The Youth Advisory Council (YAC) at the Branch County Community Foundation were busy this month completing their first community service project of the year!
One of YAC's favorite projects is buying Christmas presents for youth in need within our community. With impact at the forefront of their minds, YAC decided to change the way they identify families who will benefit from this project. The new process included working with our local school districts in Branch County and Colon to identify families in need. With this new approach, YAC was able to identify one family from each school building within the public school system in Branch County and Colon, totaling an amazing 15 families, and 47 youth. With this new approach, YAC was able to almost double its impact, compared to serving 26 youth in 2022.
The new approach was a collective group effort with a lot of moving parts between BCCF Staff/YAC and the staff at Coldwater Community Schools, Bronson Community Schools, Colon Community Schools, Quincy Community Schools, and Union City Community Schools. The collaboration between our public school districts and BCCF Staff/YAC is what made this possible, and we are so grateful for those within the school system who coordinated and identified families, we couldn't have done it without them!
The Youth Advisory Council spent an afternoon this month at the Meijer Store #179 shopping for youth identified. Meijer Store #179 graciously gave $500 in gift cards to go towards the cause, allowing YAC to stretch its budget even further.
Although it is the end of the calendar year, Christmas shopping is the start of a year of impact for YAC, and they are looking forward to another way of impacting youth in our community through their 2024 YAC grant cycle.
YAC is looking for grant proposals that align with the top concerns from their most recent youth needs assessment. You can learn more about YAC, their needs assessment, and their upcoming grant cycle on BCCF's website at https://www.brcofoundation.org/yac,