Project Ignition Grants Available for Students to Address Teen Driver Safety and Save Lives on the Road

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Aug 15, 2011, 11:02 ET

ST. PAUL, Minn., Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Youth Leadership Council® and State Farm® are pleased to announce the availability of $2,000 Project Ignition grants for public high schools to support their students in addressing teen driver safety through service-learning.

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According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic crashes remain the leading cause of death for teens in the United States. That's a staggering statistic that young people, in partnership with their teachers and communities, are working to change through Project Ignition.

"There is no group better equipped to influence teen driving behavior than teens themselves," said Kelita Svoboda Bak, NYLC CEO. "The National Youth Leadership Council is proud to partner with State Farm to continue to provide this opportunity for students to use their own ideas and voices to make a tremendous impact on this issue."

For the past eight years, Project Ignition students and their advisors have been meeting classroom objectives while creating impactful awareness and engagement campaigns. They host events, form community-wide partnerships, work on local and state policy, produce public service announcements and more while achieving academic credit.

Public high schools in the United States and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick are invited to apply for the 2011-2012 grants.
Twenty-five schools will be chosen to receive $2,000 grants to implement their campaigns from January to April of this school year.
Ten of these schools will be selected to receive an additional $5,000 to support their participation in a significant national conference or event.
These ten schools will also be given the opportunity to receive an additional $2,500 to go deeper with their campaigns during the following school year.

Visit www.sfprojectignition.com for the application and tools to create a high-quality proposal. For more information, contact Melissa Mitchell, Project Ignition National Program Coordinator at [email protected] or 1-888-856-7026. Applications are due November 15, 2011.

For more information about NYLC and service-learning go to www.nylc.org.
For more information about State Farm go to statefarm.com® or, in Canada, statefarm.ca®.

About NYLC

NYLC has been at the center of service-learning programs and policy development since 1983. The organization convenes the annual National Service-Learning Conference®, offers adult and youth trainings, runs model programs, directs service-learning research, and develops service-learning resources. Its mission is to create a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world with young people, their schools, and their communities through service-learning.

www.sfprojectignition.com

SOURCE National Youth Leadership Council