NORWICH – The Chenango County Youth Philanthropy Council announced its annual allocations on Wednesday, demonstrating an ongoing commitment to making a positive change within the local community.

An awards ceremony was held Wednesday evening at the Norwich Jewish Center to present this year’s allocations which totaled $11,500. Each year, the Youth Philanthropy Council (YPC) is given funds to allocate by the Chenango County United Way, with additional support from the Foundation for South Central New York, in the amount of $10,000. YPC also received a $1,500 boost this year from the 2014 class of Leadership Chenango, which awards local organizations with funding of its own every year.

“This year, when we sat down to think of how we can give our money and have it make the most impact and stay in Chenango County, we decided that giving it to Youth Philanthropy was the best option,” said Leadership Chenango participant Kendall Drexler.

Focus for the this year’s YPC awards was on Chenango based organizations assisting in the areas of environment and arts, as well as health and human services. Students received 26 applications and after a thorough review process, visited eight organizations throughout the county. In the end, only five organizations received funding.

The Wolf Mountain Nature Center in Smyrna, an organization committed to educating locals about wolf, coyote, and arctic fox-related issues, was awarded $2,000 to help fund an arctic fox habitat expansion project. According to YPC, the project will go a long way in teaching future generations the importance of wildlife preservation.