Youth Advisory Councils Leading the Way for a New Generation of Youth Philanthropists More than 120 youth grantmakers from across northeast Michigan converged upon Alpena in the fall of 2016 for a regional Youth Advisory Council (YAC) training event. The training was a day-long session hosted by CFNEM for all of the YACs in its nine-county service area. Facilitator Chelsea Holmes commented that this was the largest group she had ever facilitated, and was impressed with the group’s passion for their communi es. “It was great to be able to reach out to others who are also involved with YAC to see how they run the program in their school,” said Makenzie Zybdel, a YAC member from Alpena. “It gave me and other YACers an opportunity to use other methods to make our own YAC greater and more successful.” During the event, YAC members dug deep into several aspects of youth philanthropy, including what makes a good grant vs. a great grant. They also had discussions on the importance and many benefits of community service ac vi es; fund development projects that build rela onships and increase gi s to the Kellogg Endowment Funds at the Community Founda on, from where their YAC grants are made; and par cipated in leadership skills ac vi es. The group even held a Jeopardy-style compe on to see which teams knew more about the many aspects of YACs locally, throughout Michigan, and na onwide. For the rest of this story, see “YAC” on page 28. 5