Since 1997, nonprofit Pathfinders of Muskegon have predicated their mission on serving youth and families by providing after school programs from youth to adolescence in the heart of Muskegon Heights. With a wave of new funding secured via grants, specifically in securing $20,000 via the Consumer’s Energy Community Impact Award, the Mission Support Grant from Fidelity Charitable, and the Teen Change Agent Award via the Muskegon County Community Foundation, their mission’s horizons continue to widen.
“It was joy across-the-board,” said Jessica Brown, the Executive Director of Pathfinders of Muskegon, describing her reaction to the news when the nonprofit was announced as a recipient for the awards. “All of us, the board, all of the employees here, we were just super excited because our initiatives for this year are heavily surrounding support obtained across the county. And this funding allows us to do more with our older youth within our program, which has been an area that we are trying to become stronger.”
With the help of other nonprofits local to Muskegon and a more expansive approach to pursuing grant funding, Pathfinders has overseen the attainment of over $200,000 in grant funding since the beginning of October.
“I believe [it was] the heart behind the mission,” said Brown discussing why she believes Pathfinders of Muskegon’s mission stood out amongst other nonprofits that may have applied for similar grants. “We have really changed the course of and direction of where we’re going this year and being able to engage the older population of youth that we’re missing out on is why I believe we stood out.”
Since Brown assumed the role of Executive Director in early October, Pathfinders of Muskegon has taken significant strides in widening their scope of potential grants the nonprofit decides to pursue, looking toward private donors and corporate philanthropy to help raise funding for afterschool programs aimed particularly toward adolescent youth.
“[This] allows us to expand our programming,” said Brown. “The previous grant cycles and years we were kind of held into confinement with after school programming, because that was just the limits of what the grant placed on us. The great opportunities we have now for the youth of Muskegon County are greatly accredited to private donors in foundations like Consumers Energy Foundation, that allows us to program beyond the after-school meeting.”
With Pathfinders of Muskegon continuing to secure funding as the height of grant season for the fall is currently undergoing, Brown already has plans in place for the grant funding the nonprofit has attained, with multiple initiatives being implemented that include a 3D printing lab, which Brown explained will be delivered in a couple weeks, a weekly cooking class, a mentorship program in partnership with Muskegon area schools to provide support with post-secondary school, trade academy, and college scholarship applications, and an entrepreneurship program intended for high school seniors to get their foot in the door as potential business owners.
“We hope to see this funding take us into a light of where we are a resource center for all from childhood age six, all the way up through graduation,” Brown concluded. “We’re hoping to see the alumni of pathfinders step out into the world, understanding, or at least having a base of knowledge of what they want to do and how to get there.”
To learn more about Pathfinders Muskegon CLICK HERE or on their logo below.
