LEWISTON — Tree Street Youth is looking for your “Unity Through Enrichment” votes.

The downtown after-school center for at-risk students, which offers enrichment classes and tutoring, is in the running for a $25,000 grant from State Farm. Tree Street Director Julia Sleeper is asking for votes on Facebook.

Sleeper explained that State Farm gives away $1 million a year nationally to non-profit causes that help neighborhoods. On the recommendation of Chamber of Commerce President Chip Morrison, “we submitted a short application,” Sleeper said. “Chip Morrison thought we stood a good chance.” A youth advisory board for State Farm picks the finalists and winners.

Out of 3,000 across the country, Tree Street’s “Unity Through Enrichment” application has made it into the top 200, Sleeper said Monday.

If the application makes it into the top 40 in the next week, Tree Street will win the $25,000 prize. The top 40 are decided by “whoever gets the most votes. It’s all done through Facebook,” she said.

Tree Street is the only organization in Maine among the top 200, “which is really exciting. The entire state could get behind us” since votes for Tree Street won’t take votes away from another Maine organization, she said.

The State Farm Facebook page doesn’t say how many votes each organization has, but it shows which groups are in the lead.

“We’re doing really well,” Sleeper said. As of Monday, Tree Street was in 11th place. “Last week, we were holding steady at eighth place.”

The voting ends April 22. The winners will be announced April 29.

Tree Street deserves votes, Sleeper said, because it offers free academic tutoring and enrichment classes — including dance, art, yoga, weird science, basketball — to downtown students. Tree Street was founded by Sleeper, a Bates College graduate, and is run by a few paid staffers and many volunteers. It is in its second year, serving between 120 to 150 students each day at no cost to students or their families.

“It gives them a place to be with positive role models and opportunities to try things they’ve never tried before,” Sleeper said. This year, 25 Tree Street high school seniors have applied to college, “and a huge number of them have been accepted,” Sleeper said.

If Tree Street wins, the $25,000 will be used “to expand our offerings for enrichment classes, provide more time with kids, buy supplies and start paying some of our instructors,” Sleeper said.

Tree Street’s annual budget, which covers building expenses and salaries, is $120,000. That budget doesn’t include donations of goods and services from the community, Sleeper said.

To vote, visit the following link: https://apps.facebook.com/sf_neighbor_assist/cause/85/unity-through-enrichment