Meet A YAC in Muskegon - Wait What is a YAC? Find Out On Positively Muskegon

You hear YAC and the first thing that might come to mind if a hairy beast of burden that may emanate an odor or two and the thought of one being in and around Muskegon...well, might cause a call of complaint to a city council or two.  But fear not...in our case, a YAC is something to be proud of and you get to meet one today.





Yes, YAC is an acronym.  It's The Youth Advisory Council and it's an extension of the Community Foundation of Muskegon County.  There is an appointed member from every school district in Muskegon County and they meet monthly as a team to discuss how they can help grant $60,000 in funds to help youth serving organizations and projects and causes.  These are a group of young people who are very active in their schools as well as their communities and their work goes past just trying to decide where the funding goes.  The plan and pull off community service projects, they visit the organizations that are applying for funding and they get to know the nuts and bolts of how they work.  They are working at a young age at leadership skills and team building.

Community Foundation of Muskegon County

This all started back in 1989, the WK Kellogg Foundation challenged Michigan community foundations to find a way to help youth give...offering to match funds if the community foundation could raise enough money to create an unrestricted youth fund and Muskgon's Community Foundation jumped at the chance.

Since then, over $1,000,000.00 has been distributed to Muskegon area youth organizations and over $33 million across the state!  Not bad for a bunch of kids huh?

I was able to sit down with Nirel Patel, who's a junior at Mona Shores High School to learn about his role within the group and how they work together to get the job done.  He's got high hopes of one day being a physician here in Muskegon and taking what he's learned here and giving back... take a listen to our chat below

Amazing to thing that for every kid we hear that's fallen off the rails, or joined some gang that there are those young people out there that are community minded...want to better their surroundings and make a difference at a young age so that we can all continue to flourish.  My many thanks to Nirel for taking a few minutes to "YAC" it up with me about the Community Foundation's YAC program.