YAB Newsroom
STATE FARM® YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD MAKES SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
October 27, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (September 23, 2011)– With the economy and education system in an unsettled time, State Farm is empowering youth through the State Farm® Youth Advisory Board with meaningful community service-learning opportunities. Since the Board’s inception in 2006, it has helped fund more than $20.7 million unique, youth-led service-learning projects, impacting an estimated 13.9 million people.
“State Farm empowers us to make substantial decisions that can bring positive change to our communities,” said Youth Advisory Board Member Ernestine Fu. “With educational and economic challenges impacting our country, it’s nice to work with a Board that offers some hope to those who really need it.”
The Youth Advisory Board is comprised of thirty students, ages 17-20, from across the United States and Canada who serve a two-year term. Their directive is to implement a $5 million-a-year signature service-learning initiative to address issues important to youth and communities.
The Board is completely autonomous and youth-driven, and funds projects focused on issues selected by the board that impact youth. Those include access to higher education and closing the achievement gap, driver safety, financial literacy, natural and societal disaster preparedness, and environmental responsibility. Grant decisions are based on the key criteria of exhibiting youth leadership and empowerment, strong service-learning characteristics, and proven sustainability and longevity.
“There are good companies, there are great companies, and then there is State Farm” said Youth Advisory Board member Alex Wirth.” I am truly impressed by their commitment to education and youth empowerment, and their willingness to put resources toward letting us as youth make decisions that ultimately positively impact communities across North America. I am proud to be a member of the YAB, and to be associated with State Farm.”
2011 Board members are currently making an impact not only through the Youth Advisory Board but also through their own endeavors:
- Ernestine Fu, a sophomore at Stanford, is from Northridge, Calif. In 2006, she founded the nonprofit Visual Arts and Music for Society, which enables high school artists and musicians to use and develop their talents to organize performances and events at local community venues. In 2010, Ernestine’s passion to serve those in need led her to research and further “frugal engineering” to assist the poor through new, cost-efficient methods of food production / distribution, healthcare, education and information processing, which led to a new initiative at the University of Southern California. While at Stanford, Fu is conducting research on the impact of extreme events from climate change on seaports, working as an associate at Alsop Louie Ventures, and developing the global business plan for Cleantech Open. She is also the youngest person to ever be featured on the cover of Forbes magazine, appearing in the September 2011 issue.
- Alex Wirth is an advocate for youth involvement in government, community service, and service-learning. Alex is working to create a Presidential Youth Council as a Fellow at the Forum for Youth Investment. He chairs the youth working group of the United States National Commission to UNESCO – a first of its kind initiative at the State Department. Alex is a Blogger for the Huffington Post and serves on the Board of Directors of YSA and the National Youth Association. Alex is a member of the youth councils of YSA, DoSomething.org, and the Democratic National Committee. He currently attends Harvard University.
- Parth Shah, a sophomore at New York University, is originally from Minneapolis. His commitment to service-learning continues to evolve as he currently serves on the National Youth Leadership Council’s Youth Advisory Council and on the Board of Directors.Parth became highly interested in microfinance in high school and in the fall of 2008, he created a chapter of Kiva High School, an organization that fights against global poverty at the high school level.
The Youth Advisory Board consists of a diverse group of students who are full-time students at high schools and universities. Each member commits about 15 hours a month to the Board and participates in three face-to-face meetings per calendar year.
About State Farm®:
State Farm and its affiliates are the largest provider of car insurance in the U.S. and is a leading insurer in Canada. In addition to providing auto insurance quotes, their 17,800 agents and more than 65,000 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts – more than 79 million auto, home, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and nearly 2 million bank accounts. Commercial auto insurance, along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles, is also available. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 37 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit http://www.statefarm.com or in Canada http://www.statefarm.ca.