The Simpson Youth Academy has recently received a $160,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment, to help fund their outreach to younger students and get them involved in their communities. Director Eric Rucker tells KNIA News it can be easy to dismiss youth and their opinions sometimes, but we should be looking at them to help guide policies and include them in the decision making process.

“Young people should get to be a part of the leadership of churches and community organizations. They should be asked about their input when making decisions on how to use money or what their communities are going to be about. So the Lilly Endowment identified that as a problem, we need to be intentional about creating communities about taking young people seriously and get real training on leadership, because if they don’t get that when they get to college there is a lot less likelihood that they are going to be engaged with local churches or philanthropic organizations. They can be committed to the public good.”

The Simpson Youth Academy is a Christian community of adult mentors and youth participants who together explore deep questions about faith and social justice in order to help young people discern their vocations in the world.