(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut Office of Higher Education Commissioner Timothy D. Larson today announced the awarding of $38,787 in mini-grants through the Connecticut Commission on Community Service, also known as Serve Connecticut, to support five youth-led initiatives in Connecticut.
The funding is made available by a grant from The Allstate Foundation in partnership with America’s Service Commissions. Serve Connecticut is one of ten state and territorial service commissions that received a 2024 Empowering Youth-Led Service Grant to increase youth-led service opportunities in the state.
“The volume and quality of youth-led service project proposals received by Serve Connecticut for this opportunity is a testament to the motivation among youth in our state to have a voice and make an impact,” Governor Lamont said. “We are so proud of every applicant and urge them all to keep up the great service.”
“Serve Connecticut congratulates the five youth-led service mini-grant recipient projects and is eager to see these projects come to life and create the impact these youth envision in their communities,” Commissioner Larson, who also serves as a Service Connecticut board member, said. “We are grateful to The Allstate Foundation for providing this resource to our state’s youth.”
Awarded youth-led service projects engage youth between the ages of 5 and 25 in meaningful service to Connecticut communities, centering youth voice, decision-making, action and impact in their project design. Awarded projects include:
- The Community Table/Mesa Comunitaria Foodshare, a youth-led project sponsored by CLiCK (Commercially Licensed Cooperative Kitchen, Inc.) in Willimantic that delivers healthy, culturally relevant food boxes to area households that lack access to resources.
- Co-Curating for Younger Children and Youth with Limited Access to the Arts, a youth-led project sponsored by cARTie Corp. in Shelton that engages a youth advisory board in curating a mobile juried art exhibition of middle and high school art that is transported to young children in communities across the state who do not have access to art museum enrichment.
- EmpowerHER Period Poverty Initiative for Girls, a youth-led project sponsored by 100GirlsLeading, Inc. in. Bridgeport that engages youth in providing access to menstrual products and related education to girls ages 10 to 18 in Bridgeport.
- Danbury High School Peer Leadership, a youth-led project sponsored by Danbury High School in Danbury that engages youth in designing and implementing fundraising projects that engage the high school and surrounding communities in raising funds for youth-selected causes.
- Teen-Driven Community Service, a youth-led project sponsored by New London Youth Affairs in New London that engages youth in youth-determined service projects while providing positive youth development opportunities to participating youth members.
Serve Connecticut received more than 150 applications from eligible applicants including schools, out-of-school time programs (after school or summer school), municipalities, agencies, youth-serving organizations, and individual youth proposing a wide range of youth-led service projects. Mini-grant funding requests of up to $8,000 were considered for activities associated with developing and implementing service projects and removing barriers to youth participation.
“The Allstate Foundation believes that empowering youth to lead service is key to supporting communities and creating lasting change,” Greg Weatherford II, director of The Allstate Foundation and Social Impact, said. “These grants catalyze youth service opportunities by increasing access, deepening quality, and putting dollars behind young people’s innovative and transformational ideas about how to strengthen their communities.”
Questions about this grant opportunity can be directed to Kate Scheuritzel, Serve Connecticut’s director of programs, via email at Kate.Scheuritzel@ct.gov. Serve Connecticut is a program of the Connecticut Office of Higher Education that administers AmeriCorps grants on behalf of the state and promotes service and volunteerism.