FCYO Moment to Movement Fund 2020 Grant Awards: Young People Advancing Climate Justice and Voter Engagement

FCYO is proud to announce our 2020 Moment to Movement Fund grant partners. The Moment to Movement Fund is providing one-year grants to youth organizing groups responding to the current moment in ways that build power for low-income young people, young people of color, and gender oppressed young people to advance a more just and equitable society. In 2020 we are focused on two critical issues: climate change and voter engagement. Now more than ever, we believe the leadership of young people who have been most impacted by injustice is critical to creating a more just world.   

The 22 organizations we have selected for funding are organizing in a wide range of contexts. They are urban and rural. They are led by Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous young people. Some focus on those as young as 11 while others focus on young workers in their 20s. There are local, state, and national organizations. Together they are developing the leadership of thousands of young people of color, low-income young people, and gender oppressed young people as both leaders for today and tomorrow.

While all of these organizations are addressing climate justice or voter engagement, they do this in a variety of ways. Groups working on climate justice are organizing campaigns to transition to renewable energy, address the effects of environmental racism, and build coalitions for a just and sustainable economy. They are all lifting the voices of young people of color in the climate justice movement. Groups working on non-partisan voter engagement are registering voters young and old, educating people about issues, driving voter turnout, and leading campaigns to lower the voting age. They are all are encouraging people in their communities to participate in the electoral process, from school board to presidential elections, and through this work they are building the power of their organizations to advance equity and justice.

We received 107 proposals and were able to fund 22 organizations though many more organizations are worthy of support. We continue to be amazed by the powerful work young people are leading across the country. The need for resources is far greater than that what we are able to fund. We hope that that other funders with join is in supporting the critical work of young people to create a more just and equitable society. More information on youth organizing groups can be found on our National Youth Organizing Landscape Map. Funders who would like to learn more about how to support these organizations can contact us at info@fcyo.org.

The 2020 Moment to Movement Fund Grantees are:

1. 482Forward (MI, Detroit) will be engaging young people in Detroit in upcoming elections. They will also organize for meaningful investment in the Detroit Public Schools District and uplift their needs and priorities during school board elections. 
2. Alliance for Educational Justice (Nationwide) will be launching a #PoliceFreeSchools electoral strategy experiment to build the power of several youth organizations to engage in school board elections.
3. Centro por la Justicia - Southwest Workers Union (TX, San Antonio) is organizing youth to define city wide policies on climate equity and ensure the newly passed Climate Ready Plan has community engagement for implementation. 
4. Chinese Progressive Association (CA, San Francisco) will integrate youth organizing and leadership into a year-round civic and voter engagement strategy. They will also be building a multi-generational coalition to bring more funding to schools and communities across California. 
5. Earth Care/YUCCA (NM, Santa Fe) will ramp up their Climate Emergency Campaign to pressure decision makers in addressing the climate crisis. 
6. Earth Guardians (National) will be training and supporting indegenous youth leaders from across the country to lead local and national campaigns for climate justice.
7. Gente Organizada (CA, Pomona) The Pomona Students Union will demoractize their school system by working to lower the voting age to 15 in the Pomona Unified School District and develop strategies for undocumented parents to vote in school elections.
8. Justice for Oakland Students (J4OS) Coalition (CA, Oakland) will bring together several youth organizing groups to lead a campaign to lower the voting age for Oakland School Unified school board election. 
9. Leaders Igniting Transformation (WI, Milwaukee) will engage young voters in the Milwaukee Public School District and grow a young base of voters who care about education and investments in their future.
10. Labor/Community Strategy Center (CA, Los Angeles) will organize their youth clubs to win free public transportation for 700,000 students in Los Angeles Unified School District who depend on public transportation and promote public transit as a key solution for climate change. 
11. Labor Network for Sustainability (National) is initiating a project to convene young workers in the U.S. labor movement to organize for climate justice.
12. Native Movement (Alaska, Fairbanks) will be supporting the Fireweed Collective, a statewide youth network, to hold decision makers accountable to youth, local tribes, and statewide climate action plans.  
13. Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson Education Fund (NY, Poughkeepsie), will organize youth to decommodify, decarbonize, and democratize their state's energy system. They will mobilize thousands of youth and young voters in New York to demand public ownership of private utility companies to better serve their communities. 
14. Partnership for Southern Equity (GA, Atlanta) will be advancing their Keep That Same Energy youth engagement initiative to call young people to action for just energy for everyone across the South. 
15. Power California (CA, Statewide) is building a critical mass of young people in the Central Valley to change the voting age to 16 year old and push for a youth-led agenda “Rights To The Future” to center young people’s voices and priorities on key issues that impact them. 
16. Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TN, Nashville) youth will be engaging nontraditional voters and undocumented people in the Metro Nashville Board of Education election. They will also build a powerful base of immigrant and refugee youth leaders. 
17. UPROSE (NY, Brooklyn) is leading a climate justice campaign with youth for the creation of a Green Resiliency Industrial District that will be a tool for just transition. Youth will be trained to organize community sessions that advance community priorities with key decision makers. 
18. Voces de la Frontera (WI, Milwaukee) will be gearing up their youth arm, Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) to engage 300-500 youth in Get Out the Vote efforts in 2020. They will also utilize creative voter engagement methods to build a powerful youth voting block. 
19. Workers Dignity (TN, Nashville) will connect climate justice and public transit. They build the leadership among low-income youth who rely on public transit by advocating for racially equitable public transit that includes expanded service hours and emissions-free buses. 
20. Youth Development Institute of Puerto Rico (PR) will implement the Hijos de Borinquen Campaign to build the power of low-income families with children and youth hold the government accountable for reducing child and youth poverty. Capitalizing on the victories of the Summer of 2019 movement, youth leaders will engage people in the 2020 governor’s race.
21. Youth on Board (MA, Cambridge) plans to build a large base of youth to engage in Massachusetts’ Green New Deal Roundtable to center youth voices in the campaign while also challenging the inequities of climate justice on the most vulnerable communities.  
22. Youth Rise Texas (TX, Austin) will train hundreds of young leaders and engage 8,000 young eligible voters in lifting up the needs of youth of color in the state and beyond.