A Call to Funders: Support a Youth Movement for Safety and Justice for All

 

Update

In the next phase of the Youth for Safety and Justice Fund (YSJF), we will focus on long-term change and voter engagement. In launching the YSJF, we said that in addition to rapid response, we needed to raise $1 million to support long-term change. As young people prepare for massive youth voter engagement, FCYO is looking to raise that $1 million to support these efforts.

In 2015, we released Now or Never, a report with recommendations on how to support youth voter engagement. These findings are now more relevant than ever. A handful of youth organizing groups have developed highly effective voter engagement programs, and a number of others are poised to do that.

This fund will support youth voter engagement in two ways:

1. Pipelines to Power is a new grantmaking program FCYO launched in January, supporting 16 organizations across the US to focus on building meaningful power. Some funds will be used to support groups in this cohort to do youth voter engagement.
2. We will create a new fund to support other organizations doing youth voter engagement with young people of color. This new fund will also offer capacity-building.

Young people across the country are taking up the mantle of leadership. Join us as we work to ensure they have the resources needed to build their strength for the critical political moments to come. Join our growing list of donors by contacting Mónica Córdova, Deputy Director of FCYO, at monica@fcyo.org, in order to contribute to the Youth for Safety and Justice Fund, or contribute online by clicking the button above.

The Youth for Safety and Justice Fund has helped ensure that young people of color are at the center of this movement. It has raised over $250,000 and has already committed nearly all of this initial investment from funders, to organizations responding in their communities. We are grateful to the funders and individual donors who have invested: Amplifunds and Vocal Minority, Hill-Snowdon Foundation, The Kendeda Fund, The Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation, Perrin Family Foundation, The California Endowment and The Nellie Mae Education Foundation. Additionally, we would like to thank our individual donors, and the W. Clement and Jesse V. Stone Foundation for contributing towards our capacity to support the field.

Grantees:

Advancement Project (Nat'l)

ARISE (RI)

B.A.Y.-Peace (CA)

Californians for Justice (CA)

Communities United (IL)

Crown Heights Community Mediation Center (NY)

Dream Defenders (FL)

Education Justice Alliance (NC)

Granite State Organizing Project (NH)

Hearing Youth Voices (CT)

Juvenile Justice Coalition (OH)

Leaders Igniting Transformation (WI)

Learning Alliance of NM (NM)

Live Free Chicago (IL)

Native American Community Academey (NM)

North Bay Organizing Project (CA)

Padres y Jóvenes Unidos (CO)

Philly Student Union (PA)

Power California (CA)

Power U Center for Social Change (FL)

Providence Student Union (RI)

Providence Youth Student Movement - PrYSM (RI)

Puente Human Rights Movement (AZ)

PUSH Buffalo (NY)

ReThink (LA)

Rockaway Youth Task Force (NY)

RYSE Center (CA)

Seeding Sovereignty (Nat'l)

Sociedad Latina (MA)

Students Deserve (CA)

Southwest Organizing Project - SWOP (NM)

We the People of Detroit (MI)

Youth As Resources (MD)

Youth Justice Coalition (CA)

Youth on Board (MA)

Statement

The wave of student-led mobilizations calling for gun control in the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, FL has captured the attention of the entire nation. The Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing applauds the courage and leadership demonstrated by the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. They are a testament to the power young people can wield when they take collective action and speak with moral clarity. We now call on funders and donors to join us in supporting a youth-led movement that cuts across race and class in order to demand safe, just and healthy communities for all.

The students of Parkland stand in a long tradition of young leaders driving transformative change. For the last 18 years FCYO has supported young people from across the country organizing for justice and equality in their communities. There are now more than 300 organizations represented on our Youth Organizing Landscape Map. For more than two decades, youth from working class communities of color have been organizing to demand redress for systemically racist policies that have resulted in their communities and schools being under resourced, over-policed, and disproportionately subject to both interpersonal violence as well as violence perpetrated by agents from the very institutions that are supposed to serve them. These young people have long called for an end to gun companies profiting from flooding communities with dangerous weapons as well as an end to other forms of systemic injustice. We believe that these multiple forms of violence are deeply intertwined and must be addressed simultaneously if we are to create healthy and safe communities for everyone.

Toward that end, FCYO is creating a new fund: The Youth for Safety and Justice Fund, to support young people organizing in this moment. This fund will focus on efforts that employ a racial justice lens and connect gun violence to other forms of systemic injustice. It will look to connect young people across race and class to build unity and broader political power. Our initial goal is to raise $250,000 to provide rapid response funding to young people taking action in the current moment. Over the longer term, we seek to raise $1,000,000 to support young people doing the essential work of building their base, educating voters and taking collective action to ensure safe, just and healthy communities for all.

Out of the horror of this latest tragedy comes an opportunity for transformation. The seeds are present for a multiracial, cross-class alliance of young people standing up to demand a society free from all forms of violence. Youth organizers will require substantial resources if these seeds are to blossom into a full blown movement.

Young people across the country are taking up the mantle of leadership. Join us as we work to ensure they have the resources needed to seize this moment and build their strength for the critical political moments to come. With initial contributions, we have already raised over $250,000. Join our growing list of donors by contacting Mónica Córdova, Deputy Director of FCYO, at monica@fcyo.org, in order to contribute to the Youth for Safety and Justice Fund.

Signed,

The Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing

The California Endowment

Rachel Gunther, YouthBuild USA/Youth on Board

Katie Warner, Youth Empowered Solutions (YES!)

Jesus Sanchez, Gente Organizada

Reggie Moore, City of Milwaukee Health Department, Office of Violence Prevention

Ash Chan, House of Gold Collective

Manuela Arciniegas, Andrus Family Fund

Cerissa Huggins, Rockaway Youth Task Force

Zack Mezera, Providence Student Union

Laura McCargar, Perrin Family Foundation

Maria Hernandez, Tower of Youth