The St. Croix Foundation’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC) will launch its first grant-application cycle opening on Friday, March 5. The application deadline is March 31. Grants will be awarded to qualifying organizations including nonprofits, community-based organizations and schools located on the island of St. Croix in support of projects that are youth-advised and/or directed. With a maximum grant award of $500, all funded projects must demonstrate a charitable or educational focus on issues affecting young people.
Created in the summer of 2009, YAC is comprised of burgeoning youth leaders from St. Croix’s public high schools. Since the launch of the council, members have been introduced to the world of philanthropy and charitable giving through targeted, instructional curriculum. Through this provocative program, which is creating local youth philanthropists, the YAC is guiding and empowering St. Croix youth to make meaningful changes that will directly impact their community (specifically their peers) in innovative and sustainable ways.
“The youth philanthropy project has been a component of the St. Croix Foundation’s education initiative since its inception. The concept was to equip youth with the tools and experience of what our Community Foundation does. YAC is grass roots education, providing younger members of our community with knowledge, skills, and mentoring to practice philanthropy. Personally, it has inspired me to engage our community. The members’ dedication and honesty has been able to successfully launch YAC and help our community move forward for the youth and with the youth. We are incredibly excited about this program and equally proud of the extraordinarily talented and dynamic young people who serve on the council,” said Leslie Hamdorf, St. Croix Foundation’s YAC instructor.
The council is currently made up of 12 public high school students selected to join, based not only on their academic achievements but also on their abilities to think critically and creatively. Over the past 9 months, students have met regularly to investigate the short and long-term needs of youth on the island through surveys of their peers and discussions at monthly meetings. Today, with the official launch of the YAC’s first grant cycle, they are focusing their grant making on programs that address the challenges of negativity, crime, peer pressure and accessibility to higher education in full demonstration of their commitment to finding innovative ways to solve these issues. “As youth, we are told over and over again that we are the future, but rarely are we given the opportunity to make decisions today that impact our future. YAC gives us the opportunity to change that,” said the members.
Over the next year, YAC members will also be developing real-world skill sets including designing their programmatic agendas, their budgets, timelines, benchmarks and media strategies. The St. Croix Foundation has entrusted the council with a big responsibility based on the organization’s firm belief that nobody knows the issues affecting young people in our community better than youths. YAC member Gerhard Steven Jr. stated that YAC’s purposed is to link existing programs that are benefitting youth in a positive way to more funding. “We want to help children and services on St. Croix because some are heading down the wrong path and if something doesn’t change, then some become many and many could become all. YAC recognizes the potential in all youth and we want to help the youth access it,” he said.
Funding for YAC is made possible by the Matt Miller Youth Philanthropy Fund, established in 2004 at the St. Croix Foundation. This Memorial Fund is named in honor of Matthew Miller, who on the day of his death had met with the foundation to discuss ways in which he could give back to the community by establishing programs that promoted youth philanthropy. Sadly, within hours of leaving that meeting, he died in an auto accident on the east end of the island. His parents, in the midst of their grief, not only donated Matt’s organs but also created a fund in his memory, seeking to fulfill his final wishes.
The deadline for grant applications is March 31. Interested parties can e-mail the YAC at [email protected] to request an application or can pick them up at the St. Croix Foundation’s office. All completed applications must be mailed to the St. Croix Foundation, Attention: Youth Advisory Council, 5072 Flag Drive, Christiansted, VI 00820.
For more information, call the St. Croix Foundation at 773-9898.