MARQUETTE -- On Friday, Congressman Bart Stupak announced that two Upper Peninsula youth services organizations will be receiving major federal grants totaling $580,000.  

Monday, those organizations reacted to the announcement and told us how they plan to use the grant money.

"Currently there are no emergency services available to youth in Chippewa County for youth who run away or become homeless.  So Child and Family Services would like to extend this program to youth in that area," said Bobbi Nease, grant writer for Child and Family Services of Upper Michigan, Inc.

Child and Family Services now has $80,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to fund that program.  They're happy to be expanding to the eastern county in what they're calling Project:  HOPE East. 

"Our aim is to reunite youth with families, encourage stable living conditions and resolutions of family problems and help youth decide positive courses of action," explained Norma Semashko, Executive Director of Child and Family Services of Upper Michigan, Inc.

The other $500,000 was granted to the Great Lakes Center for Youth Development, a non-profit organization that helps other non-profits best utilize their resources.  They plan on using the money for two causes.

"On one hand, it will be paying for services so that we can provide that training and we can provide those opportunities for non-profits to build their skills.  The second part of the grant is we will actually be making capacity building grants to non-profits that work with us," said Judy Watson Olson, President of the Great Lakes Center for Youth Development.

Both organizations say the grants are a great investment in the future of the U.P.