News File Photo Northeast Michigan Youth Advisory Council members review grant applications during their Winter 2024 grant review meeting.

ALPENA — The Northeast Michigan Youth Advisory Council (NEMYAC) released its 2025 Northeast Michigan Youth Needs Assessment that will inform NEMYAC grant guidelines for the next three years. The top issues youth in Northeast Michigan identified were mental health and vaping.

According to a recent Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan (CFNEM) press release, NEMYAC is a youth program through CFNEM that teaches young people the importance of philanthropy.

Every three years, Youth Advisory Councils (YACs) throughout Michigan are required to survey youth to gain insight into the issues that most represent their concerns, the press release stated.

Jennifer Dingman, CFNEM program director, explained that the foundation gives students between eighth and 12th grade a list of 40 issues, determined by youth agencies in Michigan, and CFNEM asks the students to narrow down the list to their top 10. The surveys were given on an opt-in basis to students, and in total, 350 students contributed to the survey.

Dingman said that the survey results are then used to inform and direct grant funding through the NEMYAC. According to the CFNEM press release, grants are awarded through the Kellogg Youth Endowment Fund.

In the press release, Dingman said depression, mental health, and stress have remained high in the survey results for the past six years. However, vaping is an issue that has moved up in concern across all nine counties in CFNEM’s service area, which includes affiliate offices. Counties represented in NEMYAC’s needs assessment include Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, and Presque Isle, among others.

“We know there is a lot of work to be done for our youth community through mental health support and in dealing with stress,” Dingman said in the press release. “We also now have input directly from the pre-teens and teens of our area telling us they recognize vaping as a real problem they want to see addressed for their peers. We hope nonprofits in northeast Michigan with programs that can address these issues, and others identified in the needs assessment, will apply for grant funding to support their work in these important areas.”

According to the press release, as a leadership activity, YAC members, working with their adult advisors, oversee the distribution of this survey to students in their own schools.

“These ten issues are where our Youth Advisory Councils will direct as much funding as possible,” Dingman said in the press release. “While not every grant application needs to address these categories, we hope these results will encourage local agencies to enhance their efforts in tackling these issues with the knowledge that our YAC has a desire and ability to put funds toward those programs.”

Overall, Dingman explained that the survey shows the issues that youth in Northeast Michigan are most concerned about and want to focus on. Based on the feedback from students, next month, CFNEM will determine the next steps to begin addressing the issues stated in the needs assessment.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.