Thursday, December 10, 2015

Thank You




ICYCF Board
of Directors

Scott Shurtliff
President

Aaron Birk
Treasurer

Michelle Fish
Assistant Treasurer

Rachel Banaszewski
Secretary, Director Marketing

Judy Cannon
Director Development

Julie Butler
Director Programs-Mentors

Jared Green
Director Programs-Recruitment

Benjamin Villa
Director Programs-Recruitment

Julie Hammond
Director Programs-Mentees

Erica Ford
Director Programs-Events


December 10, 2015

Because of your generous support, we were able to launch our mentorship and scholarship program for 11 youth in Chicago in 2015. The program was a strong success and we are asking for your help to continue and expand the program in 2016. We are grateful for your overwhelmingly positive response to the changes we made to the Inner City Youth programs last year. Thank you for enabling the mission of ICYCF to continue and progress.
In 2015 the ICYCF Board selected 11 mentees ages 14-18 and matched them with mentors chosen with help from Robyn Bergstrom and Grover Wray from BYU-Idaho. The mentors and mentees all met in August in Chicago, and now have regular weekly contact through personal meetings, skype, phone, email, and/or text. The mentors help mentees stay on track academically and spiritually working through a curriculum developed by the Board including topics such as goal setting, spiritual preparation, and time management. One mentee, a high school senior, had struggled to attend school and maintain passing grades throughout her junior year. This year, her relationship with her mentor, as well as other sources of support have helped her to dramatically improve her grades and attendance. Her mentor has helped her assemble college materials and the mentee has already submitted her college application to BYU-Idaho.
This is just one example of the successful implementation of the new ICYCF program of individual mentor-mentee relationships. In addition, ICYCF was also able to provide scholarships to three mentees who entered college this fall, helping cover the cost of tuition and other expenses.  All this has been enabled through your kind gift last year.
In 2016, our goal is to expand our mentor-mentee pool so that we can provide critically-needed mentorships to as many young men and women as possible.  For those of you who have lived in the Chicagoland area, you understand how impactful consistent positive relationships, such as the mentoring offered by ICYCF, can be in a young person’s life. Too many youth in the area lack the presence of positive role models.  We would also like to increase our ability to award scholarships to our college bound mentees as a way of removing financial obstacles to personal and educational advancement.   We can only reach these goals with your continued support.
Continuing with past policy, we operate an entirely volunteer board and allocate only a very small percentage of costs to administrative needs for office supplies, postage, and required government filings.  This ensures that we maximize the effect of your contribution towards helping the youth of the Chicagoland area.
Please return your contribution to ICYCF in the enclosed donation envelope.  If you choose, you can also donate by visiting: http://icycf.org/ and clicking the “Support Us” tab or by visiting our Facebook page www.facebook.com/icycfpage/ and clicking “Donate Now”. Please remember to apply for matching gifts through your employer, if offered, as this has resulted in significant support for ICYCF in the past.  ICYCF is a registered a 501(c)(3) and can accept matching gifts through most giving sites.
On behalf of the ICYCF Board, and especially the young women and young men of Chicago who benefit from your generosity, we offer our sincere thanks.

Sincerely,
Judy Cannon                                                                                      Scott Shurtliff
Director Development, ICYCF                                                   President, ICYCF

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Welcome

Hello Friends!

We are eager to introduce you to a new and exciting chapter for the Inner City Youth Charitable Foundation (ICYCF). Please take a few minutes to become familiar with recent changes to our programs, expresses our thanks, and requests your support to benefit inner city youth.  We are excited for the changes that have occurred with ICYCF and have already seen the great impact this foundation has in the lives of our participants.  

Changes to Our Program

For over twenty years our Summer Quarters (boys) and Summer Jam (girls) programs have helped inner city youth step out of their harsh environments and build experiences and relationships that nourish their hope for a better future. For many we witnessed these seeds of hope become a reality. Therefore, we were of course saddened when recently informed that BYU-Idaho is no longer able to co-sponsor the Summer Quarters and Summer Jam programs. However, as we reflected on the impact of these programs over the last two decades and the current needs of inner city youth, we were determined to continue our mission.

After months of research, interviews, and thoughtful discussion we determined to develop a new mentorship and scholarship program that was launched in Fall of 2015. The new program has expanded on many of the successful components of Summer Quarters and Summer Jam including: close mentorship with positive role models currently attending college, visits to Chicago from college mentors/counselors, trips for the youth to the Utah/Idaho area to explore the outdoors and campus life, cultural events, teaching of basic life skills, and deepening of faith and spiritual experience. In addition, the new program offers year round contact with college mentors who help the youth develop and complete a thorough college preparation plan. All of the youth who successfully complete the program and are accepted to one of our partner universities will be offered a needs-based college scholarship.

Expressing Thanks

While we wish we could personally honor each individual who contributes either time or financial support to ICYCF, there are two individuals who deserve our sincerest gratitude. For over 15 years Robyn Bergstrom and Grover Wray of BYU-Idaho have given thousands of hours and an unquantifiable amount of love and charity to the inner city youth. On behalf of the hundreds of youth in our programs we thank them and wish them the best in their future endeavors. While Robyn and Grover will no longer be directing our summer programs, they have both agreed to stay on as advisors and contribute to making our future programs a success. In honor of Robyn and Grover the ICYCF board has elected to name the newly founded girls and boys college scholarships in their honor.