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
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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
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