2.26.2008 - 09:28am ET

(CSRwire) BLOOMINGTON, Ill., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The State Farm Youth Advisory Board, in partnership with State Farm, announced today that it will award $4,893,165 for youth-led, service-learning based projects to 68 organizations across the United States and Canada.

More than $2 million will be awarded to 39 organizations in the following ways:

-- $606,336 will go to 13 organizations for disaster preparedness projects.

-- $362,270 will go to 5 organizations for projects focusing on driver safety.

-- $888,944 will go to 15 organizations for higher education/closing the achievement gap projects.

-- $305,773 will go to 6 organizations for projects focusing on financial education.

An additional $2,729,840 was committed to funding two-year grants for 29 organizations for the 2007-2008 year as a part of the State Farm Youth Advisory Board's inaugural grant process.

The State Farm Youth Advisory Board is a diverse group of 30 youth, ages 17-20, who were chosen through a competitive process to lead and oversee this $5 million/year signature service-learning initiative. The Youth Board identified the issues, issued competitive grants and will now provide technical assistance, communication and oversight to site grantees.

"State Farm has a strong commitment to young people and to the leadership they provide," said Kathy Payne, Director of Education Leadership. "We're excited to see the results and the positive impact these grants will have on communities across the United States and Canada."

More than 300 grant requests were received that focused on disaster preparedness, driver safety, higher-education/closing the achievement gap and financial education.

State Farm supports service-learning because it combines service to the community with classroom curriculum in a hands-on approach to mastering subject material while fostering civic responsibility.

Visit http://www.statefarmyab.com for more information about the different projects being funded and about the Youth Advisory Board.

About State Farm: State Farm(R) insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. State Farm's 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees serve over 76 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.7 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 31 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit www.statefarm.com(R) or in Canada www.statefarm.ca(R).

About Service-learning: Service-learning is a teaching method which supplements classroom studies with hands-on projects that address pressing community issues and problems. To learn more about service-learning visit http://www.nylc.org, http://www.ysa.org, http://www.service-learningpartnership.org and http://www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/community/ed_excel/servlrng.asp.

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