2015 Awards

COllege Scholarship Recipients

Five students were selected to receive renewable scholarships that will total roughly $350,000 over four years. Using an evaluation tool to assess merit, the Advisory Board evaluated academics, character and community service. A Trustee Interview Committee interviewed twelve semifinalists. The semifinalists then reported their admission and financial aid information to MVYouth. From the cost of attendance at their chosen schools, MVYouth subtracted the estimated family contribution and any institutional grants and scholarships the students were offered. Each of the semifinalists' funding gaps were then calculated, and need was ultimately used to determine the award recipients.

*Click on each student’s photo or name to read annual updates about their experiences at school and abroad.

expansion grant Recipients

After careful evaluation and recommendation from the Advisory Board, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to award Martha's Vineyard Community Services and Martha's Vineyard Little League with $800,000 in funding to support their excellent work for Island children, teens and young adults. Synopses and images below outline their award-winning proposals. 

*Click on each organization’s name or photo to read annual updates about their growth.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD COMMUNITY SERVICES

Island Wide Youth Collaborative (IWYC) Center
Award: $620,780

Mission: To enhance the lives of those it serves by meeting the comprehensive needs of individuals, families, and the community through a partnership of programs that provides accessible education, health and human services of the highest quality.

Martha's Vineyard Community Services was awarded funding to build the Island Wide Youth Collaborative (IWYC) Center, a facility that will integrate services for young people struggling with mental health issues and substance abuse, both rising youth issues on the Island. 

The IWYC Center will house offices for case managers and clinicians to coordinate services, as well as a conference room and kitchen for team meetings and support group gatherings. MVCS estimates the IWYC will support 1,810 young people and family members in year one. Operational funding for many years has already been secured through grants from The Tower Foundation ($300,000 for 3 years) and a state Family Resource Center Grant ($250,000 for 10 years). 

Through professional development of the Island's mental health clinicians and increased coordination, the IWYC seeks to curtail the rising number of young people and families struggling with these issues, and reduce the number of on and off-island hospitalizations of young people in crisis. 

The facility will be located on the Community Services campus, accessible by public transportation, and in close proximity to MVRHS, YMCA and Island Counseling Center. Squash Meadow Construction has been hired to build the modular facility. Funding from MVYouth will enable MVCS to break ground in May, and be functional by late Fall 2015.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD LITTLE LEAGUE

Penn Field
Award: $177,810

Mission: To provide a safe, positive and healthy baseball playing environment for Island boys and girls. Through quality instruction, community support and volunteer commitment our focus is to encourage participation, promote teamwork and engage in good sportsmanship. Enriched lives, family fun and community pride shall be the end goal.

Martha's Vineyard Little League was awarded funding to complete the construction of Penn Field, practice and game fields in Oak Bluffs that will ensure a safer, more professional game environment, and more centralized home for youth baseball. MVLL has organized competitive baseball on the Island for 50 years, with roughly 250-350 children participating annually. MVLL encourages participation and good sportsmanship for boys and girls in an environment of healthy competition, building community though teamwork, volunteer coaching and family participation.

Over the last eight years, MVLL has worked to procure and clean-up an old car dump off of Pennsylvania Ave., in Oak Bluffs, to use as a multi-field complex and headquarters. After receiving Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding from the towns of Vineyard Haven, Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury, as well as other local grants, the complex was designed and construction begun. With additional in-kind labor, access was established, utilities laid and topsoil imported to the site. Two fields were laid out and the parking areas established. A maintenance shed was built, and a drainage system installed. Dugouts were constructed and field fencing erected.

Support from MVYouth will enable MVLL to complete the final steps of this exciting project and enable the fields to be usable by Fall 2015. The new fields will enable MVLL to focus on skill development, provide additional advertising space to help sustain MVLL's annual operating expenses, facilitate increased family participation and host tournaments that will raise the level of play across the league.