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The United Way Youth Venture (UWYV) program of North Central Massachusetts will celebrate student community-service projects with the return of the annual UWYV Spring Showcase event which will be held on May 2, 2024 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the Great Wolf Lodge in Fitchburg, MA.
The UWYV Spring Showcase event is open to the public, members of the community are welcome to attend and see the incredible efforts of students from more than 25 Venture Teams. Many of the Venture Teams represent their entire school as they show off the work they have done to support their community’s varied needs. These projects included collecting bedding and personal care items for people without stable housing, operating a teen-run community cafe, building outdoor shelters for homeless cats, advocating for and supplying a new playground at the McKay Elementary School, providing gifts to young people in hospitals, working to improve the environment, writing a comic book to raise money and awareness for cancer, and so much more!
The United Way Youth Venture program is a partnership between the United Way of North Central Massachusetts, Mount Wachusett Community College and Ashoka’s Youth Venture. The program exists to empower youth through support for innovative, community outreach proposals and help them gain essential experience that will help them to become the future leaders and innovators of our community. United Way Youth Venture reaches 5,000 young people in elementary, middle and high schools across the North Central Mass region through workshops and youth-led, youth-created service projects, both during the school day and in afterschool programs. In more than 20 years of operation, more than 500 Venture Teams have launched with seed funding grants provided by UWYV to get them started.
“The UWYV Spring Showcase event gives the community an opportunity to speak with students and learn how they took their passions and concerns for the issues our community faces and transformed them into their own unique community-benefiting projects,” notes Lauren Mountain, United Way Youth Venture Director. “In addition to meeting these teams, the Spring Showcase offers attendees the chance to network with other community members who are passionate about supporting our local youth.”
Tickets for this drop-in event are free with advanced RSVP at tinyurl.com/uwyvspring24 Donations at the door are welcomed and sponsorship details available at uwyv.mwcc.edu/support-our-efforts/attend/. This is a chance to celebrate the great work young people are doing as inspiring leaders in our community, as well as an opportunity to show your support for their continued efforts. For more information about the United Way Youth Venture program, contact Director Lauren Mountain at Lmountain@mwcc.mass.edu or (978)-630-9201, or visit the website at uwyv.mwcc.edu.