A successful year for local teens and local nonprofits!
Our Youth Philanthropy Initiative wrapped up this year with high school students from Wood River High School and The Community School awarding grant money to The Alliance of Idaho, Flourish Foundation, Mountain Rides, Friends of Sawtooth Avalanche Center, Wood River Land Trust and Kids Mountain Fund.
YPI has been engaging students in our local high schools for many years and this year was no different. Each group starts with $5,000 of grant money to award to a local nonprofit that stands out to them most among many applicants. They spend six to eight weeks reading, understanding, questioning and finally deliberating over each grant request. Towards the end of their time they are given the opportunity to interview representatives from the nonprofits that stand out the most. The interview process offers the students and rare opportunity to reverse the roles and be the ones interviewing the adults and making important decisions that will impact their community. This program has proven to be a rich and meaningful experience for our local youth, local nonprofits and greater Wood River Valley community who benefit greatly from the impact of the award money.
The students can give all of the $5,000 to one nonprofit or split it to award smaller amounts to a few organizations. In an exciting turn of events this year, students were given the opportunity to double the amount offered to the nonprofits they chose to award.
We are grateful to our teachers, Calysta Philips at the Sun Valley Community School, Eleanor Rodgers & Erika Greenberg at Wood River High School, who lead these groups through this process and help our students learn the importance of generosity and service within our community.