Valley United Way’s Youth Leadership Members Allocate Funding to Community
Each year Youth Leadership members distribute small, venture grants to community organizations in the Valley area. These grants are aimed at helping to fund new and/or expanding programs that serve the needs of Valley teens. In November, the members of the program reviewed proposals and determined which requests were granted.
This year, up to $3,000 was available to allocate to programs they felt most worthwhile and met the needs of teens in the community determined by their annual needs assessment. The following areas were identified as of critical concern to teens in the Valley: the dissemination of information pertaining to teen programs, community involvement, and lack of support to music/art/drama program for youth.
The Youth Leadership members approved the following programs to receive venture grant funding:
Boys and Girls Club of Lower Naugatuck Valley was awarded $500.00 to hire a teenager to run a drama program for the club members. The program will recruit a drama student in the Valley to teach younger children how to act, sing, dance and they will put on a play.
Tinney Community Center’s Youth Venture was given $480.00. The goal of this program is to start a 12-week Healthy Living program focusing on, exercise while making the teens aware of dangers of substance abuse, smoking, HIV/AIDS, & teen pregnancy. A health fair will also be organized.
The Umbrella, a program of Birmingham Health Group Services received $1,000.00 for "It’s All Good" Teen Resource Guide to Healthy Living geared towards the Valley’s youth community. This guide will incorporate information gathered from workshops provided through the Teen Abuse Prevention Program (TAPP) and from polling the students themselves.
