The YAC recognizes that youth empowerment and youth support is critical – as evidenced by the hundreds of youth projects we have supported in the last 30 years. While the grantmaking cycle for the Youth Fund occurs twice a year, the impacts of COVID-19 and mental health in our community and youth made us pause to reflect on where our support could be most useful.
We are updating our 2021 grantmaking program to be proactive and responsive in ensuring that our youth have access to equitable mental health support services and are adding an additional grant round specific to supporting the mental & emotional well-being of our youth community (i.e. healthy promotion, wellness, etc.; prevention & early intervention; crisis intervention & suicide prevention; treatment; recovery & peer support). The data from the 2019 Ottawa County Youth Assessment Survey was also impactful in our decision to add this, additional, targeted grant round.
Grant proposals can focus on new or existing projects and programs (such as self-care, mindfulness, coping skills, suicide prevention, the de-stigmatization of mental health, awareness, peer support, etc.); we are also mindful that many activities may be taking place virtually.
In an effort to provide quick and transparent access to the Youth Advisory Council's Mental & Emotional Well-Being Grant Round we are utilizing JotForm. If you would like to work on your application over the course of a few days, please be mindful that you will need to proactively create an account with JotForm. Click here for instructions on how to create an account and save your application.
Please note, all questions & uploads are required with the exception of an annual report and letter(s) of support.