State Farm Neighborhood Assist® Top 200 Finalist

Youth First, Inc. has once again been selected as one of the Top 200 finalists in the State Farm Neighborhood Assist® grant program.

Youth First needs your votes to receive a $25,000 grant from State Farm® to help bring more social work services to the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC). Their campaign, “Youth First: Stronger Mental Health for Students,” will launch Youth First Social Work services at 12 additional EVSC schools, and you can be a part of it by voting at www.neighborhoodassist.com/entry/2038991.

Founded in Evansville, Indiana, Youth First partners with 105 schools in 12 counties to place highly trained social workers and evidence-based programs in school buildings. Kids and their families have free access to a professional who knows how to address anxiety, grief, substance abuse, poverty, academic struggles, and more. Currently, Youth First serves 20 of the 40 schools in the EVSC with vital social work supports; this grant will help add 12 more Youth First Social Workers for a total of 32 EVSC partner schools.

EVSC Superintendent David Smith says, “We want all of our students to come to school healthy, safe, and ready to learn. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible—but by partnering with Youth First, our schools can provide more social and emotional supports for our students, our families and even our teachers.”

COVID-19 has brought new urgency to the need for every student to build stronger mental health. Research shows that a caring adult presence and learned coping strategies can equip kids with lifelong resilience to help them succeed in school and in life. Funding from the State Farm Neighborhood Assist grant will allow Youth First’s proven model of mental health support and prevention to equip students with powerful tools and caring relationships that help them overcome social, emotional, and economic barriers.

“We are very grateful to State Farm for choosing the Youth First: Stronger Mental Health for Students project as a worthy finalist,” said Parri O. Black, Youth First’s President & CEO. “Everyone who votes for us will help more young people grow their resilience, excel in the classroom, and become the community’s next generation of leaders.”

Voting takes place August 18 – August 27, and U.S. residents who are 18 and older are allowed up to 10 votes per day per email address. Go to www.neighborhoodassist.com/entry/2038991 and cast as many votes as you can for this impactful project. Hangers of Evansville is also a Top 200 finalist.

On September 29, the top 40 vote-receiving causes will be announced and a $25,000 grant will be awarded to each of the affiliated nonprofits.

State Farm Neighborhood Assist is a crowd-sourced philanthropic initiative that empowers communities to identify issues in their neighborhoods. The State Farm Review Committee selected the top 200 finalists from 2,000 submissions.