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The 2010 – 2011 YFDC FAQ
(The program’s 20th year)
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Composition of
the 2010-11 YFDC group |
26 student volunteers completed the program
- Girls 16 (9 juniors and 7 seniors)
- Boys 10 (3 juniors and 7 seniors)
- Juniors 12
- Seniors* 14
* 5 of the seniors are returning, having served on last year’s YFDC
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| The schools they attended |
- 11 Schools Total
- 6 Public Schools (4 CMSD and 2 inner ring suburban schools)
- 2 Private Schools
- 3 Parochial Schools
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| The fund’s contributing partners |
- The Florence Crittenton Fund of the Cleveland Foundation
- The Cleveland Foundation
- The Elizabeth and Ellery Sedgwick Fund
- The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation
- The MyCom Initiative
- United Way of Greater Cleveland
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| This year’s definition of “youth” for the RFP |
- Youth is defined as infants through age 22
The group felt strongly that very young children need support so they can succeed as they grow older. They also felt that young people need help completing high school and getting into college. They therefore decided on the widest possible age range for possible program funding.
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| This year’s program priorities: |
- Education support
- Violence and Abuse prevention
- Confidence and Self-Esteem programs
- Safe Recreation programs
- Prevention programs for girls
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| History |
- The YFDC was initiated in 1990 by John K. Mott, a United Way staff member who wanted to supporting youth philanthropy. The program was run as a pilot from December 1990 to June 1992. After John’s death in 1992, the program was championed by other volunteers. 2011 was the 20th year of YFDC’s work.
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| YFDC’s Mission |
- Educate the youth members about community problem-solving through the United Way allocation process
- Show youth members how campaign funds are used and how the philanthropy process works
- Empower youth through a meaningful decision-making process
- Demonstrate to the community youths’ ability to responsibly distribute funds
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| This Years Result's |
| Funds Distributed |
$66,000 was distributed to 20 grantees:
- $50,000 awarded in ten $5,000 grants
- $16,000 awarded in 7 smaller grants ($2,000 or under) to “Youth Originated Projects” in Cleveland area MyCom neighborhoods.
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| Comments from agency representatives after their interviews by YFDC |
- It felt like board room questions.
- This is a good program; it makes kids aware of what’s going on in the community.
- They had good and serious questions.
- That’s a swell bunch of kids, they were very positive with their questions, and attentive to the audience, and showed such leadership skills.
- I’ve worked with kids for 20 years; this group has shown me there is hope for our younger generations.
- I have never encountered such leadership and professionalism in such a young group.
- They were very respectful to [us], and to their peers.
- I have a lot of respect for this group of kids; to display such leadership, and to know they have tough decisions to make -- I was very proud to meet them.
- I was very proud just to be part of this process, even if we don’t get funded. They were fair but a tough audience.
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Comments from the YFDC members about their experience
(from our program evaluation survey) |
Best things about YFDC:
- Being able to make such a huge decision for something so vital.
- Debating on which agencies we should pick.
- Being able to work with people I don’t know and making new friends.
What you are most proud of:
- I’m proud of the some of the input I put in.
- The amount of knowledge that I have gained about philanthropy and my community.
- Being open-minded with my team and when listening to the interviews.
- How we helped all of the groups we did.
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