May 5, 2008
DeWitt Middle School Students Award $3,500 to Nonprofits Working with the Caroline Community
 
Ithaca, NY –The Caroline FOCUS (Focus on Community and Understanding Service) Council, a United Way of Tompkins County Program, will award $3,500 to local nonprofit organizations that serve the town of Caroline. Overseen by volunteers and staff from United Way of Tompkins County, the FOCUS Council is comprised of nine students from DeWitt Middle School. They met for five weeks to deliberate about the one-time grant requests, while learning more about their community and philanthropy.

The FOCUS Program was developed as an extension of United Way of Tompkins County’s successful Youth and Philanthropy Program. Middle school students in select towns in Tompkins County distribute funding to local nonprofit organizations that serve their communities. They participate in consensus building activities, review grant applications, conduct interviews, and make all decisions related to awarding the money. United Way of Tompkins County volunteers and staff, in partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County’s Rural Youth Program, worked with the Caroline middle school students and high school program assistants on leadership development activities, community needs assessment, and fund distribution process for their local town.

This is the seventh year of the FOCUS Program. Since the program’s inception in 2002, with the generous support from the Park Foundation, the towns of Dryden, Groton, Enfield, Ithaca - in
conjunction with The Learning Web, Newfield, and Trumansburg/Ulysses have hosted FOCUS Programs. To date, students have allocated $18,800 to nonprofit organizations serving women, children, and men in the communities of Tompkins County.

In preparation for this year’s application review process, the Caroline FOCUS Council Members completed a public, town-wide community needs assessment at dance held at the Brooktondale Community Center. The students received 136 responses and used this data during their decision-making process. United Way of Tompkins County’s Board of Directors reviewed their findings and awarded an additional $500 to the $3,000 grant from the Park Foundation for the students to distribute.

Students read through eight grant applications with a total of $15,430 in requests. Caroline Youth Program Manager, Penny Boynton stated, “If we give youth a chance they will help change the world and energize you on the way."

• The Brooktondale Community Center – Awarded $1,270 to repair the Center’s Old Fire Hall Building, making it more energy efficient and fixing the broken ceiling, adding insulation, and new sheetrock, enhancing its use as the community’s food pantry and farmers’ market.
• Caroline Elementary School – Program: Empower Caroline School! Awarded $1,000 to construct a small wind turbine at Caroline Elementary School as an innovative education tool to teach about renewable energy and conservation.
• Cooperative Extension Association in the State of New York – Program: Caroline Beautification Volunteer Coordinator awarded $500 to fund a volunteer coordinator position that will work with a group of people from Caroline on local beautification projects by planning, planting, and maintaining attractive flower plantings throughout the community.
• Ithaca Youth Bureau – Program: Caroline Outing Group End of Year Trip awarded $730 to provide food and transportation for the group’s team building end of session trip, the culmination of the program that works on fostering personal growth and building a team mentality.

“Working together with the Caroline Middle School students has been both an enlightening and rewarding experience. This group of dynamic young people has shown leadership in identifying the needs of their community. They are certainly doing their part to build a strong community,” stated Kim Swartz from the Public Service Center at Cornell University, who serves as United Way of Tompkins County lead volunteer for the FOCUS Program.

The FOCUS Council Members will present the grants to the recipients on Tuesday, May 6th, at 7:00 p.m. at Caroline Town Board Meeting held at the Caroline Town Hall, 2670 Slaterville Road, Route 79, Slaterville Springs, NY. Trevor Townsend, FOCUS Member added, "It was a fun experience because we got to help the community."

United Way continues to be at the center of the health and human service network in Tompkins County building and supporting   Strong People    Strong Families    Strong Communities. 

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