The Youth and Philanthropy Fund provides grants to Berks County programs that address youth-related issues that are considered critical needs by Berks County Community Foundation’s Youth Advisory Board, which is managed in conjunction with the Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading, a program of VoiceUp Berks. The Youth Advisory Board will provide up to $15,000 in grants in 2024 to organizations and programs that support, or promote awareness of, youth experiencing food insecurity in Berks County, with preference given to programs that provide access to healthy foods or nutrition education.
Note that applicants may be asked to participate in a site visit with YAB members. Site visits will occur in February and March. Decisions will be made in April, and funds will be available in May.
In April 1998, the Board of Directors of Berks County Community Foundation approved the creation of a Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) in order to give interested Berks County youth a hands-on experience in philanthropy. Berks County Community Foundation strongly believes that young people should be able to participate in community decisions that affect them and their peers. Members of YAC had the annual responsibility of making decisions about the distribution of $15,000 in grants from Berks County Community Foundation’s Youth and Philanthropy Fund to programs and projects that serve Berks County teens.
In 2019, YAC merged with another program to become the Youth Advisory Board, a program of Berks County Community Foundation and the Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading. Grants are now distributed from the Youth and Philanthropy Fund of Berks County Community Foundation through the Youth Advisory Board, which is run by VOiCEup Berks.
The new Youth Advisory Board program combines the grant-awarding component of YAC with the service-learning component of the Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading. The Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading is an affiliate of a national program. VOiCEup Berks runs the local affiliate.
From 1998 to 2021, the Youth and Philanthropy Fund of Berks County Community Foundation distributed 117 grants totaling $368,258.
Description
Deadline & Cycle
Region Served
Interest
This fund provides grants to organizations that address issues that impact young people in Berks County.
November 22 - January 22
Region Served
Berks County
Interest
Individuals in Need
A total of $368,258.00 was awarded from 1998-2021 to the following organizations.
Abilities in Motion: $4,250.00: Teens Taking Flight
Abilities in Motion: $3,000.00: STARS (Students Transitioning to Achieve Realistic Success)
Abilities in Motion: $500.00: Empowering Me
Aevidum: $3,911: “The Talk,” a high-energy, student-facilitated, interactive workshop
Aldea – The People’s Justice Center: $5,000.00: Immigrant legal aid
Alvernia College: $2,000.00: South Reading Youth Initiative
Barrio Alegria: $3,500.00: The OJOS: Eye of the Beholder
Barrio Alegria: $2,500.00: La Ronda Del Barrio podcast
BCTV: $2,500.00: “Losers Win!”
BCTV: $3,000.00: Film Camp
Bechtelsville Comunity Park: $3,000.00: The Skate Park
Berks Area Youth Recreation: $1,000.00: My Pop And Me
Berks Arts Council: $2,500.00: Arts tool kit
Berks Community Television (BCTV): $2,000.00: Film Camp 2004
Berks Connections/Pretrial Services: $3,000.00: Mother’s Voice Program
Berks Counseling Center: $3,500.00: Daily Living program
Berks County Conservancy: $5,750.00: Bug Community Gardening Program – “Junior Bugs”
Berks County Conservancy: $11,000.00: Excel in Agriculture – A Community Gardening Pro
Berks County Intermediate Unit 14: $5,000.00: Youth Leadership Training – Berks County Transit
Berks County Prison Society, Inc.: $1,000.00: The Mother’s Voice Project
Berks County Prison Society, Inc.: $2,500.00: FUNdamentals
Berks County Youth Center: $2,000.00: Conflict Resolution
Berks Nature: $5,900.00: Planting 100 trees in 2020 in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day
Berks Visiting Nurse Association: $2,000.00: Immunization program
Berks Women in Crisis: $8,000.00: CAMPpeaceworks Theater Project
Best Buddies Pennsylvania: $4,000.00: Best Buddies Middle School Friendship program
Bethany Christian Services of Central Pennsylvania: $4,030: Equine therapy to youth who have been traumatized
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Berks County: $1,000.00: TEEN program
BIG Vision Foundation: $1,000.00: Day of fun and physical activity for youth who are disadvantaged or disabled
Brandywine Heights Community Task Force: $3,000.00: After school program
Brandywine Heights Intermediate School: $550.00: Become A Brandywine Heights Bucket Filler
Building a Better Boyertown: $1,000.00: Natural Talent and Majesty at Studio B
Building a Better Boyertown: $1,500.00: Studio B – A Family Affair
Building a Better Boyertown: $2,000.00: FreeB at the B
Building a Better Boyertown: $2,000.00: Free to Be Me 2.0 at Studio B
Building a Better Boyertown: $2,200.00: Happy to Be Me 3.0 at Studio B
Camp Fire USA – Adahi Council: $3,000.00 Teen Suicide: Silence Is Not Golden
Caron Treatment Centers: $8,000.00: Peer Leadership Summit
Center City Youth Organization: $1,000.00: C.C.Y.O.
Children’s Home of Reading: $6,000.00: Summer Therapeutic Recreation Program
Christ Lutheran Church (Glenside): $5,240.00: Glenside Peer Bank
Clay on Main: $600.00: John Paul II Students at Clay on Main
Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth: $400.00: Four separate grants for general support in different years
CARE: $3,500.00: Y.E.S. Program
Community Alliance and Reinvestment Endeavor: $1,190.00: Youth Ending Substance Abuse – 2003
Community Prevention Partnership of Berks: $2,500.00: Youth Behind the Camera
Community Prevention Partnership of Berks: $5,000.00: Reading Youth Leadership Initiative
Council on Chemical Abuse: $1,000.00: Healthy School – Healthy Youth Mural Project
Cumru Township Police Department: $3,167.00: AED
Delaware Riverkeeper Network: $5,000: Collecting water quality data on stream health in Berks County
Driven Ministries, Inc.: $6,750.00: Momentum
Easter Seals Eastern Pennsylvania: $3,750.00: Funding for Camp Lily
First Tee of Lehigh Valley at Reading/Berks: $2,000.00: First Tee Affiliate Program at Reading/Berks
First Tee of Lehigh Valley and Berks: $2,500.00: First Tee Lehigh Valley Program at Reading/Berks
Embrace Your Dreams: $2,000.00: First Tee Lehigh Valley at Berks program
EMPOWERMENT Behavioral Health LLC: $2,059: Move the Body, Heal the Mind
Girls on the Run of Berks County: $3,000.00: Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run of Berks County: $2,100.00: Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run of Berks County: $2,065.00: Girls on the Run
GoggleWorks Center for the Arts: $8,000.00:ArtsBridge: Enhancing Well-Being Through Creativity
Goodwill Keystone Area: $5,000.00: GoodGuides Youth Mentoring Program
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