LEWISTON – Four students in the Jobs for Maine Graduates program at Lewiston Regional Technical Center are serving as grant-makers, with $5,000 made possible through a partnership with Maine Community Foundation-Androscoggin County.

The students, Sileena Boudreau, Amanda Dubois, Olivia Lagrange and Tara Truman, have identified projects that provide open and accessible after-school activities for junior and senior high school youth in the Lewiston-Auburn area as the focus of their grant-making activities.

The grant-makers are interested in supporting projects that provide youth the space to join together for social, recreational and educational activities. In addition, they are interested in supporting programs that provide career and/or personal counseling to youth.

Priority will be given to organizations that provide more than one of the above mentioned program areas. Proposals are welcome for grants that will make programs affordable to all youth regardless of their ability to pay any program-related fees.

This is one of three youth grant-making projects funded by the Maine Community Foundation’s Partnerships in Philanthropy program around the state. The purpose of Partnerships in Philanthropy is to introduce young people from schools around the state to philanthropy.

Through this program, kids have had a hands-on role in awarding $5,000 to nonprofits in Maine. “It’s important to give young people a chance to make a difference in their communities through charitable giving,” said Scott Knapp, president of Central Maine Community College and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Community Foundation’s Androscoggin County Program.

Knapp worked with LRTC Director Donald Cannan to develop the project in 2002. The college has made an additional commitment to the students who participate: if they successfully complete their project, they will be able to attend tuition-free, provided they agree to mentor the next group of “Partners.”

The work of the group is to establish guidelines and deadlines for grant applications. After the applications are submitted, members of the group will conduct site visits and will review the proposals to determine how the $5,000 will be spent.