Youth Fund Awards Largest Grant in its History
For more information, contact:
Lisa Rupple, communications coordinator
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Office 440.984.7390
Elyria, OH, June 3, 2015 –
The Community Foundation’s Youth Fund Advisory Committee celebrated an amazing milestone this spring by awarding the largest grant in its history. An $11,000 grant has been awarded to Catholic Charities to support the Success for Youth program. This grant is a departure from the conventional type and size of grants traditionally awarded.
The Youth Fund committee, which is made up of 8th through 12th graders from across Lorain County, meets monthly during the school year to learn about philanthropy, the Foundation, grant making, and how to impact issues affecting youth. The committee has 119 alumni, with 18 of those having served four years or more. Youth interested in participating can start as early as 8th grade. Since its inception in 1998, the Youth Fund has awarded $115,598 in grants that supported 217 projects in school districts across the county.
In an effort to target areas affecting youth, committee members chose to complete a community needs assessment. The assessment would help them determine where they could focus their grant dollars and make the most beneficial impact. Collectively they identified and selected five critical areas impacting youth in our community: bullying, drugs/alcohol abuse, suicide risk, and personal development.
Success for Youth, a Catholic Charities program, was selected as the winning proposal. Catholic Charities has partnered with the Lorain County Juvenile Court for 12 years to provide Success for Youth – a program serving youth ages 14 to 17 years old, referred by the Juvenile Court.
The funding provided from the Youth Fund will go toward the purchase of an evidence based curriculum for staff to work with at-risk youth, and teaching the participants anger management skills using yoga, art, drumming, and working with horses, as part of the program’s adolescent behavior therapy.
About the Community Foundation
Founded in 1980, the Community Foundation of Lorain County is made up of more than 560 endowed Funds valued at approximately $128 million dollars. Assets of the Funds are invested wisely and a percentage of those earnings provide $4.4 annually in grant support to non-profit organizations in Lorain County. For more information on the Community Foundation visit www.peoplewhocare.org.