An award-winning program that has opened the eyes of Phoenixville youth to the needs of their community has once again this year opened those students’ schedules and the pursestrings of $35,000 in grant funding from the Phoenixville Community Health Foundation.

Members of the 2015-16 Phoenixville Youth and Philanthropy program from five middle and high schools recently awarded that money to local organizations after investigating important community issues, crafting a mission statement, targeting charities that lined up with that mission, visiting them and narrowing them down to the winners.

The exercise breeds empowerment, inspiration and friendships, as well as knowledge in all aspects of philanthropic ethics and skills in leadership, team building, assessment and decision-making.

“Evaluators found the Y&P program to be innovative, well-run and effective,” Villanova University’s Human Organization Science Institute leaders wrote in an evaluation executive summary of the Phoenixville youth program.

“ Y&P students, compared with their classmates who did not participate in Y&P, were significantly more likely to participate in community service and volunteer activities, to have positive views on their responsibility and future plans to help others, and to have a positive outlook on their ability to make an impact through community service.”

Phoenixville Youth & Philanthropy has also won a Chester County Community Foundation ACORN Award and an Association of Fundraising Professionals of Greater Philadelphia Youth in Philanthropy Award.