The times we live in are full of tremendous danger and great potential. Young people, especially those most impacted by injustice and oppression, are once again showing their willingness to take bold action toward a more just world. The youth organizing field has come a long way, yet meeting this moment will require us to build a new level of power. It will require us to face and transcend our current limitations with honesty and vulnerability. It will require us to Level Up.

The Level-Up Lab is the second tier in the GenPower Labs, our three-tiered capacity-building and grantmaking initiative to help organizations build the capacities and alignment to meet this moment. The Level-Up Lab builds on the lessons emerging from FCYO’s previous initiatives, including Pipelines to Power, the Youth Power Lab, and the Organizing to Win Lab. These initiatives were each designed to help organizations assess their practices against a shared strategic framework. The Level-Up Lab is the next phase of this work, where organizations will get the organizing training, political education, resilience practices, coaching, and peer learning they need to transform their practices and collectively transcend their growth edges.

The Level-Up Lab was designed for organizations that 1) have completed Pipelines to Power, the Youth Power Lab, or the Organizing to Win Lab, 2) align with the strategic orientation offered in those programs, and 3) are committed to meaningfully shifting their organizational practices to address the growth edges they assessed in these programs. The Level-Up Lab provides the specific practical, political, and social-emotional support necessary to level up an organization’s skills in base building and transformative leadership development while simultaneously facilitating cross-organization connections that will advance the field’s long-term alignment. 

The 2021 - 2022 Level-Up Lab Cohort:

• Arab American Action Network (AAAN)
• BYP100
• Californians for Justice Education Fund Inc
• Chinese Progressive Association
• Earth Care
• Engage Miami Civic Foundation
• FEEST (Food Empowerment Education & Sustainability Team)
• Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network
• Gente Organizada
• Hearing Youth Voices
• Maine Youth Power
• Make the Road New York
• Movimiento Poder
• New Mexico Dream Team
• Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition
• Ohio Student Association
• Virginia Student Power Network
• Workers' Dignity Project