MVYouth is continuing to support youth- and community-centered initiatives on-Island by providing nearly $850,000 in expansion grants to Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools (MVPS), Adult Continuing Education of Martha’s Vineyard (ACE MV), the Foundation for Underway Experiential Learning (FUEL), and the Island Autism Group (IAG).
Executive director of MVYouth Lindsey Scott first said at a virtual awards ceremony Monday how proud she is to be able to offer these benevolent Island entities support during such a difficult time. She thanked everyone who makes MVYouth such a valuable organization, such as the founding donor group and other year-round donors, along with the trustees and advisory board who go through the selection process each year.
“Now in our seventh year, MVYouth has invested roughly $10 million in the Vineyard community, through both the grant and scholarship programs,” Scott said.
School official Alex Salop represented the Island school system at the award ceremony. He said the approximately $212,000 grant from MVYouth will allow the schools to finalize and implement a COVID testing program that utilizes an at-home saliva test.
The testing program will allow students to return to the school more safely, according to Superintendent Matt D’Andrea, and will give the Island community more confidence in having kids receive in-person education. “You want to instill confidence that we have a process for managing this in the school, because schools are a place of convergence for the entire Island. Most importantly, we have to think about our kids and how we can provide the education they deserve,” Salop said. “The best way to do that is through in-person education.”
Salop added that the state is complementing the surveillance testing through a fully funded symptomatic testing program that would test students who are exhibiting COVID symptoms in school.
According to Salop, many other school districts and municipalities are struggling to fully fund their testing programs, so he feels lucky to have MVYouth as a community support system. “This is going to really make a difference for our parents, our educators, and most importantly our students,” Salop said.
The Martha’s Vineyard Bank also contributed a portion of the funds raised for testing through its Charitable Foundation.
As part of the grant funds, ACE MV will receive approximately $281,000 over three years to continue its goal of supporting workforce development on-Island.
The organization will be using these funds to hire a qualified career development specialist, design a website so people can follow local career opportunities, and engage an expert trainer to develop high-impact training sessions at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.
Holly Bellebuono, executive director for ACE MV, said workforce development for young people on Martha’s Vineyard age 18 to 26 is a “high-need area.”
“They aren’t necessarily supported by the high school, not necessarily employed; they tend to fall between the cracks,” Bellebuono said.
She added that ACE MV doesn’t have fully fleshed out data surrounding how many kids who drop out of college return to the Island without plans of continuing their education: “We believe it’s a surprisingly high number. Estimates are that 50 percent to 75 percent of kids who go away come back. That is one thing we will be doing with this funding — determining the size of this population on-Island.”
Additionally, Bellebuono said, the funding will help create a website and phone application where people can follow job prospects and other opportunities for personal development.
IAG will also be receiving $250,000 to complete its funding to construct a Hub House on the recently purchased Child Farm in West Tisbury.
Co-founder of IAG Kate DeVane said the mission of her nonprofit is to take kids from birth all the way to the end of their lives, and transform what they do for fun into a lifelong career, “so their lives can have purpose and meaning, and can be productive.”
She stressed that the need for support in this sphere is only growing, as autistic populations are a “nonrefreshing group.”
“There are going to be 1.1 million people with autism graduating from the school system in the U.S. in the next 10 years. And at the same time, probably, about the same amount will enter kindergarten,” DeVane said.
She gave the example of her nephew, who always enjoyed launching miniature rockets in the backyard of his home. “Now he works for SpaceX,” DeVane said. “He took what he loved and he did it.”
The last nonprofit receiving an expansion grant is FUEL, an experiential learning program that provides lifelong memories and active engagement with young people through sailing. FUEL is receiving $100,000 in order to acquire Shenandoah from the Black Dog Tall Ships and the Douglas family, and renovate it so it can continue to sail and provide educational opportunities for young people.
The repairs to the tall ship are expected to provide another five years of sailing, and at the same time, FUEL will be looking to raise another $7 million separately to build a brand-new ship that will provide on-the-water education for many years to come.
Executive director of FUEL Ian Ridgeway said the ability for organizations like MVYouth to “move the needle” on major capital campaigns for youth-based programs was part of the inspiration that gave Ridgeway and his colleagues confidence that their dream would someday be realized.
Ridgeway told a story of a young boy who went on Shenandoah for a school trip, and after the weeklong excursion was finished, he wanted more. He stowed away on the ship, and eventually Captain Bob Douglas took a liking to him.
“That young boy was me,” Ridgeway said. “The years I’ve spent on Shenandoah have been more impactful in my life than anything else I’ve done. The opportunity to share that experience with hundreds more young people is just so incredibly meaningful to me.”