Academy for Educational Development

Youth Fund Prepares Next Generation for Active Citizenship

The overwhelming majority of young people in the United States lack opportunities to bring their ideas, talents, and passion to civic and political life, according to youth development professionals.

Youth Board members in Chicago educate the community about social change philanthropy.

Young people are generally excluded from the  decision-making process in their schools, communities, and public institutions. For most teenagers—particularly those from disenfranchised communities—civic decision-making is largely inaccessible and uninviting.

To increase opportunities for young people to participate in civic life, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation made a signature grant to AED to take youth-directed civic action to unprecedented heights. With $5 million in seed capital, the AED Center for School and Community Services launched the W. K. Kellogg Youth Innovation Fund in the spring of 2003.

After receiving 215 applications from across the country, AED selected eight Youth Innovation Fund sites: Chicago; Cleveland; Hampton, Va.; Nashville; Portland, Me.; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; and Ypsilanti, Mich. Each site includes a consortium of organizational partners, a site coordinator, and a youth board led by 20 people ages 12–19.

“We felt strongly that youth engagement would never reach a tipping point in any city unless various ‘multiple action pathways’ came together in a coherent and compelling way,” said Fund director Kenny Holdsman. Those pathways include service learning; organizing and activism; philanthropy; youth in governance; youth-generated media; social entrepreneurship; and youth-led participatory action research.

In the first 18 months, Youth Innovation Fund sites have developed youth boards that have already made local grants to projects led by young people to address pressing issues in their communities. The youth boards also collaborate with local leaders to increase opportunities for youth participation in civic activities.

In Portland, Ore., one youth board grant supports a video being produced by three youth to counter the misrepresentation of their neighborhood as full of gangs and drugs.

“There is no community in America that fundamentally values young people as active, participating citizens,” said Holdsman. “Our Youth Fund sites are singularly focused on changing the role of youth in their communities.”

For additional information, please contact Jessica Bynoe.