YES! Fund Grant

The YES! Fund, established by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, empowers youth through after-school programs that enhance personal development and academic success. With over 20 years of impact, it addresses community needs while fostering engagement and belonging among young people. The fund supports innovative projects designed by educators, ensuring safe environments for learning and growth. By emphasizing volunteer involvement and collaboration with local schools, the YES! Fund creates sustainable opportunities that benefit Manhattan's youth.

The YES! Fund, short for Youth Empowerment for Success, has been a crucial source of funding for various programs aimed at empowering the youth for over 20 years. Recognizing the need to address the uninspired youth activities in Manhattan, a committee was formed in 1993 to engage with the young population and understand their concerns. The committee discovered that many young people felt neglected by the community, leading them to express a desire to leave Manhattan as soon as possible. In response, the YES! Fund was established to support diverse opportunities aligned with the youth's needs, fostering their success, well-being, and sense of belonging in the community. The YES! program advisory board carefully reviews the fund's activities to ensure they positively impact youth development and academic achievement, with a strong correlation between young people's involvement in such programs and their overall success.
Manhattan is a city with excellent schools, but it is essential to acknowledge that not everyone experiences the same level of opportunity and well-being within the community. After-school programs supported by the YES! Fund plays a critical role in enhancing youth development and academic success. These programs have improved school attendance, goal-setting, decision-making, and relationships with teachers and authorities. Additionally, students studying to become teachers at Kansas State University actively contribute to the YES! Fund's initiatives by volunteering their time and expertise to coach, tutor, and collaborate with various organizations. The fund serves as a means to turn the innovative ideas of educators and administrators into realities, filling the gap left by limited school budgets. Administered as a component fund of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, the YES! Fund continues to significantly impact the lives of young people in the community.

Eligibility

Grants are intended to support activity-based, before, and after school programs.Plans should include an outline of how the program will be offered and carried out in a safe manner. Please include information about how the program will be different from previous years and the plans in place to make sure the program will be effective while ensuring that youth, staff, and volunteers are in a safe environment.  Proposals are accepted for activities likely to require ongoing support.

Ineligibility

Awards are not typically made to primarily support summer activities (especially summer-only proposals) – some overlap of the school year and subsequent summer activities may be supported.Proposals should not focus on extending the curricular/teaching day for students (tutoring programs are not typically funded, although some elements of tutoring might be embedded in activity-based programs).