December 19, 2001
Young women make changes in communities
Local organization promotes philanthropy through grants
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
United and focused, these young women will make a difference in their community.
When the new Young Women for Change group started meeting this fall in Traverse City, 20 girls in grades 9-12 from schools around the region have an opportunity to change their community for the better, a little bit at a time.
Promoting philanthropy through grants, Young Women for Change allows the girls to distribute funds to area non-profit organizations that aid women and girls.
The program is part of the Michigan Women's Foundation effort to improve the economic self-sufficiency of women and girls. The program began in 1995 and Traverse City's Young Women for Change is modeled after two successful programs in the Detroit area and Grand Rapids.
"We want to teach them the ropes of philanthropy and grants," said Joan Williams, chairperson of the selection committee for Young Women for Change. "We also encourage a lot of community awareness."
This year's group includes 14 girls from Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties. Each girl was recommended to apply by a teacher or high school counselor and then screened by the adult women members of the Advisory Board. Members were selected last spring and the group has been meeting monthly since October.
In just two short months, there has been no shortage of enthusiasm for helping other young women.
"I wanted to have a voice in the community, to make a difference," said Claire Posner, a tenth-grade student at Suttons Bay High School.
"I thought it would be a neat experience to learn about groups that benefit women and children," noted Emmy Parsons, a ninth-grade student at East Junior High School.
Their idealism shone on Sunday afternoon as they gathered at the Women's Resource Center for a holiday service project: helping wrap some of the thousands of gifts that organization gives to need families. While not formally part of their grant-making mission, it was a chance to learn more about the needs of both women and children plus the agencies that serve them.
And it brought home in another way how much need there is among women and children, even in the upscale Grand Traverse region.
"Looking around at all the bags here, I am amazed at how many families need help," Posner said.
Meeting since October, the girls have already researched some area human service agencies - and learned about the community in the process. Parsons completed a research project on the House of Hope, an area facility that helps teen girls.
"We have just started learning the basics of grant making with these reports on an area agency," Parsons said.
Katie Damerow, a ninth-grade student at West Junior High, looked into the Goodwill Inn Homeless Shelter for her research project. She examined the organization's history, needs, clientele and where they could use some money.
"I didn't know there were so many people in our community that needed help," said Damerow, a member of Youth in Government and the National Junior Honors Society.
Come January, the girls will dive into the process of doling out funds. While it sounds easy, deciding who will get how much of the $10,000 the organization has to hand out is a complex, careful process.
This is where real-life lessons in leadership and decision-making skills are brought home for its members, who make the final decisions about grants.
Members of the Advisory Board raised these funds available for distribution, said co-chair Sheila Bailey, part of the organization's goal of $20,000 a year to hand out each of the next three years.
"Starting next year, the girls will go through the process of request for proposals and choosing how to dispense the funds," Bailey said.