YOUNGSTOWN — A group of students in Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business Administration has awarded a $2,000 grant to the Clothed in Strength organization as part of a fall 2025 Pay It Forward Student Philanthropy initiative.

Before selecting Clothed in Strength as the award recipient, YSU’s Student Nonprofit Leadership organization, which administered the grant, spent the semester assessing community needs, reviewing proposals and conducting site visits.

Clothed in Strength, a Poland-based nonprofit entity founded in 2020, supports single mothers and their children with low to moderate incomes via offering emergency financial assistance as well as essential needs such as free clothing, work apparel, pairs of shoes and baby items from a boutique, along with workforce development and community resources.

In addition, the organization provides career counseling and styling services to help women overcome various obstacles, with primary goals of allowing them to achieve greater stability and long-term self-sufficiency.

Last year, Clothed in Strength served more than 250 mothers in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania, according to its website.

The Pay it Forward effort offers students applied learning opportunities in nonprofit management and philanthropy in which they serve as grantmakers, with the goal of providing them with a firsthand look into community challenges, as well as decisions many nonprofits have to make and navigate to receive funding.

“Pay It Forward” exemplifies the power of applied learning. Students are not only learning about philanthropy and nonprofit management, they are actively shaping the future of our community through thoughtful, strategic investment,” Laura J. Dewberry, the Center for Nonprofit Leadership’s director, said in a statement.

Pay It Forward was established in 2010 to strengthen nonprofit capacity in the Mahoning Valley region and give students tools for becoming leaders in the area. While in the program, the students complete a community-needs assessment, establish funding priorities, handle proposals and award grants to organizations that display measurable impacts.

“This experience gives students a deeper understanding of the nonprofit sector and the challenges many organizations face. At the same time, it fosters critical thinking, collaboration and a strong sense of civic responsibility,” Dewberry said.

The latest grant presentation was the result of several months of student-led and student-driven research, evaluation and decision-making, “reflecting WCBA’s commitment to experiential learning and community engagement,” a recent YSU news release states.

For more information about Clothed in Strength, visit its website, www.clothedinstrength.org.