50 years, 50 stories: Story #19 AAACF Youth Council

Empowering Young  People To Make a Difference

Each year, a group of 21-25 Ann Arbor high school students have the remarkable and often life-changing experience of awarding nearly $70,000 to support youth programs across Washtenaw County. As members of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation’s Youth Council, they develop leadership skills, gain a deep understanding of community needs, and promote philanthropy and service among young people - a tradition that began in 1989 with a challenge grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Since that time, more than 200 high school students have served on Youth Council and awarded more than $1.5 million in grants to support a wide range of programs and organizations including: Big Brothers-Big Sisters, Community Action Network, Fly Children’s Art Center, Ozone House, Peace Neighborhood Center, and the Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra.  Youth Council grants were also instrumental in launching the Neutral Zone and the Ann Arbor YMCA’s Youth Volunteer Corps. Alumnus Paul Johnson, current Program Director at Peace Neighborhood Center, remembers Youth Council as a forum where everyone’s contributions were valued. "We all discovered that we had a voice and that we could make a difference," he says.
 "Through Youth Council we learned how to work toward a common goal, something larger than ourselves."
 
One of the many ways the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation
supports all that is good in our community.
 
Read more "good" stories at: aaacf.org/storiestory