Youth Advisory Council
The Youth Advisory Council (YAC) is a council of 40 student leaders committed to growing both philanthropy in our community, and personal leadership skills. YAC is currently represented by the following high schools in the Heartland Community: Blue Springs, Blue Springs South, Fort Osage, Grain Valley, Lee's Summit, Lee's Summit North, Lee's Summit West, Raytown, Raytown South, Truman and William Chrisman.
We Make Grants
We offer a tremendous voice for area youth by advising the Foundation on youth-related grant requests; in 2004 YAC reviewed $200,000 worth of Foundation Grants and advised the Foundation on which proposals to fund. We also make grants to those organizations whose proposals we strongly support and present checks to recipients at the Foundation's annual Grant Awards Luncheon; 2004 recipients were Bingham Academy of the Arts, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Samuel Rodgers Dental Community Health Center, and SteppingStone. We have also done a variety of service projects to learn more about organizations applying for funding.
We also offer Youth-to-Youth Grants to clubs and organizations at our high schools; these grants are written by students in our community and reviewed by students on our council. In 2003, we gave our first grant to Blue Springs South's PAWS (Promoting Acceptance Within Society) to transport students to Satchel Paige Elementary to read aloud to third graders. In 2004 Lee's Summit North's Art Honor Society was able to provide school supplies to the children of migrant farm workers in Lexington, MO.
We Raise Funds
In order to make grants to help the youth in our community, we raise funds. We are currently planning to build a $1 million YAC Endowment Fund that will allow us to give at least $50,000 each year in Foundation and Youth-to-Youth grants. We plan to meet with local business owners, corporations and other community leaders to solicit their support. We also hold school fundraisers and recycle toner and printer cartridges of which the proceeds go towards building our endowment.
If you are interested in applying for a position on the Youth Advisory Council contact Nicole Stevens at stevens@thcf.org. If you or someone you know is interested in making a contribution to the YAC Endowment Fund, contact us.
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