yOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL (YAC)

The Youth Advisory Council (YAC) of the St. Ignace Area Community Foundation (SIACF) includes students from LaSalle High School and an adult mentor from the SIACF. YAC students practice leadership skills, community service, grant awarding, and philanthropy. Each year students meet to elect officers, including representatives that meet with the SIACF Board. They attend a workshop each fall to learn some leadership and consensus building skills, and they generate a needs assessment to determine which issues they consider most important to area youth. They then select community service opportunities to support as a group and they participate in a fund raising event to provide the money for a project they have selected to support. The YAC provides recommendations for awarding annual grants from the Youth Fund of the SIACF to the Board of Directors.