YAC Advisor Lauren Grevel, Jackson Shulte, Ben Garretson, and Habeeb El-amir
This summer, three returning YAC members (Habeeb El-amir, Ben Garretson, and Jackson Schulte) attended the 2018 Youth Summer Leadership Conference hosted by the Council of Michigan Foundations and the Michigan Community Foundations YOUTH Project.
Over the course of a weekend, they got to meet and interact with other YAC members from across the state. There are over 80 different youth councils at different Community Foundations throughout the state and each operate differently. They heard from various speakers and learned about the various components of youth empowerment and youth grantmaking.
I loved attending the YAC Conference at CMU. It was a ton of fun. I met so many new people and saw familiar faces. It was such an eye opener to see how other YACs and community foundations function, assess their needs, and involve youth in their community.
With the theme of “Ignite: Fuel Action. Spark Change”, the main points I took from the conference were how to empower youth and how that empowerment ignites change. This conference was truly amazing and I’m so glad I attended. —Habeeb El-amir
The YAC members who attended brought back new thoughts and ideas to the rest of the council. The group will use these tools throughout the 2018-2019 YAC Year as we continue to develop programming and provide support to other organization in our region that are working to empower and impact our youth.