Funding Areas
In order to further focus our grantmaking efforts, Every Voice in Action targets specific areas of youth voice – chosen because we believe they are important topics, essential to helping us achieve our mission. Our three areas of focus are Youth Activism, Youth Media, and Youth as Resources.
Youth as Resources
Youth as Resources involves young people taking influential leadership roles in traditionally adult-dominated groups, organizations and environments. Working independently or in partnership with adults, youth move from the role of service recipient to the role of service provider. They are fundamentally involved in meaningful tasks that allow them to make important decisions and otherwise influence outcomes. There are a number of different positions that young people can take in order to accomplish this level of involvement, including:
- Governance roles
- Advisory capacities
- Staff members
- Program designers and implementers
- Evaluators
- Facilitators (of youth and adults)
- Educators and Trainers (of youth and adults)
- Funders
When young people have access to these roles, organizations and communities receive a new power and energy, leading to increased innovation and effectiveness. Youth bring a different set of knowledge and expertise to the table – bridging the gap between adult perceptions and actual youth needs, wants and gifts.
Youth Activism
Youth Activism refers to young people engaging in community organizing and advocacy for the purpose of institutional or social change. Youth provide leadership in identifying and researching issues of concern to them, and then designing and implementing strategic actions to create positive changes in attitudes, behaviors, policies and practices. Youth have a unique power to bring about this change because of their energy, persistence and willingness to question conventional thinking. Activism efforts can include a wide variety of endeavors, including:
- Education
- Consciousness-raising
- Campaign development
- Program development
- Advocating with legislative bodies/representatives
- Calls to action
Youth Media
Every Voice in Action believes it is vital for youth to have a public forum for sharing their experiences, perspectives, ideas and wisdom. Youth Media provides young people with a means to educate and inform, mobilize and organize, and weigh in on important issues for the purpose of social change. Youth-run media can be a powerful Youth Activism tool, and moves young people from a position of passive consumer to active communicator. This allows youth to explore stories or issues that they see as important, and communicate their perspective to the community.
Youth Media can utilize a wide variety of mediums, including:
- Mass media (radio, television, newspapers, magazines)
- The arts (performance, visual and literary arts)
- Quick message media (posters, T-shirts, billboards, legal graffiti)
- Electronic media (e-mails, listserves, blogs)
- Newsletters
- Zines
There are also three themes that we look for throughout everything we do: valuing diversity, promoting youth-adult partnerships, and improving the public’s perception of youth.
See a list of Every Voice in Action’s current (2008) grantees.
For information on past grantees, check out our archives below:
2007 Grantees
2006 Grantees
2005 Grantees
2004 Grantees
2003 Grantees
2002 Grantees
2001 Grantees
2000 Grantees
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