Congratulations to the Youth Advisory Council
Posted on January 11, 2013
St. Clair County is on its way to becoming “college positive,” thanks to a Youth Advisory Council (YAC) College Positive Challenge Grant supported by The Kresge Foundation and administered by the Council of Michigan Foundations.
The purpose of the YAC College Positive Community Challenge Grant program is to build a strong, statewide network of youth grantmakers that are proactively supporting college access and success and to leverage additional community dollars for local organizations that encourage a college positive community.
“College positive communities promote the college-going mindset, provide exposure to resources and options to make postsecondary education possible for everyone, and equip individuals with the tools and knowledge to explore and attend postsecondary education,” said Haley E. Lamm, community foundations coordinator for the Council of Michigan Foundations.
The Challenge Grant encouraged YACs to create partnerships with community groups such as mentoring and tutoring organizations, or to organize special projects that specifically engaged low-income, first generation and/or students of collor. YACs could apply for up to $2,500 to be matched locally with new dollars, transferred dollars from their community foundation or spendable grant dollars from their YAC fund.
The St. Clair County YAC will use the award to partner with the KnowHow2Go Initiative on programs such as college campus tours.
Funds committed by YACs across the state totaled $55,400 and will be matched with funds from The Kresge Foundation for a total of $110,800 in support of college positive projects in Michigan.
”The Kresge Foundation is delighted to support the YACs, and it’s exciting to see how creative and resourceful these young people are in identifying needs and opportunities in their communities. Every Michigan student deserves the chance to pursue and succeed in education beyond high school, and these types of grassroots efforts are an important part of making that happen,” said Kresge Senior Program Officer Caroline Altman Smith.
A Youth Advisory Council (YAC) is a youth grantmaking body of a community foundation with a permanently endowed youth fund. The YACs focus on serving community youth by addressing issues of concern and importance through grantmaking from the revenue earned on the youth endowment.
The Kresge Foundation is a $3.1 billion private, national foundation that seeks to influence the quality of life for future generations through its support of nonprofit organizations working in its seven program areas: Arts and Culture, Community Development, Detroit, Education, the Environment, Health, and Human Services. Fostering greater access to and success in post-secondary education for low-income, minority and first- generation college students is the focus of Kresge’s Education grantmaking. In 2011, Kresge awarded more than $22 million in grants to support higher education in the United States and South Africa, including more than $3 million in Michigan. For more information, please visit http://www.kresge.org or follow @kresgeedu on Twitter.
