The Northern New York Community Foundation recently awarded $1,500 in Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge grants to two St. Lawrence County schools.

A committee that included Community Foundation staff and a retired junior high school teacher judged and scored the applications with results as follows:

$500, Canton-Potsdam Hospital Foundation, Canton, Olivia White, Canton Central School

$500, Help Sami Kick Cancer Foundation, Canton, Vivian Coburn, Canton Central School

$500, Renewal House for Victims of Family Violence, Jazmine Carpenter, Morristown Central School

As public health guidelines safely permit, the Community Foundation and schools will work with winning students in the coming weeks to coordinate visits to their respective charitable agencies to present grants and learn more about the organizations they chose.

The initiative was launched in 2017 to introduce middle school students to concepts of philanthropy and community needs. The challenge seeks to engage youths as they explore the meaning of community and are empowered to recommend grants to support their concepts that strengthen the quality of life in the region. Students write an essay that articulates their definition of community and explains what makes it a great place to live, work and play. Participants are then asked to name a charitable organization that makes their community a better place through its service to residents.

In the past four years, 83 students have been selected to present 79 grants totaling $40,000 to 67 different nonpro t organizations that serve tri-county residents. Since the Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge began, 397 students representing 21 school districts across the region have applied to the program, recommending grants to 160 different charitable organizations.