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Jared's Story Find out how a "village" of caring people help keep the smile on Jared's face.... MORE |
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Students Allocate $44,500 through the Mott Youth Fund Distribution Committee The society in which we live values individuality, yet sometimes we are asked to act collectively. Decision making in philanthropy combines both the best of working collaboratively and thinking independently. This is the lesson learned by high school students who participated in the Mott Youth Fund Distribution Committee, which has just finished its work by making grant allocations for programs serving the Greater Cleveland community. The Fund was set up 14 years ago and is named after John K. Mott, a longtime and valued United Way employee who worked with young people. "He was devoted to kids, wanted to find a way to connect with young people and led the first Youth Panels," his friend John David Sidley, Cleveland Sight Center Marketing Director, said. The students are distributing real money- $44,500. The combined total funding asked for by the agencies however was over $134,000. Parsing that difference required making some tough choices by the students. It also required innovation and collaboration to produce the best decisions. This year, 61 students from 32 schools participated in the Fund Distribution Committee. Some of the students returned from last year, but most were new to the panel. The students represented most facets of our community. Students from public, private and parochial schools were there. There were men and women; east and west siders; Hispanic, African American and Caucasian students, all working together. They met seven times over the course of the year and reviewed over 50 grant proposals, choosing 17 of them. The Youth Fund Distribution Committee students worked collectively with another group of young philanthropists at the Saltzman Youth Panel, which does similar work distributing funds at the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland. They made sure their funding goals and objectives were coordinated with what Saltzman was doing and consistent with the objective of the fund. Some decisions were made by acclimation, but many of the programs requesting funding had less than a consensus and were put in a "parking lot," where they would be examined and debated more carefully by the panel. The process of doing so required compromise and organization. Priority areas were set. Students looked for programs that were innovative, yet well established and showed a track record of tangible results. They also wanted to see programs that were clear cut and where the money allocated by them would have a meaningful impact on the program being funded. Many of the panel members had personal experience with the programs requesting funding and if those viewpoints were articulated in a clear and passionate manner, they often influenced the group's decisions. "The dynamics were very interesting. I didn't always get what I wanted, but I really enjoyed participating in the process," Xavier Galindez, a Youth Panel member said. Succeeding in meeting the goals and parameters of the committee required being open minded, respectful of others and thoughtful about the real choices they were making. Not only did the students learn a great deal, they also showed their personal capacity for compassionate giving. For example, when the group realized that the request of Easter Seals would fall $26 short of full funding, the first thing the students did was pass around the hat and collect the money needed from their own pockets. "I was so moved by the action of the students to just naturally take up the mantle of caring that way, all by themselves. I have never seen anything like it before," Rebekah Dorman, Program Director at United Way says. Next month we will reveal the decisions of the panel and review some of the programs the students decided to fund. The choices were dynamic and impact dramatically different parts of our. The Mott Fund is supported by The Cleveland Foundation Funds: Elizabeth and Ellery Sedgewich Fund, Florence Crittenton Services Fund and The Treu-Mart Fund. The Mott Fund is also supported by the Jewish Community Federation- Maurice Saltzman Youth Panel, Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation, Raymond John Wean Foundation, HumanArc Corporation and United Way of Greater Cleveland Community Response Fund. For more information about participating in or contributing to the Mott Youth Fund Distribution Committee, please contact Rebekah Dorman at United Way of Greater Cleveland 216-436-2218 or rdorman@uws.org | |