The Rotary Club of Anthem respectfully request a District Grant of $650.00 to purchase materials for the Anthem Rotary Homeless Youth Outreach Program. Hunter Merrill is the President of the Rotary Club of Anthem 2018-2019, and Krista Solomon prepared this District Grant application for review.
Project Established: The Homeless Youth Connection (HYC) was established and brought forward by long time Anthem Rotarian Mr. Ray Norris. Mr. Norris saw the ever increasing population of our youth in the North Valley who were living homeless and in need for basic daily living health and safety items in order to stay successful/focused in school.
On May 5, 2017 the Arizona Republic reported homeless youth in the state has increased 28 percent from the previous year. Unaccompanied homeless youth, are often referred to as "youth on their own." This category includes young people who left home, were thrown out of their homes, or abandoned by parents or guardians. Unaccompanied homeless youth, are a difficult sub-population of homeless to quantify. Many homeless youth do what they have to do in order to survive, such as sleeping in cars, bartering sex for shelter, "couch surfing" from one friend's house to another, or residing with abusive family members who threaten to "kick them out." Without real support, such youth may find themselves in and out of jail, dependent on the welfare system, or living their life in a chronic state of crisis.
In partnership with the local school counselors The Anthem Rotary Club primarily services 4 high schools (Boulder Creek, Sandra Day O'Connor, Barry Goldwater and Mayer High School) were over 75 youth have been identified as homeless. The Homeless Youth Connection provides backpacks filled with essential items such has hygiene supplies and food gift cards to help ease some of the burden these youth carry. The homeless youth ages range between 13 to 19 and have been identified by the school counselors as "at risk" and in need.
These students face numerous barriers to education, keeping many of them from completing high school or achieving post-secondary education. This affects a young person's future ability to live independently, and results in undeveloped learning and communication skills, leading youth to have future difficulty integrating into society.
Currently, there are limited social services in the North Valley area to help these students be successful.
HYC is a preventive measure to the potential negative life experiences as listed above. The Anthem Rotary serves homeless youth who are attending local high schools thought out the North Valley. These youth are provided with basic necessities,such as, backpacks, hygiene kits, food cards, thumb drives, clothing items, and special requested items.
NOTE: Items for the backpacks, hygiene kits, food cards, and other personal care products will be purchased upon receipt of the District Grant funds.
In order to maximize program effectiveness to reach as many youth as possible, due diligence and good stewards of the district and clubs matching dollars will occur. The District Grant Final Report will be submitted by the March 31, 2019 deadline; however, the program presentations may not be completed until May 2019 and/or the last month of school.
Budget: The total estimated cost will be $2650.00
The total budget for the project is $2650.00 for the needed supplies to service approximately 75 youth. The district grant will provide $650.00 to the project budget, matching the $2000.00 from the Rotary Club of Anthem's 2018-2019 budget.
Benefits - The primary beneficiaries of this youth program will be to assist in reducing the barriers through general health/hygiene in order for the youth to focus on their studies in school.
The Rotary Club of Anthem will release and post appropriate print, electronic and social media information on the District Grant award. In addition to explaining the details of the grant support of Homeless Youth Connection, the media releases provide facts about the Rotary Club of Anthem, Rotary International and Rotary Foundation's charity rating that is the result of its funding model and financial oversight. The intent is to encourage the public to participate in Rotary events and contribute to Rotary Foundation programs and projects.
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