The Phoenix Scholars will receive a $25,000 grant to make a difference in local community
Stanford, CA (May 31, 2012) - After three weeks and more than 1.2 million votes, State Farm® is proud to announce that The Phoenix Scholars will receive a $25,000 grant to improve access to higher education in communities across California.The Phoenix Scholars was one of 3,000 Cause submissions State Farm received through Cause An Effect, a crowd-sourced philanthropic initiative that relies on non-profit organizations to create solutions to community issues identified by Facebook users.
"The grant will allow The Phoenix Scholars to professionalize operations and to take our model to scale, enabling us to impact the lives of more families going forward,” said The Phoenix Scholars Founder and Executive Director Michael Tubbs.
The State Farm Youth Advisory Board, a diverse group of 30 students, reviewed the 3,000 Cause submissions and helped State Farm select the top 100 finalists.State Farm then identified and paired nonprofits with each Cause; the affiliated nonprofits of the top 40 Causes will each receive a $25,000 grant to create and execute a plan to address the Cause.
"This $25,000 from State Farm will improve the quality and reach of our college access program targeting low-income, first-generation minority students,” said Stanford student and The Phoenix Scholars development team member Julia Enthoven. "We look forward to seeing its impact on helping high-achieving, disadvantaged students become leaders and change-makers of the future.”
From April 27 through May 17, the Facebook community was encouraged to visit the Cause An Effect app and vote for their favorite Cause. More than 38,000 people took to Facebook during the three week period; The Phoenix Scholars program received 23.622 votes.
"The considerable amount of votes The Phoenix Scholars received, shows the level of commitment and engagement within our community to solve local issues,” said local State Farm Agency Field Executive Michael Ornelas. "We look forward to watching The Phoenix Scholars and the Stanford University community come together to make neighborhoods across California safer, stronger, and better educated with the help of Cause An Effect.”
For a complete list of the top 40 Causes or for more information about Cause An Effect, visit the State Farm Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/statefarm).
Sevag Sarkissian, Media Relations (510) 596-1639
The Youth Advisory Board is comprised of 30 students, ages 17-20, from across the United States and Canada who serve a two-year term.Their directive is to implement a $5 million-a-year signature service-learning initiative to address issues important to youth and communities.The Board is completely autonomous and youth-driven, and funds projects focused on issues selected by the board that impact youth.It consists of a diverse group of full-time students at high schools and universities.Each member commits about 15 hours a month to the Board and participates in three face-to-face meetings per calendar year.The Board will fund the 40 grants awarded through the Cause An Effect program with a portion of its $5 million funding in 2012.For more information on the Youth Advisory Board, visit www.statefarmYouth Advisory Board.com.
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