"YI" Stains Imagination Station
Members of Community Foundadion "Youth Initiative" serves community
July 1, 2002
By: Stephen Kent
Katie Travis sprays railings
Sara Bock brushes high parts
On Saturday, June 29, several members of the Bay Area Community Foundation's "Youth Initiative", along with program director Jody Tyvela and advisor Mike Kasperski, spent the day applying a new coat of stain to the "Imagination Station" playscape on the riverfront.
Built by volunteers, the playscape is one of the riverfront's most popular attractions. Being a wood structure, it requires minimum maintenance, other than a good coat of stain each year.
The "Youth Initiative Advisory Council" is a group of area youth who serve the community through a variety of activities and leadership positions. Most significantly, "YI" administers an endowment of 1.7 million dollars which yields up to $100,000 annually for community programs.
Each year the "YI" students identify, review and approve grant request from youth related organizations in the community. When the Bay County Library system applied for a $50,000 grant to create a "Teen Room" at one branch, the "YI" members evaluated the project and felt that it was worthy but should be expanded to all branches. They developed a plan, then granded $65,000 over three years for this expanded purpose.
"YI" is more than just a grant making body. These young people participate in the community at large doing things as varried as staining the Imagination Station, to highway cleanups, to serving on other boards such as the YWCA.
The Youth Initiaive was made possible by a coordinated effort of Michigan Community Foundations. In 1988 these foundations joined with the W.F.Kellogg foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to build endowments from local fund raising and matching grants.
Each summer Youth Initiative representatives from allover the state gather at MSU for a conference. They study grant making, organizational strategies, and community development. On two days, the representatives travel in smaller groups on "adventure tours" to sites throughout the state to observe programs in action.
The Bay Area "YI" group includes members from 7th to 12th grade. All local schools are represented as well as home schooled students.
For more information, visit the Bay Area Community Foundation web site's
Youth Initiative page.