The Northern New York Community Foundation’s 2024-2025 Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge is now open to tri-county students. 

The challenge seeks to engage seventh and eighth graders in learning about their communities while they compete for an opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local nonprofit organization of their choice.

This is the eighth year of the program, which is made possible by donors to the Community Foundation’s Friends of the Foundation Annual Community Betterment Fund, corporate support from Community Bank and a major gift from an individual donor.

Students presently enrolled in seventh and eighth grades in schools in Jefferson, Lewis, or St. Lawrence counties are eligible to compete for a share of $10,000 in total grant awards. Ten students will be selected to each present a $1,000 grant to a tri-county charitable organization of their choice. Entries will be competitively judged and should be well-written and articulate a compelling case for support.

The initiative aims to have students explore their view of “community” and select a local charity for a grant award that makes their community a great place to live. To enter the competition, students must complete an essay-based application in writing. Schools are encouraged to create a class project or somehow incorporate it into the curriculum.

“This program is a unique way to encourage students to show support for the things that matter most to them while considering the impact on the greater community,” said Rande S. Richardson, Community Foundation executive director. “We are hopeful that parents, teachers, coaches and others will share this opportunity with eligible students in the tri-county area so we can have the best representation possible among the ten winners.”

In its first seven years, 122 students from 22 different tri-county school districts and a homeschooled student have been selected to present 119 grants totaling $70,000 to 84 different nonprofit organizations that serve tri-county residents.

Applications are available online at nnycf.org/givingchallenge, at local schools, or at the Northern New York Community Foundation, 131 Washington St., Watertown. Students selected to award grants in previous years are not eligible to enter.

Entries must be made online, postmarked, or hand-delivered to the Community Foundation no later than Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. A grant review committee will judge all entries and select 10 winning students to present grant awards. Eligible recipient organizations must be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in Jefferson, Lewis, or St. Lawrence counties.

An announcement of winning submissions and grant awards will be made no later than early January. A Community Foundation representative will then contact winning students to schedule them to personally visit their chosen organization, learn more about its work and mission, and present their grant award. Contact the Community Foundation, 315-782-7110, or info@nnycf.org, to learn more about the Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge.