With money to spend and five months of eye-opening exposure to the human service needs of Logan County behind them, the Student United Way committee is ready to hear your pitch.
Local schools, teachers, organizations, churches, and government entities are encouraged to apply for a United Way Youth Allocations grant by the February 14 deadline.
Grants will be awarded in March for use this summer or during the 2025-26 school year.
Applications are available online at www.uwlogan.org or by calling (937) 592-2886.
The 28 high schoolers involved in United Way’s leadership development program finalized their criteria for awarding grant dollars this week.
Now they hope to make an impact with the $30,000 they have available to allocate.
This year, Student United Way wishes to support work in these areas of need that they identified:
- Mental health, such as but not limited to one-on-one support for students and coping skills for younger students.
- Anti-vaping initiatives, such as but not limited to support for students currently vaping and anti-vaping education for elementary and middle school students.
- Poverty-fighting initiatives, such as but not limited to financial literacy, career exploration, and employment opportunities for teens and soon-to-be graduates.
- Mentoring programs.
- Other ideas that support local youth, such as Food, English as a Second Language, Drug Prevention, Access to Personal Hygiene Products, Driving Safety, and After-School Transportation.
Applications can come to support new or existing in-school or community-based programs that serve Logan County youth under 18.
The students collectively arrived at their conclusions after a series of experiences and discussions during United Way’s year-long leadership development program.
The year started with a poverty simulation.
A tour of the Logan County History Center to get a better understanding of where we’ve come from and where we’re headed.
At the Poverty Simulation, students learned about the barriers for those in low-income situations.
Richwood Bank hosted a panel discussion on Corporate Giving with guest speakers from Honda, WPKO, Marker, Richwood Bank, and the Logan County Chamber.
In 2024 the grant recipients were:
- Bellefontaine High School – Opp Pro Program – $1,500 – food for an after-school program for at-risk students
- Benjamin Logan FFA – $1,800 – for a mentoring program that pairs high school students and elementary students with disabilities while they learn about agriculture
- Cub Scout Pack 81 – $2,000 – for Cub Scout programming
- Greater Riverside Area Community Encouragers – $1,306 for a weekly summer food program in DeGraff
- Indian Lake High School SADD – $2,300 – for a speaker at an all-school assembly to kick off their annual Red Ribbon (anti-drugs) week
- Logan County Health District – $1,106 – for health/hygiene kits to be delivered to all local schools
- Lutheran Community Services – $4,000 – for Our Daily Bread
- Journey Living Ministries – $2,106 – for the GOAT mental health program
- Midwest Regional ESC – $4,500 to conduct the Summer Autism Academy
- Ohio Hi-Point SOS – $3,000 for an in-school pantry with food and hygiene items
- Vineyard Church – $3,000 – for weekend backpack meals for Bellefontaine Schools
- West Liberty Elementary – $1,500 for their all-school Literacy Night
The deadline to apply is Friday, February 14th.
