(Unity–) Jobs for Maine’s Graduates (JMG) students from across Maine donated $64,200 in 100 grants to local and statewide nonprofits through the Jumpstart Our Youth (JOY) student philanthropy program. Throughout the school year 4500 JMG students working in their 66 school programs distributed Requests for Proposals (rfp’s), evaluated grant applications from nonprofits including budget and program details, and then determined where to award the $1000 provided to each site by funding partners Unity Foundation, Maine Community Foundation and UniTel, Inc.. Several schools raised additional money to make local contributions above the $1000 provided by the JOY program’s supporting funders.
Through the JOY program, Maine students have donated over $300,000 in five years and have volunteered 103,800 hours worth of “sweat equity” volunteer time in food pantries, homeless shelters, teen parenting residences, Special Olympics and dozens of other charities across the state.