Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund Awards Grant to Atlanta-based Youth Program

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) February 24, 2010 -- Operation REACH, Inc. (ORI), a national non-profit community education organization, is awarding a grant through its Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund in the amount of $2,500 to support the youth leadership work of Atlanta-based Project South. The check presentation ceremony will be Wednesday, February 24, at 6:00 p.m. at Project South’s headquarters, 9 Gamon St. SE, Atlanta, GA.

This grant to Project South’s Youth Community Action Project (YCAP) was one of five selected out of seventy applications from across the South that were reviewed by middle and high school youth who serve on the Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund’s Youth Advisory Board, based in New Orleans.

Project South’s Youth Community Action Project develops youth leadership by providing popular political education to young people in Atlanta, to create alternative youth-run media programs, and organizes for local community power. Project South has been awarded $2,500 for its Youth Community Action Program, an initiative that aims to create opportunities for youth across the South to collaborate on community change projects throughout the year. The program develops youth leadership by providing popular political education to young people in Atlanta.

“We really liked how innovative they were to have the youth running their own youth-led public affairs radio show to voice the opinion of youth on some major issues that we face every day. We are glad to be partnering with Project South and look forward to working with them in the future,” said GYAF board member Lorenz Jackson.

Of particular interest to the GYAF board, was Project South’s youth-run radio program, “Youth Speak Truth,” a program created by and for youth in the Atlanta area, aims to educate and discuss issues including the criminal justice system, the school systems, and organizing across the Southeast. In 2010, the program will produce 20 half-hour current affairs broadcasts bi-monthly on the community-based radio station, WRFG 89.3, and will reach 150,000 listeners. YCAP’s other initiatives include the Septima Clark Community Power Institute (CPI), which runs a summer project that trains 20 to 25 youth to effectively change and impact the communities in which they live. During the program, the youth organize events such as Hoops for Peace Basketball Tournament and the South by Southwest Youth Summit.

The Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund awarded an additional $7,500 in grants earlier this month to four youth-led organizations across the South. Operation REACH’s Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund (GYAF), is a leading youth philanthropy and leadership training program that empowers youth to address the interests and social concerns impacting their peers through support of youth-led and youth-driven initiatives that demonstrate the power of community-focused youth leadership.

Operation REACH is a national organization that engages, empowers, and inspires children, youth and families through innovative community-based learning opportunities. ORI operates a “cradle-to-career” pipeline of programs, that develop skills of children of youth, ages 4 months through 25 years old, to be lifelong learners and community-focused leaders.

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