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The award winning program presents cash grants for the best executed projects by local units of the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boys &Girls Clubs, Girls Incorporated, Camp Fire and 4-H.

More than 300 local clubs and troops of these leading organizations will receive checks for up to $2,000 for their outstanding projects.

&uot;The Colgate Youth for America program puts the positive activities of today's kids in the spotlight, recognizing and rewarding their creative solutions to problems in their communities,&uot; says Program Director Jennifer Barbara. &uot;Hopefully it also inspires others to follow their lead and get involved in service programs in their hometowns.&uot;

Past winners range from environmental improvement projects, to violence prevention, to baby-sitting programs for special needs children, and reflect the genuine concerns of our nation's young people.

The participation of this year's panel of judges, busy stars of one of today's most popular television shows, is a tribute to the importance of this program,&uot; Barbara says.

Part of a world-wide network of Colgate-Palmolive Company-sponsored youth programs, the campaign launched in 1972 is now the nation's longest running corporate-sponsored program benefiting U.S. youth. It has won a Freedoms Foundation Award, been recognized by the White House under the last five administrations, been saluted by Congress, and has been recognized by countless governors and mayors throughout the nation.

Entry forms may be obtained by sending a stamped self-addressed envelope to Colgate's Youth for America, P.O. Box 1058, FDR Station, New York, N.Y. 10150-1058. Visit Colgate's website at www.colgate.com where you can click on &uot;Youth Activities&uot; to get more details about the program and print an entry form right from your screen. The deadline for entry into this year's program is March 31, 2000.