The future," he said, "is seeing how far we can come and how many people we can energize." Name: Jeffery G. Yost Age: 33 Work: Executive vice president, chief operating officer, Nebraska Community Foundation Community: Board member, Lied Main Street program; board member, Nebraska State Library Council; member, Christian Education Committee; volunteer, Habitat for Humanity, Matt Talbot Kitchen; former board member, Cornerstone Ministries; chapter advisor, Farmhouse fraternity Quote: "I concentrate on one thing every day and that is empowering other people to do good work." ---------- End of Story ---------- |
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Nebraska Community Foundation PO Box 83107 Lincoln, NE 68501 Phone: (402) 323-7330 Fax: (402) 323-7349 E-mail: webmaster@nebcommfound.org |
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