Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program
With the help of a $10,000 grant and an amazing team of peers and advisers, I founded the Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program (carmelgreenteen.org) when I was in eighth grade. This by-youth, for-youth program provides young people in central Indiana with the mentorship and funding they need to lead their own environmental projects in their local community. As its founder and youth coordinator, I learned from an early age the extent of work involved in such a nonprofit, quickly picking up skills in budgeting, marketing, public speaking, interviewing, and more as I worked with youth and adult volunteers to turn an idea into a program with both national repute and local buy-in. Since it began in 2009, the organization has funded 57 projects, which have collectively involved over 900 young people, benefited all 80,000 city residents, provided residents with over $120,000 in benefits annually, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by over 500 tons annually, and more.
The greatest impacts, however, cannot be measured. We gave the students of a special-needs school enough money to build a specially-designed organic garden so that everyone, including those traditionally impaired by their disabilities, can appreciate the little things, like soil running through their fingers, and the bigger things, like teamwork and activism. We have funded educational campaigns addressing topics such as disposable plastic product usage, composting, rain barrels, and water usage, and we have helped bring to fruition projects ranging from recycled art installations to tree plantings to school-wide recycling programs. All of the projects together are making changes today, and empowering youth will make a difference both today and tomorrow. In the words of one seven-year-old grant awardee, “A small change made by small people can make a big difference.”
I was honored to hand the program's reigns over to the next generation of young people when I left Indiana in 2013. With its success, though, came an opportunity to expand the model beyond the Carmel, Indiana, city limits. I decided to make the program model available to all communities, free of charge. I pulled together the documents and instructions necessary to walk another community through the steps to seek funding, form local partnerships, create a board, and run all program-related activities for a similar youth-led environmental granting program. I wrote a full instruction handbook and instruction website housing the materials and guides. The website typically receives between 50 and 80 pageviews a day, giving me hope that the instructions are being used to help others create their own youth empowerment programs.
The greatest impacts, however, cannot be measured. We gave the students of a special-needs school enough money to build a specially-designed organic garden so that everyone, including those traditionally impaired by their disabilities, can appreciate the little things, like soil running through their fingers, and the bigger things, like teamwork and activism. We have funded educational campaigns addressing topics such as disposable plastic product usage, composting, rain barrels, and water usage, and we have helped bring to fruition projects ranging from recycled art installations to tree plantings to school-wide recycling programs. All of the projects together are making changes today, and empowering youth will make a difference both today and tomorrow. In the words of one seven-year-old grant awardee, “A small change made by small people can make a big difference.”
I was honored to hand the program's reigns over to the next generation of young people when I left Indiana in 2013. With its success, though, came an opportunity to expand the model beyond the Carmel, Indiana, city limits. I decided to make the program model available to all communities, free of charge. I pulled together the documents and instructions necessary to walk another community through the steps to seek funding, form local partnerships, create a board, and run all program-related activities for a similar youth-led environmental granting program. I wrote a full instruction handbook and instruction website housing the materials and guides. The website typically receives between 50 and 80 pageviews a day, giving me hope that the instructions are being used to help others create their own youth empowerment programs.