A teen-led committee of a local grantmaking agency awarded $10,000 each last week to two LGBT-focused agencies.
YOUTHadelphia, a youth panel of The Philadelphia Foundation, presented $85,000 in grants last Thursday to nine youth-serving programs, including The Attic Youth Center and Gay and Lesbian Latinos AIDS Education Initiative.
The funding was provided from The Fund for Children, supported by the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies.
The YOUTHadelphia committee is comprised of 19 local teens from across Philadelphia who lead the entire grantmaking process — learning how to develop a request for proposals, evaluate applications and make strategic funding decisions.
Philadelphia Foundation president R. Andrew Swinney said his agency believes in youth empowerment and generally strives to fund youth-serving organizations that engage young people in programs and on agency boards.
He said YOUTHadelphia fits well with that mission.
“If we want to engage young people, they should also be engaged in the grantmaking process,” Swinney said, noting that the program also teaches youth practical skills. “It’s important that young people learn about philanthropy and see that it’s not that easy to give away money.”
The youth evaluated all 33 applications for everything from finances to feasibility and conducted site visits of some candidates.
Swinney said the committee, which includes LGBT representation, also focused on how certain projects could fill particular needs of the city’s youth community.
The Attic received the grant for the first time last year and will put this year’s funding toward a new school-outreach program, spearheaded by the agency’s Youth Planning Committee.
Carrie Jacobs, executive director of The Attic, said the program will focus on school safety, bullying, self-acceptance and HIV-prevention, with workshops led by trained YPC members.
The committee plans to survey students at the involved schools on LGBT student safety, scoring each school and working with The Attic’s Bryson Institute to implement training programs.
GALAEI will use its grant to develop a year-round LGBTQ youth group, germinating from the youth panel that helps plan the annual Alternative Prom, coming up June 29.
“What we proposed is to expand that group to a year-round group that will provide a safe space for LGBT youth to come to GALAEI, learn from one another and get mentorship, skill-building and take part in a speakers’ bureau,” said GALAEI executive director Elicia Gonzales. “The whole purpose is for them to be seen and be heard on a year-round basis, rather than just for the prom.”
Gonzales commended the youth who sit on the YOUTHadelphia committee.
“They had to decide on priorities of how to deal with really significant issues that are affecting youth, like violence, bullying, education and joblessness,” she said. “So for the youth themselves to recognize this particular need, to make sure LGBT youth feel safe and included and validated, was completely amazing and a real testament to their vision of what’s needed right now in the city.”
The nine eventual YOUTHadelphia winners work with a wide array of factions of the youth population.
“We as a foundation believe in diversity at all levels, from our board and staff to the organizations we support, because as a community foundation, we support the whole community,” Swinney said. “That means improving the quality of life for everyone in the community. Both in our grantmaking and with YOUTHadelphia, diversity is a key element so that we can address as many of the needs as we can across the many diverse populations that make up the city.”
While countless youth will benefit from the programs funded by YOUTHadelphia, Swinney said the young people involved in the grantmaking process have already profited from the experience.
“We were very impressed with the young people, as we always are. They’re passionate, committed and they themselves grow during the process, which is wonderful to see because that’s what our intention is — to get them engaged, excited and have them learn from the process.”