Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
Hancock, Michigan—The Youth Advisory Council (YAC) of the Keweenaw Community Foundation announced that $15,100 has been awarded from the Youth Endowment Fund to nine local organizations. These grants will support projects that benefit youth in grades 6-12 in Houghton and Keweenaw Counties.
The grant recipients are:
- Student Leadership Committee of the Copper Country ISD to assist with funding the biannual Student Leadership Seminar to be held this spring.
- Houghton High School Softball Booster Club to assist with funding a public batting cage.
- Calumet High School Drama Club to implement the “Acting On It: Skills Development” program.
- Copper Country Suzuki Association for professional music instruction for youth.
- CCISD Health Careers to purchase materials for an “Age Gain Now Empathy System” suit to teach students the importance of empathy in their future careers and lives.
- Dollar Bay Tamarack City Area Schools to upgrade science lab technology for a new hands-on modeling curriculum.
- Great Lakes Recovery Centers Inc. to fund the “Houghton Voices” program that helps young women through self-discovery and empowerment.
- Houghton Keweenaw County 4-H Council to develop, promote, and expand an archery club for area youth.
- Calumet High School SADD Chapter to support the “Give Drugs the Boot!” boot hockey tournament.
Projects will take place between January 1st and December 30, 2016.
The projects chosen each addressed areas of need highlighted by the Youth Needs Survey. Conducted in Fall 2014, the survey collected responses from students in grades 7-12 at local area schools. It found that depression, drug abuse, and harassment represented the greatest challenges to local youth. The survey also asked teens which youth programs would be beneficial to youth in the community. The majority of teens were interested in after-school activities, skill building classes, career development, leadership building, and health programs. The full survey results are posted on the Keweenaw Community Foundation website: http://www.k-c-f.org/yac-survey/
“The Youth Advisory Council spends a lot of time reviewing the applications and listening to the applicants to ensure we make the proper decisions to impact as many youth in Houghton and Keweenaw County as possible,” commented YAC co-president, Lindsay Sandell, a Houghton High School junior.
“It is very rewarding to see that decisions that a group of young people make can impact our peers in such a powerful way,” stated Ben Lilleskov, Houghton High School junior and YAC co-president, “and I feel like this is a very unique way that I can impact my community and the lives of many youth in our area.”
The Keweenaw Community Foundation’s YAC was developed and supported by the Michigan Community Foundations’ Youth Project to spread youth philanthropy in the state, an initiative that was launched by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the community foundation members of Council of Michigan Foundations. Today, there are over 1,500 young people serving on 86 youth grantmaking committees statewide. Endowment fund assets exceed $62 million and collectively give $1.5 million in grants per year. Our YAC alone has granted over $134,000 in funds since its inception.
For more information on giving or grant opportunities, please visit the KCF website (www.k-c-f.org) or email mail@k-c-f.org. The next funding round is planned for Spring 2016.
Through philanthropic services, strategic investments and community leadership, Keweenaw Community Foundation helps people support the causes they care about, now and for generations to come. For more information on Keweenaw Community Foundation and how to give, visit its website at www.k-c-f.org.
# # #
