In Youth We Trust, the youth philanthropy program of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois, has announced the recipients of the 2020 IYWT Grants cycle. The IYWT Council awarded seven youth-led projects over $24,000 for the benefit of youth in northern Illinois:

• African-American Resource Center at Booker | $3500.00 | AARCB's Achievers
• Rockford Park District | $3500.00 | 815 Teen Conference
• Boys and Girls Club | $3500.00 | Bring Your "A" Game
• Rochelle Interact Club | $3500.00 | "Interact" ing With History Project
• Youth Services Network | $3500.00 | Parenth.o.o.d Promise Scholars' Anti-Bullying Hygiene and Uniform Drive
• PFLAG-DiversCITY | $3385.00 | Queer Prom 2020
• Harlem Veteran Project | $3500.00 | Harlem Veteran Project

Learn more about each of these projects below. 

To celebrate and honor each of this year's recipients, In Youth We Trust Council members will host a virtual grants reception watch party on Thursday, May 21st, at 7:00 p.m. Logon to https://facebook.com/cfnil at that time to join the fun of the watch party! Hear from IYWT Council members, grant recipients, and more!

In Youth We Trust Council is made up of high-school-aged youth from across Northern Illinois. The program engages young people in community service and philanthropy. IYWT gives the council members resources and opportunities to help solve problems affecting their peers and their quality of life. The IYWT Grant Program distributes up to $25,000 a year to youth-led projects in the region. IYWT Council Members set grant policy, review youth-inspired service project proposals, and recommend proposals for funding to CFNIL's Board of Directors. This year IYWT is celebrating 25 years of youth leadership and philanthropy, and has now awarded more than $500,000 for youth-led projects over that time!

Learn more about In Youth We Trust.

2020 IYWT Grant Recipient Project Descriptions:

AARCB's Achievers
African-American Resource Center at Booker

The African-American Achievers are competitive academically, physically, and socially through preparation. The AARCB Achievers are TeenReach students who attend the center's after-school and summer camp program. This Achiever's program will include break out activities: dance, Tae Kwon Do, and summer sports league. The AARCB Achievers will engage in community-wide summer competitions. The program will improve the community because it will help increase our self-esteem, our self-discipline, have higher socialization skills, provide physical activity for exercising, and teach us to set goals.

815 Teen Conference                                                                              
Rockford Park District Foundation

We want to put on the "815 Teen Conference" focusing on providing resources to minority teens that will empower them in life. The majority of the teens writing this grant have never gotten to be a part of a leadership conference, so this will be not only a safe event but also a great project to learn all the parts of what it takes to provide an event like this.

Bring Your "A" Game                                                                                    
Boys and Girls Club of Rockford

The "Success Through Targeted Outreach Mentoring Program" Mentees are proposing a Bring Your "A" Game Basketball League. The name itself, Bring Your "A" Game represents academic effort, athletic effort, and community effort to give your best. The league will host a minimum of six teams with 10 players that will play once a week for a total amount of 60 games. The games will be delivered in two seasons. One season will play beginning in June and ending in August, and the second season will begin in September and end by (To complete all the games teams may have to play twice in some weeks).

"Interact" ing With History Project                                                                                                             
Rotary Club of Rochelle

The Flagg Township Museum will be repainting their walls to preserve and restore a part of Rochelle's history. Most of the work that the Interact Club will help with on this project is physical. The artifacts must be moved off and away from the walls, and many of the display cases need to be covered. One of our other goals for this project is for Interact Club to be more aware of Rochelle's history.

Parenth.o.o.d Promise Scholars' Anti-Bullying Hygiene and Uniform Drive                                                                                                              
Youth Services Network (YSN)

The Parenth.o.o.d Promise Scholars' Anti-Bullying Hygiene and Uniform Drive is a project to raise funds to purchase hygiene products and school uniforms for students who attend Kennedy Middle School and Legacy Academy of Excellence Charter School.

Queer Prom 2020                                                                                        
PFLAG of Rockford – DiversCITY Youth Group

An inclusive dance (safe space) for queer youth and their allies in order to create a prom for LGBTQ+ youth who otherwise would not get that high school experience. We planned it in early June to celebrate the end of the school year and LGBTQ Pride Month. We want to throw a prom with no ticket sales or admission cost to help eliminate barriers for teens to attend.

Harlem Veteran Project                                                                                                   
Harlem High School

The number one objective in the Harlem Veteran Project Class is to preserve the stories of American Veterans for the generations to come. Students are able to grow their community involvement and learn the importance of working with and within the community.