The Youth Innovation Fund was established through a signature 75th anniversary grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and is the largest single grant ever awarded for youth-directed civic action. This grant generated tremendous response, with over 200 applicants from 47 states.

"This is clear evidence that young people around the country are significant players in their communities and the larger democracy," says Robert Long, Kellogg Foundation Vice President for Programs in Philanthropy.

Leading youth in Cleveland will award $20,000 in mini-grants to young people for innovative civic action projects using a service-learning approach. Working with the young people will be a variety of youth-serving organizations including: Delta State University's Delta Center for Culture and Learning, the Cleveland School District, Bolivar County Community Action Agency, and the Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce.

Cleveland's founding youth board members are East Side High School Students, Keedrick Bass, TyKasha Thomas, and Jeremy Chatman along with Cleveland High School Students, Mary Claire Kinnison, Blaise King, and Alicen Carol Wood. Board members are actively recruiting new membership

Seven additional programs have been selected to participate in the Youth Innovation Fund.

The Parent Place and Volunteer Center will be located in a DSU-owned house at 216 N. Fourth. Efforts within the house will reflect collaborations between The Delta Center for Culture and Learning's Office of Student and Community Engagement and the Cleveland School District. Other partners include DSU's Division of Family and Consumer Sciences and Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

For more information about this project, contact Anna Long, 662.846.4323
or aklong@deltastate.edu