Leadership La Porte County is pleased to announce its continued collaboration with the Youth Service Bureau BBBS of La Porte County and the Unity Foundation of La Porte County to provide grants to youth-driven projects in La Porte County. The effort is being carried out through Leadership La Porte County’s Youth to Youth (Y2Y), program, which encourages youth groups in La Porte County to apply for grants to carry out community service projects that will meet local needs. The program is being funded by an endowment at the Unity Foundation and fundraisers that the youth will develop. Grant requests will be reviewed by a youth committee, and the project must be completed by a youth group. Y2Y is a spin-off of the Leadership La Porte County Youth Program.
“We have invited a small group of participants from our summer leadership camp to participate in Y2Y. They will learn the basics of grant-making and philanthropy, and then apply those skills to real-life community projects,” stated Monica Komasinski, Executive Director of Leadership La Porte County. “We are grateful for the support of the Unity Foundation and appreciate the efforts of Alliegra Hand, youth coordinator at the Youth Service Bureau for her assistance with Youth to Youth.”
Grant packets are now available online at: www.leadershiplaportecounty.com or by contacting Komasinski at the Leadership office (call 219-325-8223 or email info@leadershiplaportecounty.com). There will be 2 grant cycles in 2013/14. The first deadline for submitting a grant request is December 2, 2013. Grants will be reviewed by the youth committee who will invite finalists to a face-to-face interview with the committee. Grant amounts can range from $50 to $500 per project and must meet a community need. Youth groups meeting the criteria could include school classes, athletic teams, clubs, neighborhood groups, Scouting groups, 4H clubs, church youth groups, and other organized groups. An adult supervisor is required, but the grant application and project must be youth-led. Any La Porte County youth group is welcome to apply.
“This is a unique opportunity for our youth to get directly involved in their communities and learn about philanthropy, grant-making, grant-writing, and volunteerism,” Komasinski added.
“We are also seeking involvement from the adult community in the form of donations, volunteers, and business partnerships,“ she concluded.