Team Fort Collins was awarded a $2500 grant from Berthoud High School’s Give Next program to bring the Define Yourself Project to the Berthoud Community. The Define Yourself Project mission is to promote wellness and prevent future substance use issues through education, volunteerism and personal projects focused on the strengths and interests of each participant. It takes a Positive Youth Development approach to wellness promotion and substance abuse prevention by employing 5 principles; 1) Strengths Based 2) Inclusive 3) Youth Partnership 4) Collaboration 5) Sustainable. Team Fort Collins is using the funding to cover travel cost associated with administering the program in Berthoud.
The Define Yourself Project from Team Fort Collins was also recently awarded a Daniels Fund Grant to support the program in the Fort Collins community.
Give Next is a program of United Way of Larimer County with major support provided by Bohemian Foundation, the program’s mission sponsor.
The mission of Give Next is to educate students about the vital role that nonprofits and philanthropy play in the community by providing students with opportunities for service and leadership through philanthropy and volunteering.
Give Next is a school-based program that is implemented into an existing classroom curriculum (middle school or high school).
Each Give Next classroom receives $5,000 for grant making in the areas of education, income, health, arts, and the environment. The money for the classroom grants is donated by local businesses, foundations and philanthropists.
Students from Berthoud High School work together to identify community needs, research nonprofits, volunteer, conduct site visits, review grant applications, make funding decisions, and award grants. At the end of the term, students plan an awards ceremony during which they share lessons learned through the program and award grant checks to selected nonprofits.
The Give Next program provides students an ideal opportunity to demonstrate proficiency in all five areas of 21st Century Skills: critical thinking, information literacy, collaboration, self-direction and invention.
Berthoud High School’s Give Next program sponsors are Jana Cline and Carin Barrett. The Matthews House, Finally Home Foundation and The Growing Project were also awarded grants from the Berthoud High School Give Next program.
About Team Fort Collins
Team Fort Collins is dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles through the prevention of substance abuse.
Team Fort Collins has been providing alcohol and drug prevention services to the Fort Collins community since 1989. Team Fort Collins provides prevention education to middle and high school students, makes presentations for parents on topics related to youth substance use, convenes community groups, provides opportunities for youth activities in safe, substance-free environments, and is available as a community partner.
We favor a developmental approach for addressing youth substance use. In doing so, we recognize the importance of adolescents’ inclination toward taking risks and we promote a formula of prevention that provides opportunities for youth to satisfy needs without compromising their future. It is Team Fort Collins’ philosophy that prevention is the job of the entire community and we enjoy the responsibility for coordinating these efforts. To the extent that parents, schools, businesses, law enforcement, community leaders, and religious organizations are consistent in the message for health and in providing a safe environment to nurture youth, Fort Collins’ youth are more likely to claim a future of well-being