The Association of Professional Genealogists is to be commended for adding a new Youth Member level to encourage participation by young genealogists. Well done! The change was announced this spring by Kimberly Powell, APG President and is only one part of the overall restructuring of dues designed to create consistency for North American and International memberships.
The new Youth Member category expressly promotes the involvement of young genealogists, many who are students or recent college graduates and might find it a hardship to join a professional organization at the full rate.
When we considered founding the Suzanne Winsor Freeman Student Genealogy Grant in 2010, very few genealogy conferences, societies, or organizations offered a student or youth rate for membership or participation, although “the future of genealogy” was a popular and much-discussed topic.
The Southern California Genealogy Society Genealogy Jamboree has offered a student scholarship for several years and has partnered with the Freeman Student Grant cash award since 2011.
In 2013, the National Genealogical Society offered for the first time a youth conference registration rate for the 2013 Las Vegas Convention, setting a new standard for the national conference.
The Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference makes a discounted student rate available to current students of all ages attending elementary to graduate school.
I am especially excited by APG’s commitment to young professional genealogists and hope that more organizations will take a cue from APG’s membership rates to add a Youth Member policy.
APG continues to offer a wealth of services to its members including professional development programs, a monthly e-newsleter, website, APG Quarterly Journal, and online webinars. Membership most worthwhile for any professional genealogist of any age.
Kudos APG!
Do you know of other genealogy organizations or conferences offering a Youth or Student rate? Please give them a shout-out in the comments!
The Utah Genealogical Society also offers a reduced membership rate for students.
