The Great Grants/Initiatives finalists were as follows:

Southfield Community Foundation-Youth Advisory Committee—Southfield, MI

Great Grant:  $25,000 community grant to the Teen Center Committee to encourage other companies and groups to fund the project

Purpose:  The grant is helping to fund a project to build a safe place for middle and high school students to gather and keep out of trouble. 

Project:  The Teen Center will be a safe place for teenagers to go throughout the year for different activities and opportunities.  Teenagers can take various classes, receive tutoring and counseling, and use the buildings for school and community group meetings.  Students have planned and designed the building and all of its facilities, and are now submitting grant proposals to foundations and to the city to get the project moving.  For more information contact YAC advisor Cynthia Johnson at 248-796-4190.

Toward a More Perfect Union Youth Advisory Council—West Palm Beach, FL

Great Grant: Mini-grant for “Caring for Our Community:  Environmental Education Using Sunshine State Standards”

Purpose of grant:  To provide books for elementary school kids to help teach literacy and how to take care of the environment at the same time.

Project:  The project was designed for the Pahokee Beacon School in Pahokee, FL.  Books were provided for students that helped teach them how to read and other literacy skills while teaching about how to care for the environment.  Students gained skills as well as an understanding of how to maintain a sustainable community.  The other half of the project was a huge community cleanup with nearly total community participation!  For more information please contact Inger Cheves Brown at 561-832-3336.

Community Foundation for Muskegon County Youth Advisory Council—Muskegon, MI

Great Grant:  $30,000 to the City of Muskegon for Juvenile Justice

Purpose of Grant:  To aid in the research and evaluation of the needs of the juvenile justice system in Muskegon County

Project:  The $30,000 grant is going towards research of the juvenile justice system of Muskegon County, a needs assessment of the Muskegon County Juvenile Detention Center, and the renewal and reconstruction of the current detention center.  The grant involved the Muskegon City Council, the city commissioners, and other city officials and nonprofit groups. The goal of the grant is to create a better justice system and environment in the detention center that will aid youth in their rehabilitation.  For more information contact YAC advisor Gina Van Bruggen at 231-722-4538.

Community Foundation of Greater Flint Youth Advisory Council—Flint, MI

Great Grant: $1,211 to support a partnership between Clio High School and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), Clio Chapter

Purpose of grant:  To support families of children with brain disorders

Project:  The grant supported a program called HUGS (Help Us Grow Safely), a partnership program between Clio High School and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), Clio Chapter.  The grant supported the cost of activities and education for parents and caretakers of children with brain disorders, and involved approximately 30 families.  For more information please contact Lynn Larkin at 810-767-8270.

Allegan County Community Foundation YAC—Allegan, MI

Great Grant:  $600 mini-grant to Teens Aiding Growth for “The Great Bear Escape”

Purpose of Grant:  To bring AP high school students together with first-graders in a fun project that taught about foreign countries and culture.   

Project: “The Great Bear Escape” was an educational exercise and a mentoring program for the younger students.  The students were given teddy bears, then the teddy bears “escaped” and traveled all over the world.  The first graders learned about foreign countries and their food, customs, clothing, and histories.  The project got high school students involved with the younger students and taught them in a fun and interactive way.  For more information contact YAC advisor Theresa Bray at 269-673-8344.

Mackinac Island Youth Advisory Council—Mackinac Island, MI

Great Grant:  Mini-grant to buy a handicap swing for the local school

Purpose of grant:  To support handicapped children by making the playground more accessible Project:  The mini grant supported the purchase of a handicap swing so handicapped students are more able to participate at recess.  For more information please contact Jennifer Bloswick at 906-847-3376.

The Philadelphia Foundation Youthadelphia—Philadelphia, PA

Great Grant: $15,000 to the Pennsylvania Migrant Education Program

Purpose of grant:  The grant funded college prep classes and visits, SAT preparation programs, congressional student awards, and various other activities and site visits.

Project: The Pennsylvania Migrant Education program is designed to help immigrants adjust to new schools and social atmospheres in Philadelphia.  The portion of the program funded by Youthadelphia focuses on preparing migrant students for higher education and showing them future possibilities.  The program empowers youth by preparing them for higher education, developing their leadership skills, and covering issues such as self-esteem, conflict resolution, and peer pressure and mediation.  For more information contact Melissa DeShields at 215-563-6417.

Community Foundation of Greater Lorain County Youth Fund Advisory Committee—Lorain, OH

Great Grant:  $9,950 to Elyria United Methodist Village for Second Wind Dreams

Purpose of grant:  To bring youth and the elderly together to help the elderly fulfill a lifelong dream

Project:  Twenty members of the Youth Advisory Committee spent time with and interviewed residents of the Elyria United Methodist Village (nursing/retirement home) to find a dream they wanted to fulfill in their lifetime.  The students then worked with others in the community and the resident’s families to make the resident’s dreams come true.  The grant was also intended to bridge barriers and cultivate understanding between the generations.  For more information please contact Ramona Grigsby at 440-277-0142.

Young People in Charge—Lancaster, SC

Great Grant: $500 for Lock It For Love

Purpose of grant:  Persuade youth to wear their seatbelts whenever they are driving or riding in a car

Project: The grant made to sponsor the Lock It for Love public awareness campaign funded high school students that made and handed out key chains and pledge cards to students in three area high schools to help them remember and promise to wear their seatbelts whenever they rode in a car.  Deaths due to auto crashes and not wearing seatbelts are a problem in the local area, and these teens felt the need to do something about it.  Involved were the YPC board members and students from three area high schools.  For more information please contact Heather Mueller at 803-283-4995.

Youth As Resources-Rochester, NY

Great Grant:  $1,000 to support a lead-education program

Purpose of grant:  To support the an education initiative by youth to teach the youth and community about the dangers of lead paint

Project: Youth As Resources gave $1,000 to Southwest Area Neighborhood (SWAN) for their Lead Buster video during the 2005-2006 school year grant cycle. The youth group directed, produced, and taped a lead-safe video that taught kids about the dangers of lead poisoning and its effect on young children.  The sector 4 area, in which this youth group is located, has the highest lead-poisoning percentage in the city.  This group was also responsible for moving forward the lead-assessment policy in the city, and they have presented their Lead Buster video to Senator Hillary Clinton, along with other block clubs, church groups, and schools in the city. The group has recently purchased an abandoned building in the area and is using it as a museum to explain various health hazards and how to protect oneself around the house.  For more information please contact Eleanor Coleman at 585- 436-8201 x1391.

Great grants from other years available: 2001   2005   2007