Foundation for Roanoke Valley’s Youth Leadership Committee kicked off its fifth year of “The Philanthropy Project” with a big announcement and over fifty-five yards of fleece material.
The Youth Leadership Committee (YLC) is comprised of local high school students who are responsible for determining what they believe are the most important community needs, seeking to address those needs through a competitive grants process, reviewing grant applications, and making funding recommendations to the Foundation’s Board of Governors using a $25,000 budget.
Over the past four years, the YLC has received in excess of $500,000 in grant requests and has awarded tens of thousands of dollars in grants to many local nonprofit organizations, with those grants typically totaling from $1,000 to $7,200 and covering a wide range of community programs, needs and opportunities. However, this year the youth leaders will have an even greater task ahead of them: to gain consensus amongst the group on a single community need or program that will receive the entire $25,000 grant. This large impact grant will take the YLC over the $100,000 level in cumulative grants.
This year’s funding priorities will be determined by the YLC in January, and agencies will be able to apply online on or about January 14.
As for the fifty-five yards of fleece, YLC members and Foundation staff made eighteen fleece blankets to give to children and teens staying at The Rescue Mission. According to Lee Clark, Rescue Mission Director of Development and Finance, “For the first time ever in the Mission’s 62 year history, the numbers of women and children have outpaced the numbers of men in emergency shelter this year.”
The fleece blankets will be added to “move out baskets” given to children and teens as they transition from emergency shelter to more permanent housing. “We are so grateful for the continued support of the Foundation for Roanoke Valley’s Youth Leadership Committee in gifts like cozy fleece blankets to time spent volunteering with families in shelter to funding for special projects like the Mission’s Dr. G. Wayne Fralin Free Clinic for the Homeless,” said Clark.
YLC members also plan to visit a local retirement community on Valentine’s Day, work on a Habitat for Humanity project, volunteer at the Blue Ridge Marathon, and carry out other service projects still in the works.
The Philanthropy Project was established in 2006 by Foundation for Roanoke Valley to introduce high school students to the world of philanthropy, both in terms of philanthropy’s role in being a productive citizen of the community and philanthropy as a possible career option. The program also develops leadership and consensus-building skills. The following students comprise this year’s Youth Leadership Committee: YLC: Jordan Bazak, Patrick Henry; Leslie Brittain, Salem; Matthew Crush, Lord Botetourt; Emma Kauffman, Salem; Claire Martin, Northside; Elizabeth Sherer, Glenvar; Evelyn Strope, Franklin County; Cameron Todd, Hidden Valley; and Kelsey Tripp, William Byrd.
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