Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund

Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund A program of Operation REACH, Inc. On Thursday, February 4, the members of the Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund's Youth Advisory Board announced the group's 2010 portfolio of grantees to a standing-room-only crowd at Operation REACH's National Headquarters in New Orleans, LA.   At the Grants Announcement Ceremony, the Youth Advisory Board proudly awarded $10,000 in grants to five youth-led, youth-driven organizations that are demonstrating the power of young people to create change in their community. The 2010 Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund grantees are Warren Easton High School Interact Club, Star Hill Mentoring Programs, Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools, Project South, and Amplify Resources, Inc. The diverse grantee organizations were chosen from more than 30 applications submitted from across the South. The grantees were selected by the Youth Advisory Board for their innovation, commitment to youth leadership, and feasibility. Warren Easton High School Interact Club of New Orleans, LA, was awarded $1,000 to support its Ronald McDonald House Food Preparation Program. Through this program, the club members prepare meals on a monthly basis for the families who stay at the Ronald McDonald House while in New Orleans in order to receive medical care for their chronically-ill children. The students lead every stage of the meal preparation, from recipe selection to menu planning to cooking. The Interact Club was awarded GYAF funding in 2008. Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools' Through the Youth Lens photo project supplies New Orleans-area students with cameras to photograph and capture the realities of New Orleans schools from their own perspectives. The photographs are then put on display throughout the city as a means to use photography to create a greater awareness of the issues students face every day. Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools is made up of New Orleans students, mainly middle school-aged, who come together to create reform in schools across the city. Rethink will receive $2,750 from the GYAF. Project South of Atlanta, GA, will receive $2,500 for its Youth Community Action Program, an initiative that aims to create opportunities for youth across the South to collaborate on community change projects throughout the year. The program develops youth leadership by providing popular political education to young people in Atlanta,creating alternative youth-run media programs, and training youth to organize for local community power. GYAF funding will help support the Youth Speaks Truth Radio Program, the only high school-aged youth-led public affairs radio show broadcast in the greater Atlanta area that amplifies the voice of youth in public debate and dialogue. Star Hill Mentoring Program's Global Connection Service Project is based at Star Hill Church in Baton Rouge, LA. The program serves to educate young people about issues relating to cultural and global awareness. The youth mentees will hold an educational seminar for more than 300 local youth to teach them about the many cultures of Africa, specifically Malawian culture. They will also produce a fashion show showcasing African styles to raise funds for Hope Missions, a faith-based organization in Malawi. Star Hill's Global Connections Service Project was awarded $1,750. Amplify Resources, Inc. of Mandeville, LA, will receive $2,000 for its Positive Action and Positive Attitude Camp, a summer youth leadership camp organized and run by Amplify Youth that will equip middle- and high school-aged youth with communications and leadership skills and strategies for healthy, drug-free living. Youth not only attend the camps, but also plan and organize them. High school-aged interns receive training as group facilitators, and they create and lead sessions of the summer camp. --- Founded in 2007, the Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund is a leading youth philanthropy and leadership training program that empowers youth with the knowledge, know-how and desire to become leaders of change in their communities and to make strategic investments in their peers.   The Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund is made possible by the generous support of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, the Foundation for the Mid South, Interfaith Works and Rebuilding Our Community, Inc.