4/24/5025
The Straits Area Community Foundation (SACF) will host Youth Advisory Council Day on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. This special 24-hour online event is dedicated to raising awareness and support for the Foundation’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC), which provides annual grant funding to youth-focused projects in their communities. The event is in partnership with the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan (CFNEM), which is the lead foundation for SACF.
Youth Advisory Councils are groups of youth ages 12-21 who engage in philanthropy through grantmaking, leadership opportunities, and community service. Through this program, young people throughout northeast Michigan are learning about the important role philanthropy plays in a community. The Straits Area YAC has members from across Cheboygan County and Mackinaw City.
“Our YAC program has quite a reach across all of northeast Michigan,” says CFNEM Development & Marketing Director Christine Hitch. “We have about 130 YAC members serving in 19 different schools across our nine-county service area. The impact these youth are making in their communities is incredibly positive, inspiring, and needed. We are very excited to have a special day dedicated entirely to helping them increase that impact.”
On May 6, community members are encouraged to visit SACF’s website at sacf.net and donate to support the Straits Area YAC. Half of each donation will be permanently endowed to grow future grantmaking. while the other half will fund the next round of YAC grants, in early 2026.
Hitch added that the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan will match the first $1,000 donated to the Straits Area YAC.
“This program is truly growing the next generation of givers in our communities by connecting them to their communities through philanthropy and through this grantmaking process,” said Hitch. “We have seen our former YAC members become donors, leaders in their communities, and even trustees on our own governing boards.”
The Straits Area YAC grants are awarded from the Straits Area Youth Endowment Fund held at SACF. Since the YAC program started in Cheboygan County and Mackinaw City in 1999, it has awarded more than $120,000 to nonprofits for youth-related projects serving local youth.
As a fun addition to Youth Advisory Council Day, the YAC that raises the most donations on May 6 will take home “Mac the Golden Yak”. – a traveling trophy named by YAC members from across northeast Michigan. Last year, Mac was awarded to the Northeast Michigan YAC and spent the year making a victory lap across Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, and Presque Isle Counties.
To support the Straits Area YAC on Youth Advisory Council Day, visit sacf.net on Tuesday, May 6, between 12 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. to donate online. Donations can also be mailed to the Community Foundation office at SACF, P.O. Box 495, Alpena, MI 49707.
Every donation – large or small – helps local youth become active leaders in their communities. Visit sacf.net to support the next generation of changemakers on May 6! Learn more