For the seventh year in a row, the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies’ Youth Philanthropy Interns will award $50,000 total in nonprofit funding to worthy causes in the community.
CFA’s summer interns have been busy assessing community needs through research, site visits, and interviews. Organized into two teams, the interns have chosen two areas of interest that they would like to impact: promoting wellness and repurposing community assets.
At a press conference at Flood City Café on Friday, the interns released two Requests for Proposals to fund projects that could be implemented in Bedford, Cambria, Indiana, and/or Somerset counties. Each team will award up to $25,000 for proposals that meet their goals and requirements.
The “Whole Person, Whole Community” team is led by Maggie Blaisdell and includes Brendan Veney, Rebecca Johnson, Sophie Hochfeld, and Cameron Pressel
“Whole Person, Whole Community” focuses on supporting programs and/or initiatives that promote individual wellness and, in turn, the wellness of the entire community, while also building social and community relations. An emphasis is placed on supporting programs/initiatives that benefit adults of all ages.
“Young people our age often seek to help children and other young people in our community though initiatives and programming,” says Team Leader Maggie Blaisdell. “While these endeavors are surely needed and wanted, we discovered as a team while exploring the Allegheny region that adults may be an under-served community. Through our RFP, we hope to create more adult programming to foster connections and wellness among those who, while composing one of the larger demographics in our region, are often overlooked. A healthier and more united community of adults will be a force for wellness in Western PA.”
Click here for the Whole Person, Whole Community RFP
The “Repurpose, Regenerate, Revitalize” team is led by Jonathan Guaetta and includes Reagan Hajjar, Hannah Slope, Quinn Spangler, and Jenna Stofko.
“Repurpose, Regenerate, Revitalize” targets the repurposing of the Allegheny region’s bountiful assets to promote economic development. Following several site visits and presentations from various community leaders, the team identified countless resources in the area that have the potential to be utilized in new and exciting ways. The “Repurpose, Regenerate, Revitalize” team focuses on supporting these opportunities in the Allegheny region.
“We do not necessarily see a gap, but rather an opportunity to promote the growth of the area through repurposing the region’s vast culture and historical nature,” explains Team Leader Jonathan Guaetta. “We believe that economic development through repurposing is crucial, stimulating the economy by attracting new businesses, new citizens, and new opportunities to the Allegheny region. Not only are repurposing, regenerating, and revitalizing strong avenues in which to drive the economy, they are also efficient means to bring community members together around a central matter.”
The Youth Philanthropy Internship is made possible by generous funding from The Heinz Endowments. The Heinz Endowments is devoted to the mission of helping our region prosper as a vibrant center of creativity, learning, and social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Core to the Endowments’ work is the vision of a just community where all are included and where everyone who calls southwestern Pennsylvania home has a real and meaningful opportunity to thrive.
