Jackson Hole Youth Grant $52.5K to Local Nonprofits

Youth Phil­an­thropy pro­vides stu­dents at the five Teton Coun­ty, WY high schools a hands-on learn­ing expe­ri­ence in phil­an­thropy. Par­tic­i­pat­ing stu­dents review grant pro­pos­als, dis­cuss their com­mu­ni­ty impact, and make dif­fi­cult grant­i­ng deci­sions to fund non­prof­it initiatives.

Last Decem­ber, local non­prof­its sub­mit­ted grant appli­ca­tions, and the high school Youth Phil­an­thropy com­mit­tees met through­out the win­ter to review appli­ca­tions and decide which projects to sup­port. This year, rough­ly 40 stu­dents from Jack­son Hole High School, Sum­mit Inno­va­tions School, Moun­tain Acad­e­my of Teton Sci­ence Schools, Jack­son Hole Com­mu­ni­ty School, and Jack­son Hole Clas­si­cal Acad­e­my par­tic­i­pat­ed in the pro­gram. The grant pro­pos­als they reviewed rep­re­sent­ed a broad array of arts, con­ser­va­tion, edu­ca­tion, recre­ation, and health and human ser­vice pro­grams in Teton County. 

Elly Gar­rett, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of grantee Girls Active­ly Par­tic­i­pat­ing! (GAP!), shared, ​“This fund­ing will help expand our girls’ con­fi­dence and lead­er­ship skill-build­ing at Kel­ly and Alta ele­men­tary schools. Youth Phil­an­thropy plants the seeds of social action, per­son­al empow­er­ment, and accountability.”

Youth Phil­an­thropy saw a record ask this year: 33 orga­ni­za­tions request­ed a total of $92,140. Stu­dent review­ers had an espe­cial­ly tough assign­ment, with a request that exceed­ed the 2023 record by $20,000. For­tu­nate­ly, the Foun­da­tion was able to offer a record amount of grant fund­ing – $52,500 – thanks to the gen­eros­i­ty of 2023 Old Bill’s CoChal­lengers and indi­vid­ual Youth Phil­an­thropy donors. After hours of thought­ful, live­ly delib­er­a­tion, review­ers fund­ed the projects they believe will most enrich Teton County.

“Youth Phil­an­thropy helps edu­cate our youth about the impact of local non­prof­its and the role of phil­an­thropy in our com­mu­ni­ty,” said Direc­tor of Grants & Non­prof­it Out­reach Annie Riddell. ​“This pro­gram puts teens in the driver’s seat for social good.”

The Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion is pleased to rec­og­nize exem­plary stu­dent lead­ers in the Youth Phil­an­thropy pro­gram. The Future Old Bill Award is giv­en to a stu­dent from each school who, in the exam­ple of Mr. & Mrs. Old Bill, demon­strates lead­er­ship, thought­ful­ness, com­mit­ment, and a char­i­ta­ble spir­it through­out the grant-mak­ing process. Each win­ner received $400 to allo­cate to the local non­prof­it of their choice. This year, the Future Old Bill Award win­ners are:

• Jack­son Hole Com­mu­ni­ty School: Sorayah Ziem
• Jack­son Hole High School: Sayre Jorgenson
• Moun­tain Acad­e­my of Teton Sci­ence Schools: Biz Carlin
• Sum­mit Inno­va­tions School: Alexa Higgins
• Jack­son Hole Clas­si­cal Acad­e­my: Jack­son and James Neishabouri (shared award)

Youth Phil­an­thropy 2024 Grant Winners

Ani­mal Adop­tion Cen­ter | Fos­ter Enrich­ment Program

Art Asso­ci­a­tion of Jack­son Hole | Avery Math­ieu Schol­ar­ship Fund Support

Asto­ria Park Con­ser­van­cy | Empow­er­ing Asto­ri­a’s Future: Invest Today for Tomor­row’s Leaders

Cam­i­na Con­mi­go JH | Con­nect­ing Lati­no Adults with the Outdoors

Carv­ing the Future | Shred the Gap Mentorship

Cen­ter for the Arts | Tlax­cala Sis­ter City Project

City Kids Wilder­ness Project | Grand Teton, Grand Climb

Climb Wyoming | Fuel­ing Mom’s Careers: Nutri­tion for Job Success

Com­mu­ni­ty Safe­ty Net­work | JH High School Peer Advo­cate Club

Coombs Out­doors | Cre­at­ing Safe­ty, Access, & Fun through Youth Swim­ming Lessons

Dancers’ Work­shop | Con­tem­po­rary Dance Wyoming Res­i­den­cy Program

Ener­gy Con­ser­va­tion Works | Green Pow­er Ambas­sador Program

First in Fam­i­ly Jack­son Hole | Finan­cial Plan­ning for First Gen Scholars

Girls Active­ly Par­tic­i­pat­ing! | Expan­sion to Alta and Kel­ly Ele­men­tary Schools

Grand Teton Music Fes­ti­val | Free Inter­ac­tive Work­shop with Third Coast Percussion

Grand Teton Nation­al Park Foun­da­tion | Grand Teton Nation­al Park Jen­ny Lake Ranger Rig­ging for Res­cue Training

Immi­grant Hope | Boost­ing Vis­i­bil­i­ty and Impact for Immi­gra­tion Legal Services

Jack­son Hole His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety and Muse­um | An Evolv­ing Stu­dent Exhib­it Display

Jack­son Hole Land Trust | R Park Reser­voir Main­te­nance – Snake Riv­er Siphon Cleanout

Jack­son Hole Pride | Project Con­nec­tion: Activ­i­ties Pro­gram­ming for LGBTQIA+ Youth

Jack­son Hole Pub­lic Art | Asphalt Art Pub­lic Art Crossings

Jack­son Hole Writ­ers | Almost Authors Writ­ing Work­shops and Conference

KHOL — Jack­son Hole Com­mu­ni­ty Radio | Next Gen­er­a­tion Radio Jour­nal­ist Training

Nation­al Muse­um of Wildlife Art | NMWA Chil­dren’s Gallery Improvement

Off Square The­atre Com­pa­ny | Off Square Players

Pro­tect Our Water Jack­son Hole | 2024 E. coli Monitoring

Teton Botan­i­cal Gar­den | Growa­bil­i­ty Project

Teton Coun­ty Search & Res­cue Foun­da­tion | Back­coun­try Zero Ambas­sador Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and Schol­ar­ship Fund

Teton Lit­er­a­cy Cen­ter | Jet­set­ter Camp­ing Trip Sum­mer 2024

Teton Rap­tor Cen­ter | Rep­re­sent­ing Every Rap­tor Species Through Taxidermy

The Men­tal Well­ness Col­lab­o­ra­tive | Span­ish Inter­pre­ta­tion for Com­mu­ni­ty Events

Voic­es Jack­son Hole | Com­mu­ni­ty Nav­i­ga­tion for Immi­grant Families

Wind Riv­er Com­mu­ni­ty Alliance | Wind Riv­er Indi­an Reser­va­tion Com­mu­ni­ty Dancers, Drum­mers, Singers Per­for­mance and Com­mu­ni­ty Gathering