Please enjoy this deep dive article written by our amazing program coordinators, Andrea Van Hagen and Sami Pottenger!


In Ken Gadbow’s and Aketi Merrick’s Justice Lab class at McDaniel High School, students are already busy dragging tables to the perimeter of the room in order to set up the talking circle that forms the foundation of each session.

Meanwhile, a student selects popsicle sticks out of a bin to determine which peers will serve as the time-keeper, the note-taker, and the opener for the day.

As the group settles into their circle, Jake, a senior, offers up the opening question: If you could be a sentient piece of candy, what candy would you be and why?

A stuffed dinosaur (today’s talking piece) moves around the circle as each student and adult responds. At the end of the rotation, Jake sums up: saltwater taffy seems to dominate. Students like the idea of being near the ocean AND getting a massage.

Every class session in Justice Lab begins this way; the students set up the room, designate roles, and begin with an opening question. In addition to being a space where student agency is deeply valued and given room to flourish, the class, designed by Gadbow and planned in tandem with Merrick, also offers students the opportunity to explore the many ways that justice functions in their lives and serves to empower students as restorative justice ambassadors at McDaniel and beyond.

The sentient candy discussion comes to a close and the dinosaur talking piece is passed to Andrea Van Hagen, Senior Program Coordinator at Schnitzer Cares: Student Grantmaking. The time has come for the group to start imagining their ideal community. Van Hagen poses some big questions: In your ideal community, what rights or privileges would everyone have? What challenges would be eliminated? How would it be better or different than the communities you are currently part of? These prompts are one way program coordinators at Schnitzer Cares help youth philanthropists embark on the Grantmaking Journey™ each fall.

At McDaniel High School, the Justice Lab students are quick to begin imagining a community where people are safe, cared for, financially secure, and hopeful – where people listen to one another’s truths and let that understanding build a more empathetic and patient space to live, work, and thrive. Where diverse backgrounds and identities are not only acknowledged, but honored, celebrated, and welcomed. Van Hagen documents their thoughts and feelings, knowing that the list will help the group when it’s time to come to consensus about this year’s service area for the program.

Compassion in Action: Envisioning Community Change

Service area selection, which happens in September or October of each school year and often begins with brainstorms like the “ideal community” discussion, is the first of eight core steps in the Schnitzer Cares Grantmaking Journey. Groups of students in classes and clubs start the process each fall by working together to select an issue they want to focus on for the year. Many of the Justice Lab students draw ideas from their own experiences, but just as many think about what they see happening in the lives of their classmates and teachers and neighbors and are moved to offer suggestions by the compassion they feel.

Since it is October of 2025, much of the discussion, both in this classroom and many other Schnitzer Cares partnerships around the state, comes back to immigration. As the federal government sends ICE agents and even National Guard members into cities across the country, students are seeing their immigrant neighbors, friends, and family members targeted, terrorized, and incarcerated. They see families torn apart, livelihoods threatened or destroyed, and community members too fearful to leave their homes for groceries, school, or church.

While young people may feel dismayed or powerless to respond to government decisions at the local, state, or federal level, the students in Justice Lab know that by the end of the school year, they will have thoughtfully selected and awarded thousands of dollars to local nonprofits that are actively working to bring about the ideal communities the students imagine in their talking circle. As participants in SCSG, they are part of a cohort of over 1,500 students across the state who are having similar conversations and working toward a similar goal: leaving their communities better than they started by granting over $1 million to nonprofit organizations serving Oregonians. Jake, the Justice Lab student, points out that “There is a lot going on in the world that seems so big and out of our hands. But to be in a position to grant money to support the great work that happens gives you a sense of community and accomplishment. Being able to be a part of that change in high school has empowered me to grow as a person more than almost any other experience could.”

Many of the students in the Justice Lab classroom are the children or grandchildren of immigrants; some are immigrants themselves. The class discussions offer a clear sense that the federal government’s extreme enforcement tactics, along with the rising swell of brazen xenophobia surging through the United States, are in deep conflict with their own values and beliefs about what immigration looks like and what it means in their economically and racially diverse community in Northeast Portland.

Across the hall, another group of student grantmakers is having a similar conversation about their ideal community. Here, a student shares a story about being on a school field trip and having witnessed a young woman being trafficked just up the street from their school. In her ideal community, this does not happen, not near a school or anywhere else. After a similar brainstorming session and class discussion, this group will come to consensus: their service area for this year will be preventing human trafficking and providing support to survivors.

Ultimately, the Justice Lab group will finalize their mission statement for the year by pairing services for immigrants and refugees with a focus on preventing violence, as well as prioritizing organizations that use restorative justice methods in their work, a value that the class holds dear.

Agency Through Consensus: Making Space for All Voices

Conversations focused on community change are also happening across town at Ida B. Wells High School in the heart of SW Portland. Here at Wells, three grantmaking groups are kicking off their year. Two groups participate in Schnitzer Cares as part of their Leadership classwork and have already selected their service areas: advocating for teen mental health and supporting survivors of domestic violence/sexual assault. The third group partnering with SCSG is the Schnitzer Cares Club, which meets once per week at lunchtime on Wednesdays. As the club members unpack their lunches and get settled in, conversation is already buzzing, because today their goal is to decide on their service area.

Knowing that today represents one of the most important meetings of the year, the three student leaders of the club met beforehand with their advisor, English instructor Abby Griffin, to plan today’s work. Natalie, CC, and Sophia are all sophomores, and although this is their second year as grantmakers, it’s their first time leading their peers through the process. To set them up for success, Ms. Griffin helped the leaders work through some ideas in advance about how best to assist their peers in brainstorming and making a final decision. Ms. Griffin also makes sure to invite Sami Pottenger, the group’s Schnitzer Cares Program Coordinator, to meetings when big tasks are on the docket (like today’s service area decision) to offer extra support.

About fifteen minutes of the lunch period elapse while Sophia takes suggestions from each table in the classroom. A list of service area options begins to emerge on the board. Topics include women’s rights, bullying, mental health, poverty, access to healthy food, animal cruelty, houselessness, gun violence, climate action, and immigration justice. Now comes one of the most difficult points of the grantmaking process for any group: working together to narrow the list of options down to a single community need the Schnitzer Cares Club will focus on.

Sophia, Natalie, and CC invite the club members to advocate for any service areas on the board they are particularly interested in adopting. Right away, immigration justice and food access receive strong support. Both issues are deeply felt in the Wells community.

Multiple students in the room talk about having attended protest demonstrations over the past weekend at the ICE facility on Portland’s south waterfront. Some – like students at McDaniel – have observed troubling immigration enforcement activity in local neighborhoods. Others speak up for friends and family whose SNAP benefits were cut in recent weeks, creating difficult decisions between putting food on the table and paying rent. Murmurs of agreement spread through the room and side conversations thrum back to life as the gravity of so much need hits home among the students.

After a few minutes of letting the table groups consider the cases made for their favorite service areas, Sophia and her fellow leaders call the meeting back to order. A student at one of the tables raises their hand, proposing the idea of combining immigration justice and food access as a compromise. The group could support nonprofit organizations providing food to immigrants who are unable to leave their homes for fear of being detained. Another student points out that if housing were more affordable for everyone, including immigrants, the strain of being able to afford food would not be as severe. Perhaps the club could support nonprofits offering accessible housing for immigrants, maybe in addition to providing food and other essentials to residents as well? Other students suggest that the club should stick to making legal support possible for immigrants who face the threat of deportation, since that issue feels the most pressing and immediate.

Eyeing the clock by the door, the club leaders realize they are down to the last few minutes of the lunch period. Natalie calls for a show-of-hands vote to assess support for the three frontrunner service areas – immigration justice/legal support, access to food, or the compromise option of affordable housing / nutrition support for immigrant members of the community. Sophia erases other suggestions from the board to help everyone focus, and CC calls for the club members to close their eyes and vote for one of the three.

Silence falls over the classroom. The noise of other students moving through the hallway beyond the closed door as lunch winds to a close is the only sound as everyone holds their breath for the results. In the back of the classroom, Ms. Griffin and Sami observe the club’s process intently, ready to support as needed.

When the final numbers are calculated, it’s clear that supporting immigrant community members will be the club’s focus. But it’s almost a 50/50 split between how exactly the club wants to do that: by granting funds to nonprofits providing legal support, or others providing food and/or housing to immigrants in Portland. Legal support for immigrants has more support by a slender majority of two students.

The club leaders share a look as the bell marking the end of lunch blares from the overhead speakers. They really wanted to have a decision made about the club’s service area by the end of this week’s meeting. But the leaders spoke with Ms. Griffin yesterday about the importance of the whole group reaching consensus – which is very different from a strict majority vote. Coming to consensus, they know, will represent a sense of unity and shared mission among the club membership that will help sustain momentum throughout the year. If they stick with a decision made by a strict majority vote, such a steep division among the members of the club could detract from engagement further in the year, especially during challenging tasks like fundraising.

Not having a decision today will pinch the time they have to complete the next step (writing a mission statement), but the leaders know making the sacrifice to allow for building consensus will pay dividends in the long run. They make the call to delay the ultimate decision until the next meeting, encouraging the club members to take a week to think about today’s discussion and arrive with open minds, ready to define how they want to make an impact with their grantmaking this year. Club members file out of the classroom and on to their next classes, already chattering away.

The three leaders gather around Ms. Griffin’s desk as they retrieve their own backpacks. Their expressions range from elated at how well the meeting went and how many club members actively participated, to stressed about the pushed timeline. By next week, with support and encouragement from Ms. Griffin, they will have guided the club through making both a confident decision about their service area as well as drafting a strong mission statement. The club eventually decides to support nonprofits providing legal aid to immigrants in Portland – prioritizing organizations that have lost funding sources due to government cuts and policy changes. With the extra discussion time, they are uniquely able to capture their common purpose in their mission statement in a way that energizes the club around their grantmaking work.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Meeting the Challenge of Fundraising

Once mission statements are finalized and submitted to Schnitzer Cares staff, the statements will be posted on the SCSG website as a way for nonprofit organizations to determine which groups’ priorities overlap with their work and thus, which to apply to for funding.

Now student grantmakers across the state will turn their attention to fundraising, the third major step in the Grantmaking Journey. Each Schnitzer Cares group is guaranteed $7,500 in funds to grant out at the end of the process. Groups are challenged to double that amount by raising funds, up to $750 of which is matched x 10 by The CARE Foundation. Groups can choose their method of raising funds, and each year showcases dozens of unique, creative, and occasionally hilarious fundraisers.

Since 2023, the McDaniel groups have put together a one-of-a-kind collaborative fundraiser, which helps all three groups meet their Schnitzer Cares goals, but also raises additional funds for student groups at the school: the McDaniel Community Gala, complete with a dinner, talent show, merchandise table (including made-to-order screen-printed t-shirts), silent auction, and live auction. The event is entirely student-run, with support from the three teachers who serve as Schnitzer Cares advisors. Throughout the fall, students seek out sponsorships and donations from local businesses, advertise and sell tickets to the event, and share their Schnitzer Cares mission statements with the community.

The student grantmakers at McDaniel are rightfully very proud of their fundraising work, which is one of the more unique and labor-intensive models among all 65 SCSG groups this year. “The most rewarding part of Schnitzer Cares was the night of my school’s fundraising gala, because we worked so hard for months to put it together and seeing the end result was really special. The money we raised not only supported the communities we focused on in our mission statement, but also the McDaniel school community,” says Rosi, another student grantmaker at McDaniel.

At Wells High School, fundraisers happen on a smaller scale but with no less energy. While the Leadership classes use their school connections to do most of their fundraising on campus during school hours, the Schnitzer Cares Club goes a step further and looks toward the local community to raise funds toward their goal. Their most popular fundraiser is a weekend hot cocoa and donut stand outside a holiday tree sale during the month of December (see left). In order to maximize profit and impact, students in the club cultivate warm partnerships with both the Booster Club operating the tree sale as well as a local donut shop, which donates dozens of pastries for the students to sell.

Wells students selling sweet treats on a cold day.


Both the Justice Lab class at McDaniel and the Schnitzer Cares Club at Wells will continue along the Grantmaking Journey through the rest of the 2025-2026 school year. Each step in the process requires students to call upon the three guiding values of the program: compassion, agency, and teamwork. Schnitzer Cares program coordinators and teacher advisors serve as guides throughout the process, but it is the students who make all of the decisions, from service area to final grants.

In January, students review grant applications nonprofits have submitted through The CARE Foundation. Students practice decision-making and consensus-building skills as they work together to narrow down their field of candidates to three or four nonprofits they invite to formal interviews in March. During interviews, they ask targeted questions about each nonprofit’s services and mission and how each aligns with the group’s vision for their community. Ideally, the student grantmakers walk out of the interview process in early April with enough information to make confident decisions together about which organizations to fund (and which requests to deny).

It is rare for Schnitzer Cares staff to be in the room for final decisions, but when it does happen, they are privileged to witness students working collaboratively, listening to one another carefully, taking into consideration their application review and interview experiences, and thinking critically about each organization’s mission and its overlap with the students’ own Schnitzer Cares mission statement, written back in the fall. Students advocate for their favorite organizations, using evidence from their interview notes to support their case. They compromise as they consider points made by others in the group. Sometimes, they rely on simple voting to move the process along, but the results are always discussed further so the group can come to full consensus, making funding decisions each and every grantmaker can call their own.

Finally, in mid-May, the compassion, agency, and teamwork exhibited by students in these final discussions will make their way onto a stage as students proudly introduce each nonprofit grantee and pass over a big novelty check (along with an actual check) at a series of Grant Awards Ceremonies. Celebration – spending quality time together as a community – is the final step in the process.

McDaniel students present their grants on stage.

Conclusion: A Case for School-Based Philanthropy

Not every school community has the opportunity to partner with programs like Schnitzer Cares: Student Grantmaking. But providing students with concrete ways they can engage with local community challenges and make real change is transformative for both the students and the community at large. The overwhelming majority of participants report higher levels of confidence when handling new challenges, feeling more prepared to work with others toward a goal, and increased awareness of community issues and other people’s life experiences.

As JD, a Schnitzer Cares grantmaker from Wilsonville High School, says, 

“While older generations have already had the opportunity to shape many decisions, it's important that younger generations are involved as well. We are the ones who will live with the outcomes of those decisions in the years to come. Being involved now allows us to have a voice in the change we will one day experience ourselves. It gives us a chance to create a future that reflects our values and the needs of our generation.”

Empowering the Future: A Glimpse into School-Based Philanthropy in Oregon