This grant program to address teen driver issues is sponsored by State Farm’s U.S. headquarters and coordinated by the National Youth Leadership Council.

Interested schools submit an application outlining their proposed teen driver campaign to the NYLC in June for judging. Successful applicants are notified in August and receive a $2,000 Project Ignition grant from State Farm to bring their projects to life through the schools’ hard work and vision.

Between September and December, schools implement projects in their community, track behaviour results, and create a video representation of their achievements.

Completed projects are submitted to the judges in December and select grantees are chosen to receive $5,000 to send team members to the annual National Service-Learning Conference in the U.S. in March, where they present their project in front of an international audience. The March 2010 conference will take place in San Jose, Calif from March 24-27.

Who is Involved?

Five Ontario SMARTRISK No Regrets schools received a 2009/2010 $2,000 grant. Northern Secondary School was awarded with a $5,000 grant to travel to the 2010 National Service-Learning Conference. SMARTRISK would like to congratulate all the teams who participated this year and made the issue of teen driver safety a priority in their schools.

Northern Secondary School, Toronto

Georgetown High School, Georgetown

Burlington Central High School, Burlington

West Ferris Secondary School, North Bay

Widdifield Secondary, North Bay

How can my school get involved?

This is the first year Canadian schools have been invited to take part in Project Ignition. Check back in April to find out if your school can submit an application for the 2010/2011 grant.