Local nonprofit Make It Happen for Yolo County has received a grant of $25,000 from the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation Community Fund to ensure local under-resourced transition age foster youth can become successful first-time renters. The grant will help the nonprofit increase the number of youth served as it expands from a volunteer-run organization to one with paid staff.
“We were honored when the Yocha Dehe Community Fund presented us with our first gift a couple years ago that allowed us to grow, and this increased gift will help us further expand and grow our services to reach more local underserved youth,” said Cathi Schmidt, executive director, Make It Happen for Yolo County. “We are tremendously grateful to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for trusting us with these funds and for showing these youth who often feel invisible that they are valuable to our community.”
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Make It Happen for Yolo County provides local transition age youth ages 18-24, many of whom have been in foster care or experienced homelessness, with furniture, appliances and household items needed to move into their first apartments. The nonprofit receives furniture donations from the community and purchases new appliances and household items to help youth involved with the Yolo County child welfare, mental health and probation divisions, as well as the UC Davis Guardian Scholars program and other local nonprofits. Since its founding in 2014, Make It Happen for Yolo County has helped more than 250 transition age youth. To make a financial or furniture donation, visit www.MIHYolo.org.
The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is committed to building strong communities and helping those in need, establishing the Community Fund to advance this mission. The Community Fund has established partnerships with more than 400 organizations throughout Yolo County, the state and nation, and granted nearly $40 million in philanthropic aid to support programs and initiatives dedicated to assisting people in need. The Community Fund prioritizes grants that help people help themselves in critical areas: education, Native arts and culture, environmental protection, Native rights and tribal sovereignty, and health and wellness. For more information: visit www.yochadehe.gov/giving/community-fund.