CLEVELAND FOUNDATION

Programs:

In 2006, the Cleveland Foundation identified youth development as a priority issue for research and investment. Following two years of planning, convening and implementing, MyCom launched as Greater Cleveland’s commitment to positive youth development. Learn more about the MyCom approach to youth development .

To connect young people in Greater Cleveland with positive experiences and caring adults they need to lead good lives, supplementing the parenting and education of our young people.

By inspiring and preparing young people in Greater Cleveland to reach their potential and contribute to their community, MyCom will be a key success factor in their lives. 

MyCom is a youth movement that provides Greater Cleveland’s young people, kindergarten through graduation, with the positive experiences and caring adults they need to reach their full potential and become good citizens. It provides employment opportunities and out-of-school-time activities, helps young people through school transitions (i.e., home to kindergarten, elementary school to middle school, etc.), and links them to appropriate resources and opportunities in their own neighborhoods.

MyCom connects the dots – making it easy for young people and their families to find and access a variety of services. MyCom also helps organizations better serve youth, in part by involving young people in the planning process to ensure that programs and services match real needs. 

If you are committed to supporting young people in our community, you can help in many ways.

Your support as a donor, mentor, employer, or friend means that you bring positive experiences and a caring spirit to young people in our community – and you never know when that support might change a young person’s life.

Please consider joining with MyCom to live out your commitment to our community:

• Be a caring adult in a child’s life
• Donate to the Cleveland Foundation’s Youth Development Initiative Fund (You can do so immediately via credit card.)
• Volunteer to be a Big Brother, Big Sister, tutor, or mentor
• Help students at your local high school complete college applications
• Sponsor summer camp for one young person
• Participate in a local school’s Career Day

• Offer internships or summer work experiences to youth
• Direct charitable contributions to the Cleveland Foundation’s Youth Development Initiative Fund (You can do so immediately via credit card.)
• Provide a job shadowing experience for kids ages 12 to 18
• Donate in-kind products or services
• Engage colleagues in a youth-focused service project
• Distribute information about MyCom to your employees
• Schedule MyCom to make a presentation to your board or senior management team

• Support MyCom with grantmaking
• Become a MyCom funding partner