Grant Programs:  Youth

The Youth program seeks to help underserved youth, ages 14 - 24, to make   successful transitions to adulthood.  We do so by supporting youth development principles, practices, and programs that help youth:  build skills; make contributions to their community; form lasting, healthy relationships with peers and adults; and make decisions and participate actively in the youth organizations in which they are involved.

Our three Youth priority areas are:

1). Transition-Age Foster Youth

Goal:  To create an integrated system of services for current and former foster youth that insures their successful transition to adulthood

Types of activities supported

• Partnerships between the child welfare system and other public agencies and community organizations to improve services for aging-out foster youth
• Coordinated efforts among traditional child welfare partners—foster youth, foster family agencies, kinship families, and child welfare agency staff—to meet the needs of aging out foster youth
• Efforts to work with local school districts and post-secondary institutions to improve educational and employment outcomes for foster youth
• Research and policy work to evaluate and support these kinds of activities

2). Youth Leaders

Goal:  To help young people become engaged, motivated citizens in their communities.

Types of activities supported

• Programs that help schools and agencies develop and empower youth
• Programs that help youth become effective problem-solvers in their schools and communities
• Work by intermediary organizations to evaluate, train, and help improve the effectiveness of youth advocacyorganizations

3). Capacity Building for Youth Serving Organizations

Goal:  To increase the organizational effectiveness of youth organizations and agencies.

Types of activities supported

• Programs and projects that strengthen the cultural competency, governance, management, operations and program design, delivery of these organizations
• Programs that help these organizations assess their youth development outcomes, practices, and organizational structures
• Initiatives that help nonprofit organizations collaborate with public institutions to create support systems for youth

*We are particularly interested in work that targets new and under-resourced organizations in the San Joaquin Valley, specifically, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, and Tulare counties.