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Yakima, I – The Yakima Valley Community Foundation hosts a monthly Youth Leadership Council meeting that provides an opportunity for high school students to learn the basics of philanthropy. The council is funded and inspired by the late Helen Jewett, a Yakima philanthropist who died in 2008.
Program Officer Amber Ortiz Diaz said, “Together with the Youth Leadership Council, we are creating the next generation of philanthropists who can follow in the footsteps of Helen Jewett.
When Jewett died in 2008, she donated $1.25 million to YVCF. The Youth Council uses the money each year to donate to non-profit organizations within the community that can help the community.
“As a team, they decide what they want to narrow down to,” said Ortiz Diaz. “Students who have experienced living in low-income housing or benefiting from these resources. When speaking in groups, they bring them all in.”
This year, students focused on homelessness, positive relationships, helping immigrants and refugees, and environmental justice. The council will use this year’s grant to help her through the expected harsh winter, donate to her three homeless shelters in Yakima County, and support her Pathways to Citizenship and mental health resources to support her. I put in two grants.
“Because they are undergoing leadership development, they are learning how to work as a team with a diverse group of students and how to work with students from different backgrounds,” said Ortiz-Diaz.
“They are also learning about philanthropy. They are learning about giving and what it means to give money and what it means to participate in the process of making that grant and what it means. I am learning about what it means to donate to charity.”
Along the way, students learn about Jewett’s legacy and the continuation of her life’s work fifteen years after her death.
“The reason this group was created is because of her donation and legacy and financial support,” Ortiz Diaz said. “I dedicate this to her mission and vision for this Youth Council.”
The Yakima Valley Community Foundation will accept Youth Leadership Council applications by the fall of the following academic year. A student on the council can extend service and work on the council all four years of high school. Interested students can find more information on the website.
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