Causes: Children & Youth, Youth Development Programs

Mission: Our mission is to empower young people to take ownership of challenges they see in the community, devise action plans to address those issues, and implement service projects to improve life in the local community through their leadership. We strive to increase their awareness of others' needs and to encourage life-long civic responsibility.

Programs: Make a difference grants: the make a difference grant program awards grants for youth-led philanthropy projects in the tri-state community. The grants allow the area's youth to focus on real solutions to researched and identified problems in the community. Youth are involved in all aspects of the program. The youth apply for and write the grant application, they attend the information meetings once funding is awarded, and they complete paperwork involved with the grant. A committee made up of trained youth from the teen advisory council reviews the grants and makes the decisions on prioritizing which organizations will receive grants. The youth gain a variety of leadership skills during their projects which include: grant writing, budgeting, time management, planning, and team building.

teen advisory council: the teen advisory council is a service-based, youth-led mentoring program serving the region. These high school leaders meet every other friday morning at 5:55 am to identify youth problems, discuss solutions, plan outreach events, develop community service projects, and screen grant proposals for the make a difference grants. They also have the unique opportunity to interact with our community leaders such as the mayor, members of the evansville city council, vanderburgh county commissioners, evsc school board, andwarrick county school board. Furthermore, students have the opportunity to interact with business executives, leaders of non-profit agencies, and other individuals dedicated to improving our community.

teenpower: in 1989, youth resources received a grant from the national crime prevention council to begin a two-year pilot called teens as resources against drugs. This program focused on youth planned and implemented anti-drug/alcohol preventive projects. A publication, given the opportunity, describes the result of this pilot. An outgrowth of teens as resources against drugs was the first youth resources teenpower leadership conference, held in 1992.The teenpower leadership development conferences provide drug prevention programming for teens in high school; and a middle school program was added in 2002.Participants attend as individuals or as a member of a team representing a school, church, or youth organization. During the conference, youth attend workshops, hear national speakers, form friendships with youth of diverse backgrounds, and plan prevention-based service projects. Teenpower has involved over 3,661 teens to date in activities that provide long-term peer support groups, strengthen intervention skills, increase alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention knowledge, and build self-esteem and leadership skills.