Connected by 25 Grantee Summaries - 2004

In late 2003, CCFY made grants to ten community foundations to work on issues that affect disconnected youth between the ages of 14 and 24 years old. Participating community foundations are working with partners to improve transitional services, addressing policy and practices, stimulating interest in these issues in their community, and connecting local efforts with national strategies being developed by the Youth Transition Funders Group to help young people in transition move toward a healthy, productive adulthood. The grants were made possible with support from the Ford Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta (Georgia)
Assets: $400 million
Founded: 1951

Over the last eight years, the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta (TCF) has made children, youth and families a priority focus for its programs and leadership. In 2001, it began work with the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative and formed a local partnership, the Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Opportunities Initiative (MAYOI) to help foster youth make successful transitions from care. MAYOI is built upon the principle of youth engagement and has a strong youth board (15 youth ages 14 to 23) that directs the initiative. An "Opportunity Passport," provided to over 225 foster youth, has three components: an individual development account, a debit account and opportunities/services in employment, education, housing, physical and mental health.

With this grant, MAYOI will convene two groups -- employers and workforce development groups. Youth will participate in the meetings to educate them about issues facing foster youth and engage them in helping train and find jobs for them. MAYOI has already worked with several public and private agencies and employers to develop strategies and will partner with the state Department of Labor's GoodWorks program who is helping them identify employers who have capacity and may be responsive to the needs of foster youth. Some grant funds also will be used for a youth summit (co-hosed with the state Department of Family and Children Services) for foster youth and community groups/organizations to learn more about the services of MAYOI.

Contact: Akilah Watkins | awatkins@atlcf.org

The Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation (Ohio)
Assets: $28.5 million
Founded: 1992 and became independent in 1999

In 2000, the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation (TCF) funded the Search Institute study, Developmental Assets: A Profile of Your Youth, to assess the health and well-being of teen-aged youth. Results of the assessment showed that only 25% of youth perceived that adults value them and 26% believed that youth were given useful roles in the community. The Search Institute study was conducted again in 2003 which provided a data base for local community organizations to provide services and build youth programs. In 1997, a local collaborative of schools, non-profit youth groups (mental health, jobs, substance abuse) first identified support for youth in transition as a need. Since that time the community foundation has funded programs such as a parenting program that trained 200 parents of strong-willed and out of control youth and an art program that works with at-risk middle school youth.

The community foundation also partnered with the United Way, school districts, the Ohio State University extension office and local businesses to apply for and received a Corporation for National and Community Service grant to establish a youth in philanthropy program. This program is run by thirty diverse youth accepting youth-driven service learning proposals from groups such as one at an alternative school. After attending, CCFY's annual conference in 2002, TCF helped its community learn about the STAR program in Sarasota, Florida that trains adults and youth and places youth on public and private boards. Now youth in Findlay-Hancock County sit on many local boards including the United Way, Camp Fire, and The Community Foundation.

Since 1997, Findlay-Hancock County has had a very successful Independent Living program that supports 40 youth a year who have been referred by the schools, foster care agencies, or juvenile justice system who do not have support systems and will be living on their own in the near future. A collaboration of community groups provides information and training about finances, mental health services, legal services, housing options, employment training, and team-building activities such as ropes courses. Many of the youth do not have dependable families and find support from their peers in this program as well as the adults.

The Community Foundation will use its grant to help the Independent Living program find sustainable funding. Because of state budget cuts, it lost significant funds for the 2003 - 2004 school year. Although local groups have committed some gap funding, new public funds need to be found to keep the program viable. The Community Foundation is working with local government and the Independent Living Program to secure future funding.

Contact: Marty Rothey | mrothey@community-foundation.com

Grand Rapids Community Foundation (Michigan)
Assets: $180 million
Founded: 1922

In 2000, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation adopted a new "community leadership model" that goes beyond grantmaking to convening, leveraging funds, and advocacy. It is guided by principles of justice, diversity, accountability, collaboration, prevention, social capital and a systems approach. An important part of this work is identifying a "leadership agenda" in which the foundation focuses on emerging community issues that are not yet being addressed.

Child welfare has been a leadership focus of the foundation for several years. Through its Perspective 21 initiative it has brought its community together around the needs of abused and neglected children and opened its county's welfare system to community involvement. The foundation was a part of the Kellogg Foundation's Families for Kids Initiative through which the community designed strategies to address timely permanency for foster youth and the overrepresentation of children of color in foster care.

With this grant, the foundation and community will extend their efforts to support foster youth by developing strategies to provide coordinated supports for those transitioning out of care. The foundation and its partner, the Kent County Family Independence Agency, will convene key stakeholders in a six to eight month planning process to create a system of care of youth between the ages of 16 and 25 to help them makes a successful transition from foster care to independence. They hope to develop a data tracking system for youth exiting foster care by enhancing their current system to allow continuous data entry beyond permanent ward status; develop a mentor resource system to provide support, educational training, and identification of services in the community to help youth with housing, employment and other day to day needs; and establish a crisis respite placement program in partnership with community agencies. A number of community stakeholders are participating in this planning process including staff from the county prosecutor's office, community mental health office, the probate court, nonprofits, the Western Michigan University Social Work Department and current or former foster care youth.

Contact: Wendy Lewis Jackson | wjackson@grfoundation.org

Community Foundation Serving Greeley and Weld County (Colorado)
Assets: $9 million
Founded: 1995

The Platteville Community Foundation/Panther Express Youth Newspaper is a special project of the Community Foundation serving Greeley and Weld County, in northern Colorado. The Panther Express is a national award-winning youth newspaper located in Platteville (pop. 2,400). Young people, ages 7 through 17, research, write and edit the twice monthly tabloid newspaper, the only newspaper in the town. The newspaper project is housed at the town library and is one of the few organized after-school program that does not charge a fee. Topics range from serious public issues to the fanciful. At times, editorial positions have led to youth activism; for example, Express participants are responsible for planning and securing public funding for a skate park. In 2002, the Express won the American Library Association's highest award for creative community service by a public library.

This grant will be used for an exploration of the local juvenile justice system by 20 young people who will be recruited for the project. Organizers will aim to recruit youth who have had contact with the juvenile justice system or who are drop-outs or otherwise disconnected. A former court magistrate and college faculty member has volunteered her time to coordinate the juvenile justice exploration. Findings will be published by The Panther Express and likely be the source of future articles and editorial positions. The project also includes a mentoring component. The Panther Express also hopes eventually to raise enough funds to start a youth-run coffee shop and eventually a printing shop.

Contact: Sheryl Lynn Author | authorsway@yahoo.com

P-3 Community Foundation (Florida)
Assets: Less than $1 million
Founded: 2000

P-3 Community Foundation is a new community foundation serving three counties in east central Florida. Two-thirds of its service area is rural and there is a large farmworker community. Even though it is small in resources, it had a successful initiative in 2002 providing health education to Mexican farm workers with a grant from a local health-taxing district. It is continuing the program with AmeriCorp and Vista volunteers and donations.

For its "Connected by 25" work, the foundation with partner with One Voice for Volusia, a coalition of over 60 non-profit, government and community-based groups working to improve the lives of youth and families. They plan to educate key community leaders involved in systems that work with youth in transition about the challenges facing these youth and about the power of youth engagement as part of the solution to these problems. The work will begin with a work shop focused on best practices attended by representatives of juvenile justice, the state attorney general's office, police departments, schools, the department of children and families and non profits who work with youth.

Contact: Nita Schmellick | nitas@p3communityfoundation.org

Parkersburg Area Community Foundation (West Virginia)
Assets: $10 million
Founded: 1963

Parkersburg Area Community Foundation (PACF) with its regional affiliates serves a nine-county region in an economically depressed region of Appalachia. In a number of needs assessments, the community has identified youth in transition as a major gap of service delivery in the area. Numerous statistics confirm the level of need in the region. According to Kids Count, the number of idle youth in West Virginia, those 16 to 21 years of age who are not in school and do not work, is the highest in the nation. One county in the service area has a large number of youth (more than 100 a year) in out-of-community placements who have difficulty returning to the community and making a successful transition to adulthood.

In 2003, a consortium of providers convened twice to study the gaps in services for transitional youth, including the lack of transitional housing and other community-based services. This grant will be used to hold a forum on the needs of transitional youth, leading to an articulated plan for addressing service gaps. The forum will feature a national figure on the issue of youth in transition who can help the community connect with promising practices nationally. Service providers, policymakers, youth who are alumni of the service system, parents and guardians will participate in the Spring 2004 forum.

Contact: Judy Sjostedt | PACF@wirefire.com

Spartanburg County Foundation (South Carolina)
Assets: $64 million
Founded: 1943

Spartanburg County Foundation (SCF) is the most important philanthropic player in its region and has forged strong partnerships within the nonprofit community. The grant to SCF is an opportunity to inform and influence a major countywide, community-based visioning and planning process. Since 1989, SCF has issued a triennial report of countywide indicators, for use by the foundation and nonprofit and public agencies. With the release of a the current report, SCF is using the indicators report as a springboard for coordinated community action. SCF is convening a community planning and priority-setting process, called Strengthening Voices, that will engage grassroots leaders and young people as well as nonprofit and public representatives. This grant will be used to retain training and technical assistance in order to assure authentic youth participation in the process and build effective youth-adult partnerships. Young people who are transitioning from foster care or the juvenile justice system will help draw public attention to YIT issues by sharing their experiences and perspectives through digital storytelling.

Contact: Mary Thomas | mthomas@spcf.org

Taos Community Foundation (New Mexico)
Assets: $3 million
Founded: 1998

This grant is an opportunity to help a highly innovative and active youth philanthropy board learn about and develop grantmaking priorities around youth in transition issues. Many community foundation-based youth philanthropy programs are seeking ways to become more intentional change agents and less passive grantmakers as well as to become more inclusive in their memberships. It's hoped that Taos' participation in this learning community will be instructive for the broader youth philanthropy field.

In its fourth year, the Taos youth philanthropy board is diverse by ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, academic achievement and interests. It includes youth who are homeless and a participant in the local youth corps program. Past grantmaking has promoted youth voice and engagement and has led to activism, including the creation of a free expression wall which required a change in a city ordinance. The grant was named "best grant" at the 2003 Michigan summer leadership program (sponsored by the Council of Michigan Foundations). This youth leadership group is poised for, and has adult allies supportive of, tackling policy and system issues.

This project occurs at a very troubling time in Taos. Youth violence has become a critical issue. Eight youth have been murdered in the community since spring; in December 2003 two dozen students were poisoned at the high school.

Contact: Elizabeth Crittenden-Palacios | ecrittenden@taoscf.org

Venango Area Community Foundation (Pennsylvania)
Assets: $4 million
Founded: 1975

Just as youth in urban neighborhoods, those in rural communities face barriers in completing school, finding employment and succeeding as parents and citizens. The Venango Area Foundation, ninety miles north of Pittsburgh, will work with its partner Youth Alternatives, a Workforce Investment Act grantee, to convene key public and private groups, including youth, to identify challenges faced by youth in transition. They plan to collect data and develop strategies for service providers to share information that can help build a system that supports vulnerable youth.

The community foundation has a history of mobilizing efforts around youth led and youth oriented programs. It administered a three-year Communities That Care grant designed to promote resiliency and reduce risk factors among area youth. It also was part of a Kellogg Foundation funded Managing Information with Rural America Project, and worked to establish the Youth Technology Enterprise, which involved working with youth to create a youth managed computer business. The foundation has championed a youth inclusion paradigm shift among service providers by requiring that they integrate the 40 Developmental Assets philosophy (Search Institute) and include youth on their boards as a condition of funding. The foundation has two youth on its board.

Since 1994 Venango has had a collaborative, Focus on our Future, working to meet the needs of children, youth and families. With support from the Pew, Heinz and Samuel Justice foundations, the collaborative has done needs assessments, held community forums and developed programs around parenting, child abuse, drug prevention, and after school programs. It includes representatives from the schools, public health department, nonprofit groups that work with youth, the faith community and the community foundation. They see work to support youth in transition -- foster care youth, youth who have dropped out of school, youth who have been involved with the juvenile justice system, out of work youth and teen parents -- as part of Focus on our Future. The Youth in Transition Committee that will be formed looks forward to learning about best practices, research, data and policies around the country from the work of the Youth Transition Funders Group and sharing their knowledge and experience about youth in their community.

Contact: Stephen Kosak | steve_kosak@verizon.net

Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (U.S. Virgin Islands)
Assets: $3.5 million
Founded: 1990

The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) is the leading philanthropic organization in the US Virgin Islands. It has been the principal player in the development of USVI's Kids Count program, out of school time programming, and innovative fathers and fragile families work. CFVI and its partners, Lutheran Social Services and the local public agency responsible for foster care, have identified the need for transitional support for youth leaving foster care. As a first step, the partners propose a week-long training on transitional issues for foster care workers and foster parents. The event will include plenary sessions for policy makers, business owners, housing officials, foster parents, youth in transition and former foster care residents to raise awareness about and examine models of transitional supports for youth leaving foster care. Participants will be educated about youth in transition and independent living programs that have been successful in meeting the needs of youth in transition. Former foster children and youth in transition will be invited to share their experiences through a panel discussion. This convening is intended to lead to the development of an independent living program to benefit youth transitioning from foster care.

Contact: Dee Baecher Brown | dbrown@cfvi.net