Youth Making Change (YMC) is a teen-led grant-making program that provides young people with the opportunity to engage directly in organized philanthropy (grant giving). There are two YMC Boards, one meets in Santa Maria and the other in Santa Barbara, and both are led by teens, ages 13-19. Each board gives out $15,000 in grants to youth-led projects that impact young people in Santa Barbara County. They create and conduct an entire grant cycle and then share with their communities what they learned as grant-makers and philanthropists. Each YMC board is led by two Youth Facilitators, each a previous YMC board member. Facilitators assist the board in meeting their objectives by providing an experienced perspective on the grant-making process. Since 2008, YMC has awarded $306,956 to over 150 youth-led groups throughout Santa Barbara County. Youth Making Change is a program of the Fund for Santa Barbara and is inspired by the Santa Barbara Foundation's Katherine Harvey Fellows Class of 2006-2007.
Register for our Youth Making Change Organizing Summit!
The Youth Making Change Organizing Summit Series is an online Workshop series with the goal to help youth in the San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County and Ventura County learn about how to organize with other youth and community members to tactfully engage in social justice work.
Youth who attend will have a chance to win Apple AirPods or an Apple Watch!
Entries will be taken at the beginning of each workshop and they will be raffled off at the end! Multiple attendances will increase your entries!
Spanish Interpretation will be available!
The Workshops:
- (Tuesday, September 21st 6-7pm): Advocacy at home & schools: using your voice to change policy (public speaking)
- (Thursday, September 23rd 6-7pm): Identifying Key Players for System Change (power analysis)
- (Tuesday, September 28th 6-7pm): Timeline & Tactics: Setting up for Success
- (Thursday, September 30th 6-7pm): Social Media Advocacy: using social media to influence policymakers
Register Here: bit.ly/YMCSummit
Our YMC Grant Application is now open!
If you are a part of a youth group that hopes to create positive social, economic, environmental and or political change in their community and needs funding for a project, apply for up to $3,000 funding with our grant!
Grant Application Workshops!
If you like to learn more about our grant and want to know more about how to apply, RSVP to one of our two upcoming YMC Grant Application Workshops below!
Meet our 2021/2022 YMC Cohorts!
For a list of historical YMC Grant recipients click here!
For more information:
David Melendrez, Youth Making Change Coordinator (805) 922-1707 x 200 | david@fundforsantabarbara.org
Youth Making Change Testimonials
YMC Member: “I enjoyed finding out some of the needs in the community and seeing the programs people have started to deal with them”
Parent: “I watched my daughter gain more self-esteem and become more assertive. She knows her voice is important and now takes steps to make sure she is heard”
Community Member: “The thing I love about this program: it makes it clear that our youth are NOT the future leaders of the world. Rather they are the leaders NOW. YMC allows youth the opportunity to lead, to get other youth involved in learning about and applying for grants, and allows our youth-led community development programs additional funding to better impact our youth.”