Empowering Our Youth to Create Change
Thirty years ago, Bay Area youth were empowered with an endowment fund they could call their own. The Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) started from a match challenge by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which contributed a total of more than $770,000 by the end of 1992.
Because it was endowed, the fund immediately began growing and distributing grants to causes that were important to the youth in our community. A quarter of a century later, the fund has grown to nearly $2 million and has granted out more than $1.8 million to support a wide range of exciting new opportunities and community needs. Recent YAC grants have:
- provided backpacks and supplies for area students,
- sponsored a cooking program for local youth,
- provided funding for adaptive playground equipment,
- and provided materials for the local children’s museum water exhibit.
The youth are able to grant out approximately $80,000 a year. Through many discussions between each other and with peers outside of YAC, the students have named priorities in the fields of adolescent mental health and first aid awareness for granting dollars moving forward.
Our students are empowered and entrusted as leaders in the community.
Youth are welcome to join. To learn more, call 989-893-4438 or email yac@bayfoundation.org.
Need assistance?
We’re here to help.
989.893.4438
Aaron Faist - Program Officer
I am the program officer that oversees the Youth Advisory Committee, Men’s Philanthropy Group, and our scholarship program.