about us grant application grantmaking areas publications
Grants in this category support efforts to help youth make a successful transition to adulthood through programs that provide caring adult relationships, life-enhancing experiences, and opportunities to explore and develop unique strengths. Grants are directed toward programs in low-income and distressed neighborhoods where youth have the greatest need and are focused on arts-based programs through which youth can explore, develop, learn through, and enrich their artistic experience.

Grants in this category take place during school hours and in after-school settings where they can be of most benefit to the young participants.

Examples of recent grants in the Youth Development category include:

• Richmond Youth Media Project: West Contra Costa Public Education Fund
This program teaches video and digital media to youth at Richmond and Kennedy High School in Richmond and has a link to college by collaborating with the Contra Costa Community College. The program develops critical thinking skills, connects with in-school English and history classes and enables young members of the community to tell their unique stories while at the same time to see a wider world of possibilities for their future in the field of media. 

• Arts Program at the Third Street Youth Center and Clinic in the Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco: Bayview Hunters Point Foundation for Community Improvement
This grant provided funds for an arts program at the Third Street Youth Center and Clinic. Youth who attend the center for medical and behavioral health programs combine their visits with art programming as they wait. The arts space provides a neutral space where the youth are off the streets, safe, and can take their time to express themselves artistically as they wait for their appointments and results of their medical tests.

• The Marsh Youth Theater: At the Marsh in San Francisco
This grant supports the outreach and material needs of the Marsh Youth Theater located in the Mission District of San Francisco.  Providing a safe place for Mission District youth to perform in plays appropriate for their age level and includes young people whose first language is not English.


Related publications.