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Win $25,000 for your neighborhood
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ATLANTADo you have an idea that would make your community a better place to live, and would $25,000 be a game-changer? State Farm is here with the assist.  Through March 6, people from the United States can submit a cause for a chance to win a $25,000 State Farm Neighborhood Assist™ grant.

Neighborhood Assist is a youth-led philanthropic program that empowers people to identify issues in their community. Then the program connects them with a local nonprofit that can help solve the problem by providing an opportunity to receive one of 40 $25,000 grants.

“The beauty of Neighborhood Assist is that it places decision-making power directly in the hands of the public,” said State Farm Spokesman Justin Tomczak “We hope the 2013 Neighborhood Assist program is able to increase last year’s widespread positive impact on U.S. and Canadian communities.”

In 2012, State Farm grants reached 22 states and 40 communities that ranged in population from 222 to eight million people.  Examples of winning causes include helping an animal shelter replace its rescue van and assisting organizations that support the homeless and impoverished. Six neighborhood parks were built or improved, while more than 65 percent of the causes directly impacted youth.

The cause that received the most votes in 2012 was Skate for Change, a group of skateboarders committed to giving back to the low income and homeless in Lincoln, Neb.  Teenage Skate for Change member, Paige Bradley, said this about the grant program, “If you want to do something in life, make a change, make a difference, you have to go out and do it. You can’t just sit around and think it’s going to happen.”

When the maximum of 3,000 submissions are received (deadline of March 6), the State Farm Youth Advisory Board will review all submissions and identify the top 200 based on a scoring rubric. 

The top 200 causes will be announced on Facebook on April 4 and anyone who has the free Facebook application can vote for their favorite causes with up to 10 votes per day until April 22. On April 29 the Facebook app, the top 40 vote-receiving causes will be announced.

“I was ecstatic that we even had a shot. I knew that even getting a shot at winning $25,000 would be game-changing for us,” said Mike Smith, Director of Skate for Change. “Even if you don’t win it gives you the opportunity to showcase your nonprofit or whatever you’re involved with on a national level.”

For more information on State Farm Neighborhood Assist or to submit a cause, get the free Facebook app at www.statefarm.com/neighborhoodassist.

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