There are a lot of opportunities to connect young people to change. It can mean providing opportunities for service learning, media-making, political action, and other methods. Youth voice for high school students is a learning tool, a community connection, and a lifelong influence. High school students can conduct broad examinations of social, educational, political, legal, or cultural bias against young people, and develop specific and concrete projects that respond to their observations.

It is often a cultural norm for young people to be habitually disengaged from the decision-making that affects them most. Ionia County Community Foundation Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) with teens from seven high schools (Belding, Ionia, Saranac, Lakewood, Portland, Pewamo Westphalia and Lowell) provides an opportunity for them to use youth voice to make change in their communities. After an examination of local issues, YAC developed projects on teen leadership, teen driver safety and childhood food insecurity.

It is often the “popular” kids chosen as leaders, other kids miss out on the opportunities to rise as a leader. Adolescents who never had the chance to be leaders while growing up might struggle to develop leadership skills later on in life. . Having teens meet outside of school hours, especially at leisure activities, and giving them the chance to be leaders in a group of unfamiliar people allow them to become leaders without worrying about popularity the way they do at school. Teens then learn that leadership is just not a popularity contest. YAC’s Michigan Youth Leadership Training initiative provides that opportunity to local youth in West Michigan.

Car wrecks are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. In fact, adolescents are twice as likely as adults are to get into a wreck. The first 18 months after teens get their license are the most dangerous. During that time, new drivers are four times more likely than adults to get into an accident. The reason: inexperience and a tendency to get distracted, studies now show. YAC’s annual teen driver safety events help educate their peers on driving safety.

The impacts of childhood food insecurity:

• Studies have found that students who face food insecurity do not receive the nutrition that they need to learn.
• Food insecure children are at a higher risk of health issues leading to increased absenteeism than other children impacting their learning.
• Food insecurity is also a known psychological & emotional stressor which affects a child’s behavior.

700 children ages 5-14 in 11 schools identified as food insecure through a child referral process are provided an evening meal from the IM Kids 3rd Meal program in Ionia and Montcalm counties. YAC has raised funds, held food drives and volunteered to support IM Kids 3^rd Meal’s effort to address childhood hunger.

It is not done without the support of their partners. A key partner has been State Farm and local State Farm agents. State Farm has worked with YAC over the last ten years to support youth efforts to address issues identified by them. State Farm recently provided a $40,000 grant to support YAC’s work. Local State Farm agents provide support by working hand in hand as volunteers and supporting their efforts to raise money and collect food donations with YAC members.

Ionia County Community Foundation YAC wants to thank State Farm and local State Farm agents for the impact that they make on youth in our communities utilizing grants and agent volunteerism. Not only do they make a difference but they inspire and empower young people to get involved in their communities to create a positive, sustainable, and measurable social impact.

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Giving back to the community is integral to the Youth Advisory Council’s many young members. Every month, there are opportunities for students to do so at meetings, especially when the meetings happen to coincide with national holidays celebrating youth service.  From April 12-14, teenagers and other youth across the globe engage in acts of community service to celebrate Global Youth Service Day. Some projects could focus on increasing literacy rates in a community, others on planting trees for environmental awareness; for this YAC group, however, Global Youth Service Day provided an opportunity to address a prevalent issue in Ionia and Montcalm counties, food insecurity.

One of the organizations attending to the food needs of children all school year is IM KIDS 3rd Meal,  who has a recurring partnership with the YAC group. This past April, YAC members gathered jars of peanut butter in a drive called Peanut Butter for a Purpose. The gathered food was then used to make over 2000 sandwiches, enough for nearly a week of meals for students after school. To get an idea of what this program encompasses and what impact it has, watch this video. Although it aired in 2018, the message and effect have remained the same: youth in the community come together to provide meals for underprivileged individuals. More information about the YAC and other programs that the group is involved with is available to explore on our site!

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service is a chance for youth in their communities to engage in service projects to better the lives of those around them. On January 21, 2019, more than 50 members of the Ionia County Youth Advisory Council (YAC) packed 600 lunches at IM Kids 3rd Meal. The YAC is made up of students from all the schools in Ionia County, and even from Lowell- their objective is to produce effective servant leaders who engage in projects and designate grant funding for local people and or organizations who focus on advancing the youth of the community. One of the groups that the YAC works closely with is called IM Kids 3rd Meal.

Over 5000 children in Ionia and Montcalm counties are food insecure, meaning that they may not get the chance to eat three meals a day.  IM Kids 3rd Meal offers succor for these people and relies solely on volunteer groups to ensure its continuity. These meals and the thousands more that are distributed throughout Ionia and Montcalm counties are vital to the families that work hard to put food on their tables. If you want to get involved with IM Kids or are interested in receiving more information, head to the program’s website at www.imkids.org.

The Youth Advisory Council participates in other events throughout the year, as well. Projects like the annual Strive 2 Arrive Alive Teen Driver Safety Conference and the Michigan Youth Leadership training camp are entirely youth-planned and youth-led and rely on the leadership and altruism of a dedicated group of local teenagers.  Information on these events and other activities can be found under various tabs located at the top and side of this website. 

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YAC hands out 7500 to local organizations

Thousands of Michigan youth volunteered to make an impact in their communities as part of Global Youth Service Day on April 21-23.

The Ionia County Youth Advisory Council hosted a project that addressed the issue of childhood hunger by packing meals for almost 600 children at IM Kids 3rd Meal on
April 21st. The project will provide ready to eat, well-balanced evening meals to food insecure children in Montcalm and Ionia counties. Over 70 students and AmeriCorps volunteers will be participating in the project.

IM Kids 3rd Meal is committed to ending childhood hunger by providing nutritious 3rd meals to 565 food insecure children at six schools in Ionia and Montcalm counties. Each school day, volunteers prepare and package the meals which are then distributed to the schools and children at the end of the day. Interested volunteers can get involved with this program by visiting www.imkids.org.

Portland High School Senior Jack Lufkin and Lowell High School Senior Shannon Hoekstra are co-chairs for Ionia YAC. They both said that getting out in the community to do these projects is the best part of being a YAC member.

“It’s just a way for us to give back to this community, because we’re always in our meetings and planning things, but now we get to work hands-on and help all these kids,” Hoekstra said.

The Ionia County Youth Advisory Council has received a mini-grant from the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) and Youth Service America (YSA) to aid youth across the state to address critical issues in their communities, including education, economic opportunity, health, clean energy and environmental stewardship, hunger, homelessness, supporting veterans and military families, and public safety.

MCSC and Youth Service America, distributed $7,000 in mini-grant funds for 23 Global Youth Service Day projects that will engage 2,000 youth volunteers in close to 10,000 volunteer hours.

Established in 1988 by Youth Service America, Global Youth Service Day is the largest service event in the world and is now celebrated in more than 100 countries.

“Engaging youth in volunteerism is an incredibly rewarding experience for everyone involved,” said Ginna Holmes, MCSC executive director. “We are proud to support these projects and assist youth in making a difference in their communities.”

The Michigan Community Service Commission utilizes service as a strategy to address the state’s most pressing issues and empowers volunteers to strengthen communities. In 2016-2017, the MCSC is granting more than $7 million in federal funds to local communities for volunteer programs and activities, including 27 AmeriCorps programs. The Governor’s Service Awards, Volunteer Michigan and Mentor Michigan are also premier programs of the MCSC. The MCSC is housed in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. For more information visit www.michigan.gov/volunteer.

The Ionia County Youth Advisory Council was honored during the Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Commission (GTSAC) annual awards presentation Wednesday at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing  for Strive 2 Arrive Alive (S2AA), its teen driver safety initiative. 

The commission honors organizations, programs, and individuals for outstanding contributions to traffic safety. the awards ceremony is part of the 22nd Annual Michigan Traffic Safety Summit. Six Outstanding Traffic Safety Achievement awards, a student award and three long-term awards were presented.

YAC students plan, organize, and implement the annual S2AA Teen Driver Safety Conference for high schoolers from across the state. The group contacts sponsors, searches for vendors, books guest speakers, and designs marketing materials.

The sixth annual conference drew nearly 600 students from 13 school districts. The 2016 event included six breakout sessions where students could hear speakers share their impactful stories about distracted driving. Participants also had the opportunity to try out a distracted driver simulator, meet first responders, and try out impairment googles.

Through hard work and dedication, YAC members have created and maintained a project that has taught thousands of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and community members about the importance of teen driver safety.

The GTSAC was formed in 2002 to serve as the state’s forum for identifying key traffic safety challenges and developing and implementing plans to address those issues. The GTSAC includes representatives from the departments of: Education, Health and Human Services, State, State Police, and transportation, as well as Office of the Governor, Office of Services to the Aging, and Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. There are also three representative from local government appointed by the governor.

The Ionia County Youth Advisory Council had the privilege of hosting two speakers at their February 16^th, 2017 meeting.

Norma Sower from Spectrum Health Safe Drive gave an interactive presentation about the dangers of marijuana. YACers got to try out the Marijuana Fatal vision goggles and participate in a number of activities that show how marijuana affects your perception and why it is dangerous to use marijuana then drive.

Some facts the YACers learned about marijuana:

• chronic marijuana use (chronic marijuana use is considered to be once a month)  while your brain is still developing can lead to an 8 point decrease in IQ as an adult
• 1 in 6 teens who use marijuana become addicted
• Heavy marijuana use leads to lower satisfaction in life
• Marijuana users have lower grades, are less likely to graduate, and less likely to enroll in college than non-marijuana users
• Marijuana users are more likely to be unemployed

Want to try out the Marijuana Fatal Vision goggles yourself? Norma Sower will be at the 7^th Annual Strive 2 Arrive Alive in October, be sure to register to be there!

The YACers also had the opportunity to hear from Anthony Ianni, a former MSU Basketball Player who travels around the country to share his anti-bullying message. His motivation speech was a GREAT kick-off to No Worries Week, where the YACers will be spreading messages of kindness to their schools and communities. His past experiences of letting his actions speak for themselves is a great example to follow and to live by. 

Anthony Ianni had a great message: The Harder You Work, The More You Earn. The YACers hope to take this message and incorporate it into their own lives.

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Making a difference in community: Ionia students give back

The Ionia County Youth Advisory Council partnered with IM Kids 3^rd Meal to complete three service projects that focus on helping children in our community at their January 25^th, 2017 meeting.

YAC completed “Project Warm Hearts” in honor of Martin Luther King Day of Service. Martin Luther King Day of Service helps to make the national holiday a “day on, not a day off” by uniting volunteers to reaffirm King’s teachings of nonviolence and social justice.  “Project Warm Hearts” was funded by the Michigan Community Service Commission and was a collaboration between IM Kids 3^rd Meal, Green Acres of Ionia, and YAC. For this project, YAC worked with the residents of Green Acres to make no sew fleece scarves for children who are food insecure in Ionia and Montcalm counties. After the scarves were made, IM Kids 3^rd Meal volunteers packaged them and distributed them with the meals. 370 students received scarves.

YAC and IM Kids 3^rd Meal partnered on another project, thanks to the support of local dentists. YAC packaged donations of toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and coupons to be distributed with IM Kids 3^rd Meals for the American Dental Association’s National Children’s Dental Health Month. Donations from Dr. Daniel Tift in Belding, Dr. Kathleen Ellsworth in Saranac, Dr. James Klein in Ionia, Dr. Crist Johnson in Ionia, Boucher Family Dentistry in Ionia, Muscott & Muscott Dental Health in Ionia, and Dr. Robert Payne in Ionia helped YAC create over 500 dental hygiene kits for kids in need in Ionia and Montcalm counties. These kits will be distributed in February.

YAC also created “Capes for Kids!”. these are superhero capes for kids who live in shelters across the state of Michigan. The idea behind the capes is that the capes give children facing a difficult time in their life something to take comfort in and give them confidence. Our hope is that these capes give kids the confidence they need to be their own superhero! Check out the capes YACers made!

If you want to get more involved with IM Kids 3^rd Meal, check out http://imkids.org.

Registration for the Michigan Youth Leadership Training (MIYLT) is now open! MIYLT is a week-long leadership training camp designed for high school students who want to learn how to become a leader and make an impact on their community. The camp is designed around interactive simulations, trainings, cultural diversity, social justice, and service. Camp began in 2011 after Youth Advisory Council students decided that they wanted to host a camp to help their peers become leaders. 

Throughout the week, campers build their leadership skills by discovering the wilderness, experiencing service, developing perspectives, learning about and experiencing different cultures, exploring issues of community involvement, poverty, race relations, ethics, and learning strategies for addressing social issues. Campers get to canoe, swim, climb a rock wall, interact with their peers, and experience life changing simulations that will help students become more aware of the world around them.

All high school students, those entering 9^th grade to 12^th grade, are welcome to register for this week long summer camp at MIYLT.org. The cost of the camp is only $20, thanks to our partnership with State Farm. MIYLT 2017 will be held June 25^thto June 30^th. 

MIYLT is a life-changing week of adventure, self-discovery, friendship, cultural exchange, leadership-building, and service. But don’t just take our word for it! Check out what previous campers have to say about MIYLT

“I didn’t learn how to become a leader. I learned how to be myself and it just so happens that I am a leader.” – 2016 MIYLT Camper

“Camp was powerful, it really made you think about life and human nature.” – 2016 MIYLT Camper

“It helped me define myself as a leader in the making and has improved my skills so so much. I have come a long way”- 2016 MIYLT Camper

“Leadership is when you challenge yourself to be a better your everyday. Serving others while still working on yourself. A great leader is somebody who realizes they have to ‘be the change [they] wish to see.” – 2013 MIYLT Camper

“MIYLT challenged campers to think about how their actions affect others. They begin to learn how they can make positive impacts on others in their community. The best part of MIYLT is seeing the growth students experience in a week.” – 2016 MIYLT Staffer