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Two State Farm Grant Opportunities

April 15th, 2013

State Farm is offering two grant opportunities and has invited SkillsUSA members to participate.

State Farm Service Learning Grants

State Farm logo

State Farm Youth Advisory Board (YAB) service-learning grant applications are available now until May 3. The grants range from $25,000 – $100,000 and are designed to create sustainable change in local communities across the United States and Canada. Public K-12, charter, higher education institutions, and non-profit organizations are eligible if they are able to demonstrate how they plan to impact student achievement within the public K-12 curriculum. All applicants must have a youth contact and adult administrator, as the programs must be youth-driven and youth-led.

Each grant request must fall under one of these issue areas, chosen by the board itself: Community Safety; Environmental Responsibility; Financial Literacy; Access to Higher Education; or, Health and Wellness

As of August 2012, six years after the initial launch of the YAB, the board has awarded more than $24.7 million in grants to organizations in the U.S. and Canada and impacted approximately 14.1 million lives.

Find out more at: www.statefarmyab.com. You can also check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube! If you have questions, please contact Brad Corriher at Brad.corriher.pz3k@statefarm.com.

State Farm Celebrate My Drive Program

State Farm is offering a grant opportunity for schools to possibly win either one of 10 $100,000 grants; one of 90 $25,000 grants; or a grand prize concert for a school by a chart-topping music artist.

The program Celebrate My Drive is a safe driving program where one’s community will also be encouraged to make safe driving commitments on behalf of a school during the commitment period. The more commitments made, the better the chances of winning a grant for a school and maybe even a concern by a chart-topping music artist. For more information on the program, please go to: www.celebratemydrive.com.

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Project Ignition Grants Reminder

November 1st, 2012

Project Ignition (PI), is in the driver’s seat again, announcing the availability of $2,000 grants for public high schools to address teen driver safety using service-learning. In its ninth year, PI is a great extension of Celebrate My Drive™ and another way to interact with local high schools on safer teen driving behaviors.

Public high schools are invited to get involved in Project Ignition by applying for a grant, available at www.sfprojectignition.com. Get connected on Facebook at www.facebook.com/projectignition.

The deadline for grant applications is Nov. 15.

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State Farm: Project Ignition Grants

September 1st, 2011

The National Youth Leadership Council® and State Farm® are pleased to announce the availability of $2,000 Project Ignition grants for public high school students and teachers to address teen driver safety through service-learning.

Car crashes remain the number one cause of death for adolescents. That’s a staggering statistic, but one that young people, in partnership with their teachers and community, can and are changing through Project Ignition.

For the past eight years, high school students in public schools throughout the United States and in three Canadian provinces have been using service learning to tie their academic objectives to this important issue. They do this by getting the facts out, engaging their audiences and working to ultimately influence driving behaviors and save lives on the road.

Students use their own creativity to create impactful awareness and engagement campaigns. Strategies used in the past have included: hosting events and demonstrations; forming community-wide partnerships; working on local and state policy; producing public service announcements; and, more.

Twenty-five schools will be chosen to receive $2,000 grants to support the implementation of their campaigns between January and April 2012. Ten of these 25 schools will be granted an additional $5,000 to support their participation in a significant national conference or event – including the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. They will also be given the opportunity to be named “National Leader Schools” and receive an additional $2,500 to go deeper with their campaigns during the 2012-2013 school year.

Applications are due November 15, 2011. To apply, go to: www.sfprojectignition.com.

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State Farm Youth Advisory Board Grant Applications

February 15th, 2011

State Farm’s Youth Advisory Board grant applications are available now. The service-learning grants range from $25,000 – $100,000 and are designed to create sustainable change in local communities across the United States and Canada. Applying organizations must be a public K-12, charter, or higher education institution; nonprofit organizations are also eligible if they are able to demonstrate how they plan to impact student achievement within the public K-12 curriculum. All applicants must have a youth contact and adult administrator, as the programs must be youth-driven and youth-led.

Each grant request must fall under one of these issue areas:

  • Driver Safety
  • Environmental Responsibility
  • Financial Literacy
  • Access to Higher Education
  • Natural & Societal Disasters

Applications are due May 2. Find out more at www.statefarmyab.com.

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Highlights

January 15th, 2011
  • Membership as of January 13th stands at more than 202,944 or more than 13,268 over our membership on this date last year.
  • Speaking of membership, the Membership Mega Prize program is gaining sponsorships including the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, N.E.W. Customer Service, Klein Tools, Kobalt Tools and IRWIN tools. For information on the drive to increase our membership through incentives, please go to www.skillsusa.org/join/megaprize.shtml.
  • The report on the State Farm grant is complete, and staff did an extensive job recently reviewing Lowe’s applications for campus improvement and community service grants. To view it online, go to www.skillsusa.org/educators/statefarm.shtml.
  • This year’s national staff charitable donation was to benefit the 27-year old son of a cosmetology teacher at C.S. Monroe Technology Center in Leesburg. The young man has a family, lost his job and his health benefits and is being treated for cancer. The national staff was extremely generous and the donation was genuinely appreciated. A lot of students at the school are also working to raise money for the same cause.
  • Bruce Potter’s official last day with the national staff was Tuesday, December 28 and he has moved on to begin his new job as high school state association director for New York state. We wish him all the best.
  • National staff worked through strategic planning this week. It was our 11th Week of Excitement. We took some different approaches this year, beginning with Vision 2020 and the big picture, and then wrote some macro objectives to which we wrote department strategies, tactics and business plans. It was very exciting. We’ll be making our first report on new objectives to the state association director association officers at the end

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The 2010 SkillsUSA Championships

June 24th, 2010

Today is the big day for SkillsUSA Champions from across the nation. The 2010 SkillsUSA Championships is today! With 96 contests and more than 5,600 competitors, the championships encompasses Bartle Hall, its Conference Center, Municipal Auditorium, American Royal Center and downtown Marriott, Crowne Plaza and Phillips hotels.

Make sure to take the time to stop by and see the contests in Municipal Auditorium and make the trip down to the American Royal Center (next to Kemper Arena) to check out the TeamWorks, Welding Fabrication and Welding Art Sculpture contests. The SkillsUSA Championships is supported by more than 1,000 companies and associations.

A new “green” event this year is the State Farm Innovation in Sustainability Showcase. Chapters will be displaying their projects from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in Bartle Hall Lobby 2100.

But it’s not only contests today. SkillsUSA TECHSPO continues both at the outside street exhibits and in the lobbies throughout Bartle Hall. There’s still time to register for the Champions 5K Run. You have until 4 p.m. today at the Alumni booth (No. 232). There will be another Meet the Candidates session, business meeting and the SkillsUSA Delegates will cast their primary ballot for our new national officers.

Tonight, make sure you head out to Worlds of Fun theme park. It’s a great way to blow off steam after an exciting day of competition.

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Highlights

April 15th, 2010
  • The final membership report will be coming out today, and it looks like it will be above 304,000 and alumni membership is over 9,000. This is a remarkable year.
  • Staff reports that orders and preview requests for the Skill Connect Assessments have been pouring in steadily this month and last. They say that previews result in orders. There’s interest in all of the assessments currently available. According to staff, orders are from across the country with some concentration on the eastern seaboard and the central states, but no particular pattern except “everywhere.” Staff also visited North Dakota recently to present to high school and college administrators. The college administrators were doubtful at first, but became very enthusiastic as the day progressed. The high school administrators were enthusiastic all along.
  • Online news clippings from September through March have gone to all of the state associations for their use. Staff reports that most of the recent stories are about local and state conferences and competitions – of course – but  there are also a lot of nice features including reports on State Farm grant projects such as an energy-independent portable classroom including photovoltaic solar panels and geothermal heating in Maryland.
  • And, Engineering Alliance continues to pick up momentum. We’ve been getting questions on how to sign up entire school districts. That’s a nice challenge to have. Staff will be part of the Project Lead The Way train-the-trainer conference later this month.

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Highlights

April 1st, 2010
  • The final membership count won’t be official until April, but as of March 24, we have already exceeded last year’s total paid membership by 4,800 members! That means SkillsUSA will have another record-breaking membership year. Congratulations and thanks to all of the state association directors for making this possible.
  • National staff is definitely on the road visiting the states. I just mentioned my recent visits to Georgia and Wyoming. Other staff members have recently visited – or will soon visit – Vermont, Texas, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Arizona, California, Missouri, Florida and North Dakota. Every visit is a joy.
  • And, finally, I’d like to conclude with 12 highlights from the FY10 second quarter shared with the board last week:

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Highlights

February 15th, 2010
  • As the Kellogg project is winding down in March, we held a PMO planning meeting on Feb. 2. We’re seeing the results of the past three years come to fruition. We’re getting good responses to our marketing mailings and to the assessments from the field. More mailings are scheduled this month for the big launch in March. We are booked for our final Technical Advisory committee meeting at the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education, in March so the department can witness first-hand the results of our efforts with the Work Force Ready System and the vulnerable communities projects.
  • We had two new state directors here at the National Leadership Center on Feb. 5 from Vermont and the Virgin Islands for training on state association management. We also had six people here from colleges across the country working with staff to guide our college/postsecondary initiatives
  • State Farm zone managers have announced the 12 recipients of the $10,000 Innovation in Sustainability grants. The list is located on our Web site at www.skillsusa.org/educators/statefarm.shtml. A big thank -you to State Farm for its support.
  • The Engineering Alliance should be launched soon. We’re doing the last run-through of the Web site, making sure everything is where it’s supposed to be and that all the buttons, bells and whistles work. We’re also polishing up the press release, Web postings and e-mail announcements. Before the general announcement goes to the field, we’ll send a special announcement to our own state association directors so they’re prepared.

Happy CTE Month and SkillsUSA Week last week. It’s a pleasure to know that together we are doing so much good for so many people.

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Highlights

December 15th, 2009
  • On Wednesday, December 9, several staff members rolled up their sleeves and put on their reading glasses to help review the hundreds of Lowe’s and State Farm grant applications for community and campus improvements and sustainability projects. Finalist selections were sent to Lowe’s and State Farm last Thursday. We’re looking forward to announcing the grants in January (State Farm) and February (Lowe’s).
  • Thanks to board members Curtis Barnett, Moe Broom, John Gaal and Larry Rabalais who joined a conference call to work on NLSC hotel lottery issues on December 10. Also on December 10, we had an all day meeting with intelitek to discuss marketing strategy for the Skill Connect assessments. Board member Greg Rintala flew in to be a part of the meeting.
  • As I mentioned previously, Jackie Parker of Newell Rubbermaid worked with our Inclusion and Diversity Committee at the end of November. Due to that work, the committee has created a new statement on inclusion and diversity for SkillsUSA: “In keeping with a tradition of respect for the individuality of our members and our role in work force development, SkillsUSA strives to ensure inclusive participation in all of our programs, partnerships and employment opportunities.”
  • Staff attended the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals Conference in Chicago, December 7-9, to exhibit the Work Force Ready System. More than 600 people attended – an increase from last year – with representatives from 33 states and 2 territories. This was our first time at this conference for the people who run programs such as Job Corps. They report they had quality conversations with some strong potential leads.
  • Staff attended the Georgia Fall Leadership Conference for Postsecondary in Atlanta in late November. It was reported that 600 people attended, half of them SkillsUSA members, and that Cassie Palmer did a great job managing the conference. Staff also said that because Commissioner Jackson was so impressed by our national conference in Kansas City this year she’s endorsed SkillsUSA in Georgia and is promoting SkillsUSA membership in the colleges.
  • This coming March, SkillsUSA will be helping Skills Canada to conduct its first leadership institute to mirror what we do in leadership training at the national conference. This is coming about in part at the request of Lowe’s which is supporting Skills Canada and would like the association to move beyond only contests in its program.
  • Staff reports that sales are up for the revised levels one and two of the Professional Development Program Online “and usage is way up.”
  • And, all the updated computers are installed (so staff using PCs are happier about that), warmer weather and programmable thermostats are making a positive change in our heating bills (and staff is warm and happy about that), and on Friday we went to Mount Vernon for our annual SkillsUSA Holiday Celebration. It was cold, but we were all together and honored several staff members for their service, so staff is happy about that too.

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