State Farm Youth Advisory Board announces new Associate Board Members

Members help oversee $5 million grant process

Bloomington, Illinois, June 6, 2007 – The State Farm Youth Advisory Board adds 18 new members as Associate Board Members. They will join the Board during the first 2007-2008 Board meeting at State Farm’s Corporate Headquarters in Bloomington, Ill. on June 28.

The Associate Board Members will receive a $3,000 scholarship for their first year.  After successful completion of their term, associate members are considered for a second term and a $5,000 scholarship. Board members may use the scholarships for post-secondary education at a four-year, two-year, or vocational training program.

 “We value this opportunity to partner with students to help improve their education and their communities.  After all, today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders and workforce,” said Kathy Payne, Director – Public Affairs at State Farm.  

The new members were selected from nearly 200 national applications and will serve an initial one year term with the opportunity to serve an additional year.  They commit about 15 hours a month to the board. The Associate Board Members will serve along with the Board Members to oversee the awarding of grants to student-led service-learning projects, which will address issues like teen seatbelt use and disaster preparedness. They will carry out their work during four meetings throughout the next year.

The State Farm Youth Advisory Board is a diverse group of students ages 17 to 20. They are a leadership board and oversee a $5 million-a-year State Farm funded initiative. In 2007, these awards were given for service-learning projects that addressed disaster preparedness, driver safety, financial education and access to higher education/closing the achievement gap. Grants totaled more than $3 million.

Board members were chosen to represent each of the 12 U.S. State Farm zones and the one Canadian zone. They are:

For more information visit the State Farm Youth Advisory Board.

About State Farm

State Farm® insures more cars than any other insurer in North America and is the leading U.S. home insurer. State Farm's 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees serve over 75 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.6 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 31 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca®.

About Service-learning

Service-learning is a teaching method which supplements classroom studies with hands-on projects that address pressing community issues and problems. To learn more about service-learning visit www.nylc.org, www.ysa.org, www.service-learningpartnership.org.