Spirit of America Youth Education Program was developed by the Foundation of the same name and opened with a pilot program with 58 children, in Lake County Ohio. Initiated in the spring of 1995, under the direction of Harry L. Allen Jr., owner and President of Great Lakes Power Products, the program is now promoted through public, private and home schooled programs, as an educational tool and not as an extracurricular activity. Programs are “owned” and facilitated by YMCA’s, Scout Camps, Metroparks and city parks, colleges, and community boating organizations. Spirit of America and the equipment necessary to manage a successful program are donated to facilitating organizations by the Foundation. Since opening, the program has grown to include over seven counties throughout Ohio and into Iowa, Tennessee, Mississippi, Maryland, Kentucky, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Washington DC. Since its inception the Foundation has educated over 8000 students in the first 14 years and four programs (and their families) in the importance of boating and water safety. The numbers are growing much more quickly now that so many new states programs are opening.

Spirit of America took a giant step forward in reaching their goal of becoming the youth education program of choice for the United States. With the help of Cecilia Duer, Executive Director of the Spirit of America Foundation and the National Water Safety Congress, the program received grant funding from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund administered by the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety in 2005 to begin expanding nationwide. These newly awarded grants made possible for this statewide program to go national... one state at a time. The program is now open and available in Ohio, Iowa, Mississippi, and Tennessee, Maryland, Washington DC, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Kentucky with many other states on the list and ready to open. Spirit of America will continue to present our Youth Education Program at no cost to students in all locations.

Making equipment available in so many new areas will allow facilitators of Spirit programs to offer many additional water and boating safety programs in their communities.

What a tremendous achievement for a program that began with one man's vision and his own, donated boat!