Community Foundation’s Youth Advisory Council Awards $24,000 In Grants

The Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan’s Youth Advisory Council just awarded over $24,000 in grants supporting children in Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency and Presque Isle counties. Christine Hitch, the Community Foundation’s marketing and communications director elaborated saying, “This is through the Kellogg Youth Fund that’s here at the Community foundation and part of the stipulation of that fund is that it has to be youth who determine where those awards go. So, the kids have a direct hand in where the grants go. They decide how much gets funded and which organizations are going to get that money.”

The funds will be dispersed amongst 22 different organizations, all chosen by the YAC members. Each award goes towards a different cause to support the youth of our region. “One thing our Youth Advisory Councils do is they use a Youth Needs Assessment that they do every three years, where they survey their peers, they use that as a guide for their grant making,” said Hitch. “So, when they get their top ten issues that are noted by their peers, they work to address those top issues through their grant making.”

The program is helping create the next generation’s leaders and philanthropists. With less than a month until the deadline for the next grant cycle, they are eager to continue serving the region. “Our Northeast Michigan Youth Advisory Council has two grant cycles every year,” said Hitch. “So, we just had our first one, and the next one has a deadline coming up January 15th. So this is again for programs that are specifically benefiting youth in our four county service area.” For those interested in applying for the next grant cycle, detailed information and application guidelines can be found on the Community Foundation’s website at cfnem.org.