youth service

While on a mission trip to Botwana, Africa, Derrin Slack experienced the power of giving back to others and wondered how his life would have been different had he been exposed to service at a younger age, thus, Project Greater Than Me was born. Focus 2020 grant recipient and leader of Pro(ACT) Community Partnership, Derrin created strong young civic leaders this past year through his initiative Project Greater Than Me, which provides service opportunities to youth in the Indianapolis area.  The program lasted the entire school year and engaged 7th through 12th grade youth in community service projects every Saturday.  Some of their service sites included Outside the Box, Wheeler Mission, and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. They were also even able to help with other Focus 2020 projects in the community such as the Rivoli Park Labyrinth and the VSA Arts of Indiana.  Derrin explained, “Our organization is unique in that we are creating another dot on the map of community nonprofits, but we are also creating a web connecting others to those community nonprofits, which in all strengthens the community.” The first semester of Pro(ACT)  impacted about 53 young people through service. However, during the second semester in the spring of 2014 the number of youth involved skyrocketed to an astonishing 800 youth.  Project Greater Than Me was able to grow thanks to the Focus 2020 grant which assisted with funding as well as providing useful workshops.  The Peace Learning Center’s “Help Increase the Peace”