By Patti Giglio, PSG Communications, LLC, on behalf of Exponent Philanthropy
Pierceton Woods Academy, a residential home for teenage boys in northeast Indiana, is the type of community based nonprofit you might expect to be the benefactor of philanthropic giving. The academy helps troubled boys by stepping in, temporarily, for their families and offering specialized structure and support.
But the Dekko Foundation didn’t partner with Pierceton Woods as a means of giving to the boys. Its goal was to provide the boys the opportunity to be contributors themselves.
“When young people are empowered to identify and address a community need, they try things and sometimes they succeed and other times they fail,” says Kimberly Schroeder, program officer for the Dekko Foundation. “But, overall they develop a realistic understanding of their community and themselves while gaining important skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision making.”
The Dekko Foundation has supported the development of philanthropically minded citizens for 20 years. Its successful Youth Pod model matches community nonprofits and adult mentors with a group of 13- to 18-year-olds who are offered $15,000 to address a community need. “Research shows that philanthropy and service to community are learned skills,” says Sharon Smith, the Dekko Foundation’s program director. “We help teens learn to bring about positive community change by doing. In the process we are changing how people think, believe, and act.”
