Could Your Neighbourhood Use An Assist?

Forty causes will receive a $25,000 State Farm® Neighbourhood Assist® grant 

AURORA, ON, Feb. 20, 2014 /CNW/ - Do you have an idea that would make your community a better place to live, and would $25,000 be a game-changer? 

From March 3 through March 23, 2014, people from Canada and the United States can submit a cause for a chance to win one of 40 $25,000 State Farm Neighbourhood Assist® grants. 

Neighbourhood Assist is a youth-led philanthropic program that empowers people to identify the issues they feel are the most important in their communities. The program then connects them with a local nonprofit that can help solve the problem and provides an opportunity to receive one of 40 $25,000 grants. 

"People are constantly looking for ways to help their communities," said John Bordignon, Media Relations with State Farm. "Neighbourhood Assist empowers individuals to identify problems in their communities and provides funding to help create a positive impact." 

Here's how it works. Beginning on March 3rd, people are invited to submit causes via the free State Farm Neighbourhood Assist Facebook app - State Farm Neighbourhood Assist. When a maximum of 4,000 cause submissions are received (deadline of March 23), the State Farm Youth Advisory Board - www.statefarmyab.com - will review and identify the top 200. Those causes will be announced on April 28 and those with the free Facebook app can vote for their favourite causes with up to 10 votes per day until May 16. The top 40 vote-receiving causes will then each receive a $25,000 grant to help address the submitted cause. The top 40 vote-receiving causes will be announced via the Facebook app on May 27. 

In 2013, over 3.4 million votes were cast as part of the grant selection process. Those winning grants reached 40 different communities in 27 provinces and U.S states. 2 Canadian causes received $25,000 grants as part of State Farm® Neighbourhood Assist™ in 2013. They were: 

• Building Hope For Youth - Habitat for Humanity Peterborough - Peterborough, ON - Bring youth from all walks of life, educational backgrounds and cultural beliefs together, uniting them in a common goal with a tangible outcome: a safe, decent, and affordable home that will transform the lives of a local family living in need. -  "Student led efforts at local secondary institutions were the driving force behind "Building Hope for Youth's" voting initiative. These students are so passionate about the project they worked tirelessly to get the word out…we could not have done it without them!  This student involvement speaks to why we started our Habitat Youth Program, to give local youth a voice and empower them to affect real change where they live." - Sara Mountenay, Program Partnership and Resource Development Manager for Habitat for Humanity Peterborough.
  
  
  
• TeamUP Science ISC - University of Alberta - Edmonton, AB - Providing inner city, rural, and aboriginal high school youth the knowledge necessary for a successful experience within a post-secondary institution. - "We knew that it was going to be a challenging mission, especially against all those other wonderful causes, but with the support and dedication from friends, family, non-profit organizations and student volunteers, we were able to achieve our goal. This competition showed that our community cares passionately about our ISC initiative to promote youth education and activism.  And together, we will continue to connect, inspire, and educate youths everywhere!" - Bo Zhang, Vice President of Public Relations and Finance at TeamUp Science.

For more information see State Farm Neighbourhood Assist. 

About State Farm
State Farm has been serving Canadians since 1938. State Farm is a Fortune 100 company and is the leading Property and Casualty insurer in North America with more than 80 Million policyholders. State Farm has more than 500 Canadian agents and 1700 employees providing insurance and financial services including mutual funds, life insurance, vehicle loans, critical illness, disability, home and auto insurance to our customers in Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick. For more information, please visit www.statefarm.ca, join us on Facebook www.facebook.com/statefarmcanada, follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/statefarmcanada, or see us on YouTube www.youtube.com/statefarm.

About the Youth Advisory Board  
The Youth Advisory Board is comprised of 30 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. It consists of a diverse group of 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. The Board will fund the 40 grants awarded through the State Farm Neighborhood Assist program with a portion of its $5 million funding in 2014. For more information on the Youth Advisory Board, visit www.statefarmyab.com.

SOURCE: State Farm

John Bordignon - Media Relations
State Farm Canada
905.750.5567 / 416.801.6078
www.twitter.com/SF_JohnB
www.statefarm.ca